Model-independent analysis of CERN LEP and SLAC SLD data on Z decays: Is the standard model confirmed?

A model-independent analysis is performed on the CERN LEP and SLAC SLD data on Z decays. Using only very weak theoretical assumptions, the effective vector and axial-vector couplings of leptons, c quarks, and b quarks have been extracted. Although the lepton and c quark couplings agree well with standard model predictions, those of the b quark show deviations of more than three standard deviations. The effect is mainly in the right-handed b quark coupling, the left-handed coupling being consistent (at the 2σ level) with the standard model prediction. The probability that the observed deviations of all the measured effective couplings are statistical fluctuations from lepton universality and the standard model is estimated to be 0.9%. The estimated probability that the deviations in the leptonic and b quark couplings alone are a fluctuation is 0.18%. A thorough discussion is made of the internal consistency of the different measurements contributing to the average values A_l and A_b used to extract the b quark couplings, as well as possible sources of systematic error that may not, hitherto, have been taken into account. Excluding τ-polarization measurements, which show internal inconsistencies, from the averages increases the deviations of the extracted b quark couplings from the standard model predictions to the four-standard-deviation level.