Emerging Excess Consistent with a Narrow Resonance at 152 GeV in High-Energy Proton-Proton Collisions

Emerging Excess Consistent with a Narrow Resonance at 152 GeV in High-Energy Proton-Proton Collisions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Emerging Excess Consistent with a Narrow Resonance at 152 GeV in High-Energy Proton-Proton Collisions Mukesh Kumar, Srimoy Bhattacharya, Benjamin Lieberman, Andreas Crivellin, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6580136/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) completed the Standard Model (SM), yet evidence for physics beyond the SM remains crucial. Intriguingly, LHC Run 1 (2010–2012) data showed an excess in muon-electron invariant mass around $150\pm5$ GeV, hinting at a new Higgs-like scalar boson ($S$). Additional anomalies—such as multilepton events, moderate missing energy, and potential bottom quark jets—also show deviations from SM expectations. These signatures are explained by a simplified model featuring a heavier Higgs boson ($H$) decaying into two lighter scalars ($S$), where $S$ decays into $W$ bosons, $b$-quarks, or invisibly. Using this model, we identify narrow excesses in di-photon and $Z$-photon channels near 152 GeV. Incorporating the latest di-photon plus lepton data, we find a combined global significance of $5.4\sigma$—the strongest signal to date for a narrow resonance consistent with beyond the SM (BSM) physics in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. If confirmed, this new resonance could signal the start of a BSM epoch in particle physics, offering insights into unresolved mysteries such as dark matter, electroweak symmetry breaking, and the origin of mass beyond the current theoretical framework. Physical sciences/Physics Physical sciences/Physics/Particle physics Physical sciences/Physics/Particle physics/Phenomenology Higgs Di-Photon LHC Physics beyond the Standard Model Future Colliders Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Methods.pdf Supplementary Material Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6580136","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":456121935,"identity":"468a9b3f-e670-40f9-88eb-f8a54b511c47","order_by":0,"name":"Mukesh Kumar","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACNgYGxgYGAzD7A1yIWC2MM0jWwsxDjBbdGWmJD3/uYDA2uHb42WebGpt8cwbmZw/waTG7kXbYmPcMg5nB7TTj2TnH0ix3NrCZG+DXkt4mzdjGYGNwO8GYObfhsIHBAR42CQJa2n/+BGtJ/8xs2fCfGC1pxxh420AOyzFmZmw4QISWM8+SpXnbJIwlb+cUM/YcSzYwOMxmhl/L8TTDjz/bbAz7bqdvZvhRY2dgcLz5GV4tUICshpkI9aNgFIyCUTAK8AMAAYtEy2/vIEkAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3681-1588","institution":"School of Physics and Institute for Collider Particle Physics, University of the Witwatersrand","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mukesh","middleName":"","lastName":"Kumar","suffix":""},{"id":456121936,"identity":"f0f2210d-8d8f-4a3d-9287-17b0dfae3fff","order_by":1,"name":"Srimoy Bhattacharya","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Physics and Institute for Collider Particle Physics, University of the Witwatersrand","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Srimoy","middleName":"","lastName":"Bhattacharya","suffix":""},{"id":456121937,"identity":"6f4b1ee1-0b04-4fc3-ad7d-f102023b5124","order_by":2,"name":"Benjamin Lieberman","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Physics and Institute for Collider Particle Physics, University of the Witwatersrand","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Benjamin","middleName":"","lastName":"Lieberman","suffix":""},{"id":456121938,"identity":"038c3fd5-d693-4e68-a425-2a1d72bd460a","order_by":3,"name":"Andreas Crivellin","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6449-5845","institution":"University of Zurich","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andreas","middleName":"","lastName":"Crivellin","suffix":""},{"id":456121939,"identity":"fa0696fc-146b-4daa-b420-05ad148840f8","order_by":4,"name":"Yaquan Fang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Institute of High Energy Physics","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yaquan","middleName":"","lastName":"Fang","suffix":""},{"id":456121940,"identity":"d3097fa0-b826-444d-aabd-229cae9d376e","order_by":5,"name":"Rachid Mazini","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0954-0970","institution":"University of the Witwatersrand","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rachid","middleName":"","lastName":"Mazini","suffix":""},{"id":456121941,"identity":"95b35ef3-50e3-4524-8d8a-c2062fde0398","order_by":6,"name":"Bruce Mellado","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"School of Physics and Institute for Collider Particle Physics, University of the Witwatersrand","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Bruce","middleName":"","lastName":"Mellado","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-02 17:35:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6580136/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6580136/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":98006055,"identity":"45429a77-0119-4b64-849d-c75a170521a8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-11 17:02:43","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3674066,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"EmergingExcessConsistentwithaNarrowResonanceat152GeVinHighEnergyProtonProtonCollisions.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6580136/v1_covered_1779d3dd-3c45-4f38-a198-42c45361d317.pdf"},{"id":83017891,"identity":"bf9ae2f1-3f96-48bd-8dd9-9d2c842431bf","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-19 06:50:30","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1690147,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Material","description":"","filename":"Methods.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6580136/v1/51e0bcb6a491e62b40b99490.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Emerging Excess Consistent with a Narrow Resonance at 152 GeV in High-Energy Proton-Proton Collisions","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Higgs, Di-Photon, LHC, Physics beyond the Standard Model, Future Colliders","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6580136/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6580136/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) completed the Standard Model (SM), yet evidence for physics beyond the SM remains crucial. Intriguingly, LHC Run 1 (2010–2012) data showed an excess in muon-electron invariant mass around $150\\pm5$ GeV, hinting at a new Higgs-like scalar boson ($S$). Additional anomalies—such as multilepton events, moderate missing energy, and potential bottom quark jets—also show deviations from SM expectations.\r\n\r\nThese signatures are explained by a simplified model featuring a heavier Higgs boson ($H$) decaying into two lighter scalars ($S$), where $S$ decays into $W$ bosons, $b$-quarks, or invisibly. Using this model, we identify narrow excesses in di-photon and $Z$-photon channels near 152 GeV. Incorporating the latest di-photon plus lepton data, we find a combined global significance of $5.4\\sigma$—the strongest signal to date for a narrow resonance consistent with beyond the SM (BSM) physics in proton-proton collisions at the LHC.\r\n\r\nIf confirmed, this new resonance could signal the start of a BSM epoch in particle physics, offering insights into unresolved mysteries such as dark matter, electroweak symmetry breaking, and the origin of mass beyond the current theoretical framework.","manuscriptTitle":"Emerging Excess Consistent with a Narrow Resonance at 152 GeV in High-Energy Proton-Proton Collisions","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-05-19 06:50:26","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6580136/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b820b447-c8b3-44e7-b2b3-10a29b6d9258","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 19th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":48484913,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics"},{"id":48484914,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics/Particle physics"},{"id":48484915,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics/Particle physics/Phenomenology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-11T17:02:30+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-05-19 06:50:26","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6580136","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6580136","identity":"rs-6580136","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}