b → c semileptonic sum rule: exploring a sterile neutrino loophole

A bstract We investigate the b → c semileptonic sum rule in the presence of a massive sterile neutrino. Recent measurements of charged-current semitauonic B -meson decays exhibit a ∼ 4 σ deviation from the Standard Model predictions, whereas no such tension has been reported for the lowest-lying baryonic counterpart, the Λ b decay. Since these decay rates are related through the sum rule, accommodating such a mismatch beyond the level of uncertainties is nontrivial. We revisit this issue by considering dimension-six operators involving a massive sterile neutrino, and evaluate the resulting violation of the sum rule. We find that the induced effect remains negligible compared with the current experimental uncertainties, further strengthening the sum rule as a consistency check for the experimental data.