We perform a model-independent global fit to $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ observables to confirm existing New Physics (NP) patterns (or scenarios) and to identify new ones emerging from the inclusion of the updated LHCb and Belle measurements of $R_K$ and $R_{ K^*}$, respectively. Our analysis, updating Refs. [1,2] and including these new data, suggests the presence of right-handed couplings encoded in the Wilson coefficients ${ \cal C}_{ 9'\mu}$ and ${ \cal C}_{ 10'\mu}$. It also strengthens our earlier observation that a lepton flavour universality violating (LFUV) left-handed lepton coupling (${ \cal C}_{ 9\mu}^{ \rm V}=-{ \cal C}_{ 10\mu}^{ \rm V}$), often preferred from the model building point of view, accommodates the data better if lepton-flavour universal (LFU) NP is allowed, in particular in ${ \cal C}_{ 9}^{ \rm U}$. Furthermore, this scenario with LFU NP provides a simple and model-independent connection to the $b\to c\tau \nu$ anomalies, showing a preference of $\approx 7\,\sigma$ with respect to the SM. It may also explain why fits to the whole set of $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ data or to the subset of LFUV data exhibit stronger preferences for different NP scenarios. Finally, motivated by $Z^\prime$ models with vector-like quarks, we propose four new scenarios with LFU and LFUV NP contributions that give a very good fit to data. We provide also an addendum collecting our updated results after including the data for the $B\to K^*\mu\mu$ angular distribution released in 2020 by the LHCb collaboration.
Categories: hep-ph