A challenge to lepton universality in B-meson decays

Gregory Ciezarek, Manuel Franco Sevilla, Brian Hamilton, Robert Kowalewski, Thomas Kuhr, Vera Lüth () and Yutaro Sato
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Gregory Ciezarek: Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics
Manuel Franco Sevilla: University of California at Santa Barbara
Brian Hamilton: University of Maryland
Robert Kowalewski: University of Victoria
Thomas Kuhr: Ludwig Maximilians University
Vera Lüth: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Yutaro Sato: Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute, Nagoya University

Nature, 2017, vol. 546, issue 7657, 227-233

Abstract: Abstract One of the key assumptions of the standard model of particle physics is that the interactions of the charged leptons, namely electrons, muons and taus, differ only because of their different masses. Whereas precision tests comparing processes involving electrons and muons have not revealed any definite violation of this assumption, recent studies of B-meson decays involving the higher-mass tau lepton have resulted in observations that challenge lepton universality at the level of four standard deviations. A confirmation of these results would point to new particles or interactions, and could have profound implications for our understanding of particle physics.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/nature22346

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