Interpreting the RK(⁎) anomaly in the colored Zee–Babu model

Abstract

We consider the feasibility of interpreting the RK(⁎) anomaly in the colored Zee–Babu model. The model generates neutrino masses at two loops with the help of a scalar leptoquark S∼(3,3,−13) and a scalar diquark ω∼(6,1,−23), and contributes to the transition b→sℓ−ℓ+ via the exchange of a leptoquark S at tree level. Under constraints from lepton flavor violating (LFV) and flavor changing neutral current (FCNC) processes, and direct collider searches for heavy particles, we acquire certain parameter space that can accommodate the RK(⁎) anomaly for both normal (NH) and inverted (IH) hierarchies of neutrino masses. We further examine the LFV decays of the B meson, and find a strong correlation with the neutrino mass hierarchy, i.e., Br(B+→K+μ±τ∓)≳Br(B+→K+μ±e∓)≈Br(B+→K+τ±e∓) for NH, while Br(B+→K+μ±τ∓)≪Br(B+→K+μ±e∓)≈Br(B+→K+τ±e∓) for IH. Among these decays, only B+→K+μ±e∓ in the case of NH is promising at the LHCb RUN II, while for IH all LFV decays are hard to detect in the near future.