Test of lepton flavor universality with $\bar{B} \rightarrow D^{(*)} τ^{-} \barν_τ$ and $\bar{B} \rightarrow D^{(*)} \ell^{-} \barν_{\ell}$ decays at Belle II
We test lepton flavor universality with a measurement of the branching-fraction ratios $R(D^{(*)}) \equiv \mathcal{B}(\bar{B} \rightarrow D^{(*)} τ^{-} \barν_τ)/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B} \rightarrow D^{(*)} \ell^{-} \barν_{\ell})$, where $\ell$ denotes an electron or muon. The analysis uses $387\times 10^6$ $Υ(\mathrm{4S})$ decays collected with the Belle II detector in energy-asymmetric $e^+e^-$ collisions. One $B$ meson is fully reconstructed in a hadronic decay mode, while the other is reconstructed either in $\bar{B}\rightarrow D^{(*)}τ^{-}\barν_τ$, with $τ^- \rightarrow \ell^- \barν_{\ell}ν_τ$, or in $\bar{B}\rightarrow D^{(*)}\ell^{-}\barν_{\ell}$. We extract the signal from the distributions of the residual calorimeter energy and the squared mass of the undetected particles, obtaining $R(D^{*}) = 0.242 \pm0.019(\mathrm{stat}) \pm0.016(\mathrm{syst})$ and $R(D) = 0.439 \pm 0.055(\mathrm{stat}) \pm 0.046(\mathrm{syst})$. These results are consistent with both the standard model predictions and previous measurements, and constitute the most precise determination of $R(D^{(*)})$ with hadronic tagging.