A result published in March 2021 by the LHCb experiment, combining data collected between 2010-2016 and 2017-2018, found only a 1 in 1,000 chance that an observed difference between B meson decays into two muons versus an electron-positron pair was due to random statistical fluctuation.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by CERN press release, LHCb arXiv paper, and multiple independent physics news outlets consistently reporting 3.1 sigma significance (~1 in 1000 p-value). [tier=gold indep_score=0.983 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable | framework convergence=single on LHCb R_K measurement (arXiv:2103.11769) (upstreams: LHCb Collaboration, CERN) — publishers independent, evidence may not be | kind=empirical eligibility=high]
Sources
- Vers un nouveau continent de la physique ? | CNRS Le journal (seed:science_and_space)
- https://home.cern/news/news/physics/tantalising-hints-lepton-universality-violation-lhcb-experiment (corroboration)
- https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.11769 (corroboration)
- https://physicsworld.com/a/lhcb-experiment-finds-intriguing-hints-of-new-physics/ (corroboration)