B decay anomalies in an effective theory

We investigate how far a new physics scenario affecting primarily the third-generation fermions can ameliorate the tension between B decay observables and Standard Model expectations. Adopting a model-independent approach, we find that among the three observables that show signs of such a tension, viz., the branching fractions for B+ -> tau nu, B-d -> D(D)*tau nu, and the like-sign dimuon anomaly in neutral B decays, the first two can be explained adequately, while there is only a marginal improvement for the third. As a spin-off, it is shown that one can also accommodate a change in the branching fraction of the Higgs boson to a tau lepton pair from the Standard Model expectation, if such a change is established in future data. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.86.114037