Lepton non-universality at LEP and charged Higgs

Abstract

A recent analysis of the LEP data shows an interesting deviation from lepton universality in W boson decays. An excess at the level of 2.8 sigma is found in the tau mode branching ratio with respect to the other two modes. It is suggested that this seeming lepton non-universality might stem from pair production of charged Higgs bosons almost degenerate with W, that preferentially decay to heavy fermions. It is shown that the deviation can be reduced to 1.4 sigma in two Higgs doublet model I without any conflict with the existing direct or indirect constraints. This conclusion is largely independent of tan beta, the ratio of Higgs vacuum expectation values. This scenario can be tested at the forthcoming international linear collider.