Analyzing lepton flavor universality in the decays Λb→Λc(*)(12±,32−)+ℓν¯ℓ
Lepton flavor universality can be tested in the semileptonic decays Λb→Λc(*), where Λc(*) denotes either the ground state Λc(2286) (with JP=1/2+) or its orbital excitations Λc(2595) (with JP=1/2−) and Λc(2625) (with JP=3/2−). We calculate the differential decay rates as well as the branching fractions of these decays for both tauonic and muonic modes with form factors obtained from a covariant confined quark model previously developed by us. We present results for the rate ratios of the tauonic and muonic modes which provide important tests of lepton flavor universality in forthcoming experiments.
Form-factor-independent test of lepton universality in semileptonic heavy meson and baryon decays
In the semileptonic decays of heavy mesons and baryons the lepton-mass dependence factors out in the quadratic $\cos^2\theta$ coefficient of the differential $\cos\theta$ distribution. We call the corresponding normalized coefficient the convexity parameter. This observation opens the path to a test of lepton universality in semileptonic heavy meson and baryon decays that is independent of form-factor effects. By projecting out the quadratic rate coefficient, dividing out the lepton-mass-dependent factor and restricting the phase space integration to the $\tau$ lepton phase space, one can define optimized partial rates which, in the Standard Model, are the same for all three $(e,\mu,\tau)$ …