Related papers: Recent $\boldsymbol{B}$ Physics Anomalies - a Firs…
This Thesis presents my personal contributions to two distinct fields, namely the recent experimental anomalies in B-meson decays, and the longstanding quest for a theoretical explanation of lepton masses and mixings, under a unifying…
Searching for the Higgs boson is of first priority in LHC experiments. Once a Higgs candidate is found, we then need to know whether it is the standard model (SM) Higgs boson or a Higgs boson in new physics beyond the SM. So far we do not…
We study the effects of extended fermion sectors, respecting custodial symmetry, on Higgs production and decay. The resulting protection for the Z->b_L b_L and Z->\tau_R\tau_R decays allows for potentially interesting signals in Higgs…
We critically re-examine the case for and against a sizeable right-handed component in the $b\to c$ charged current coupling with a strength $\xi$ relative to the conventional left-handed current. Using data from CLEO on the decay $B\to…
I study phenomenological aspects of the SU(2)L x U(1) electroweak physics of a Higgs boson transforming like a quark-antiquark pair. A correspondence is established between its flavour content, the hierarchy of quark condensates, and the…
We consider a flavour conserving two Higgs doublet model that consists of a type I (or X) quark sector and a generalized lepton sector where the Yukawa couplings of the charged leptons to the new scalars are not proportional to the lepton…
In some models of electro-weak interactions the W and Z bosons are considered composites, made up of spin-one-half subconstituents. In these models a spin zero counterpart of the W and Z boson naturally appears, whose higher mass can be…
We present a detailed discussion of the current theoretical and experimental situation of the anomaly in the angular distribution of $B \to K^*(\to K\pi)\mu^+\mu^-$, observed at LHCb in the $1~\text{fb}^{-1}$ dataset and recently confirmed…
We present allowed regions in the space of observables of certain non-leptonic B-meson decays that characterize these modes within the Standard Model. A future measurement of observables lying significantly outside of these regions would…
The search for New Physics (NP) beyond the Standard Model (SM) has been a central focus of particle physics, including in the context of $B$-meson decays involving $b \to s \ell \ell$ transitions. These transitions, mediated by…
The increasing number of flavour anomalies calls for the investigation of new processes where tensions similar to the observed ones could emerge. Observables sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model need to be identified. We discuss…
Rare lepton decays of the B(s), D and K mesons are sensitive probes of New Physics. In particular, the search for the decays $B^0_(s) -> \mu^+ \mu^-$ provides information on the presence of new (pseudo-)scalar particles. LHCb is well suited…
We discuss the implications of $b \to s \ell^+\ell^-$ measurements and their deviations with respect to the Standard Model predictions in a model-independent framework. We highlight in particular the impact of the recent updated…
The recent discovery at the LHC by the CMS and ATLAS collaborations of the Higgs boson presents, at long last, direct probes of the mechanism for electroweak symmetry breaking. While it is clear from the observations that the new particle…
We consider composite Higgs models where the Higgs is a pseudo-Nambu Goldstone boson arising from the spontaneous breaking of an approximate global symmetry by some underlying strong dynamics. We focus on the SO(5) -> SO(4) symmetry…
We show how the $q^2$-dependence of the triple Higgs boson HHH form factor can reveal the presence of various types of new physics contributions, like new particles coupled to the Higgs boson or Higgs boson constituents, without directly…
We study the indirect effects of new physics on the phenomenology of the recently discovered "Higgs-like" particle. In a model independent framework these effects can be parametrized in terms of an effective Lagrangian at the electroweak…
I discuss the recent controversy over the semileptonic branching ratio of the $B$ meson, pointing out that it is only the combination of this quantity with the reported charm multiplicity in $B$ decays which is in serious conflict with…
In the absence of direct evidence for New Physics at present LHC energies, the focus is set on the anomalies and discrepancies recently observed in rare $b \to s\ell\ell$ transitions which can be interpreted as indirect hints. Global fits…
Semileptonic decays of the B mesons provide an excellent probe for the weak and strong interactions of the bottom quark. The large data samples collected at the B Factories have pushed the experimental studies of the semileptonic B decays…