Probing lepton universality with (semi)-leptonic B decays

• Main Author: Giovanni Banelli, Robert Fleischer, Ruben Jaarsma and Gilberto Tetlalmatzi-Xolocotzi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SciPost 2019-02-01
• Series: SciPost Physics Proceedings
• Online Access: https://scipost.org/SciPostPhysProc.1.013

The most recent measurements of the observables $R_{D^{(*)}}$ are in tension with the Standard Model offering hints of New Physics in $b\rightarrow c \ell \bar{\nu}_{\ell}$ transitions. Motivated by these results, in this work we present an analysis on their $b\rightarrow u \ell \bar{\nu}_{\ell}$ counterparts (for $\ell=e, ~\mu, ~\tau$). Our study has three main objectives. Firstly, using ratios of branching fractions, we assess the effects of beyond the Standard Model scalar and pseudoscalar particles in leptonic and semileptonic $B$ decays ($B^-\rightarrow \ell^- \bar{\nu}_{\ell}$, $\bar{B}\rightarrow \pi \ell \bar{\nu}_{\ell}$ and $\bar{B}\rightarrow \rho \ell \bar{\nu}_{\ell}$). Here a key role is played by the leptonic $B$ processes, which are highly sensitive to new pseudoscalar interactions. In particular, we take advantage of the most recent measurement of the branching fraction of the channel $B^-\rightarrow \mu^-\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$ by the Belle collaboration. Secondly, we extract the CKM matrix element $|V_{ub}|$ while accounting simultaneously for New Physics contributions. Finally, we provide predictions for the branching fractions of yet unmeasured leptonic and semileptonic $B$ decays.