Accumulating hints for flavor-violating Higgs bosons at the electroweak scale

Abstract

We show that supplementing the Standard Model by only a second Higgs doublet, a combined explanation of h→eτ, h→μτ, b→sℓ+ℓ−, the W mass and R(D(*)) as well as the excess in t→bH+(130 GeV)→bb¯c is possible. While this requires flavor violating couplings, the stringent bounds from, e.g., μ→eγ, τ→μγ, Bs−B¯s mixing, b→sγ, low mass dijet, and pp→H+H−→τ+τ−νν¯ searches can be avoided. However, the model is very constrained; it inevitably predicts a shift in the SM Higgs coupling strength to tau leptons as well as a nonzero t→hc rate, as indeed preferred by recent measurements. We study three benchmark points providing such a simultaneous explanation and calculate their predictions, including collider signatures which can be tested with upcoming LHC run-3 data. Published by the American Physical Society 2024