A Georgi-Machacek Interpretation of the Associate Production of a Neutral Scalar with Mass around 151 GeV

Abstract

Following an investigation of several indications for new physics from LHC data, a detailed exploration of the Georgi-Machacek (GM) model was elaborated in a previous publication. This framework is used here to interpret the findings of Crivellin et al., which were obtained by combining the 2 photon mass spectrum from ATLAS and CMS, adding extra conditions, the most efficient one being the presence of >90 GeV missing transverse energy. The claim is a ~5 s.d. excess at 151 GeV. The GM model naturally explains this as coming from the cascade A(400)->H(151)Z, where H(151) is an isosinglet predicted by GM and where the accompanying signal comes from the decay of a Z boson into neutrino pairs. Satisfying the constraints from LHC measurements of the ZWW channel, which can receive a large contribution from this cascade, suggests that H(151) could dominantly decay into two light CP-odd scalars, following an ATLAS indication for h(125) decaying into bbmumu. A spectacular occurrence of signals is predicted at an $e^+e^-$ collider operating up to 1 TeV, an energy sufficient to cover the whole scenario.