Top-quark FCNC decays, LFVs, lepton g − 2, and W mass anomaly with inert charged Higgses

The observed flavor-changing neutral-current (FCNC) processes in the standard model (SM) arise from the loop diagrams involving the weak charged currents mediated by the W-gauge boson. Nevertheless, the top-quark FCNCs and lepton flavor-violating processes resulting from the same mechanism are highly suppressed. We investigate possible new physics effects that can enhance the suppressed FCNC processes, such as a top quark decaying into a light quark with a Higgs or gauge boson in the final state, i.e. t → q(h, V) with V = γ, Z, g, h → ℓ ℓ ′ , and ℓ → ℓ ′ γ . To achieve the assumption that the induced FCNCs are all from quantum loops, we consider the scotogenic mechanism, where a Z ₂ symmetry is introduced and only new particles carry an odd Z ₂ parity. With the extension of the SM to include an inert Higgs doublet, an inert charged Higgs singlet, a vector-like singlet quark, and two neutral leptons, it is found that, with relevant constraints taken into account, the t → c(h, Z), h → μ τ, and τ → ℓ γ decays can be enhanced up to the expected sensitivities in experiments. The branching ratios of h → μ ⁺ μ ⁻/τ ⁺ τ ⁻ from only new physics effects can reach up to O ( 10 − 3 ) . Intriguingly, the resulting muon g − 2 can fit the combined data within 2 standard deviations, whereas the electron g − 2 can have either sign with a magnitude of O ( 10 − 13 − 10 − 12 ) . In addition, we examine the oblique parameters in the model and find that the resulting W-mass anomaly observed by CDF II can be accommodated.