Deciphering compressed electroweakino excesses with MadAnalysis 5

Benjamin Fuks; Jack Y. Araz; Mark D. Goodsell; Taylor Murphy

arxiv: 2507.08927 · v2 · pith:UHYOJH5Jnew · submitted 2025-07-11 · ✦ hep-ph

Deciphering compressed electroweakino excesses with MadAnalysis 5

Jack Y. Araz , Benjamin Fuks , Mark D. Goodsell , Taylor Murphy This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-05-22 00:12 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification ✦ hep-ph

keywords MadAnalysis 5electroweakinocompressed supersymmetryATLAS soft-lepton searchesmissing transverse energyNMSSMLHC Run 2 excessesstatistical limits

0 comments

The pith

Version 1.11 of MadAnalysis 5 adds features to handle efficiency tables, reference-frame observables, and statistical limits for LHC excess analyses.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper introduces updates to MadAnalysis 5 that improve its ability to process efficiency information, calculate quantities in varied reference frames, and derive statistical significance or limits. These changes were motivated by the need to faithfully reproduce two ATLAS searches for supersymmetric particles that reported mild excesses in signatures involving soft leptons and missing energy. After detailing the code changes and their integration with external tools, the authors validate the re-implemented analyses and use the enhanced package to examine whether the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model can simultaneously explain a broader collection of related excesses across soft-lepton, soft-jet, and missing-energy channels.

Core claim

The central claim is that the enhancements in MadAnalysis 5 version 1.11 enable accurate implementation of the ATLAS-SUSY-2018-16 and ATLAS-SUSY-2019-09 analyses. This is achieved through direct code extensions for efficiency tables and third-party integrations for frame-dependent observables and statistical computations, allowing a consistent investigation of the NMSSM as a potential source of overlapping excesses in soft-particle plus missing-transverse-energy final states.

What carries the argument

The extended MadAnalysis 5 version 1.11 framework with new modules for efficiency-table handling and statistical-limit calculations.

If this is right

The tool now permits direct computation of statistical limits on supersymmetric models using the same efficiency inputs as the original ATLAS papers.
Observables can be evaluated in both the lab frame and the rest frame of reconstructed objects within a single analysis script.
A larger set of overlapping LHC searches with soft leptons or jets plus missing energy can be analyzed consistently under one software framework.
The NMSSM parameter space can be tested against multiple correlated excesses rather than isolated signals.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

The same efficiency and statistics modules could be applied to reinterpret other mild excesses reported by ATLAS or CMS in compressed spectra.
Future public releases of the software might incorporate automated validation against additional published analyses to reduce manual re-implementation effort.
If the NMSSM fits improve with these tools, dedicated searches optimized for the predicted soft-particle kinematics could be designed.

Load-bearing premise

The two ATLAS analyses have been re-implemented inside the updated MadAnalysis 5 without errors in how efficiencies or statistics are modeled.

What would settle it

Running the updated software on the same Monte Carlo samples used by ATLAS and finding event yields or significance values that differ from the published ATLAS results by more than the quoted uncertainties would indicate a problem with the implementation.

read the original abstract

We present version 1.11 of MadAnalysis 5, which extends the software package in several major ways to improve the handling of efficiency tables, the computation of observables in different reference frames and the calculation of statistical limits and/or significance. We detail how these improvements, whose development was motivated by the desire to implement two Run 2 LHC analyses targeting signatures with soft leptons and missing energy and exhibiting mild excesses (ATLAS-SUSY-2018-16 and ATLAS-SUSY-2019-09), have been implemented by both direct extensions of the code and integrations with third-party software. We then document the implementation and validation of these analyses, demonstrating their utility along with the improved statistics capabilities of MadAnalysis 5 through an investigation of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in the context of a larger set of overlapping excesses in channels with soft leptons/jets and missing transverse energy.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Desk Editor's Note private letter to a colleague

This updates MadAnalysis 5 with concrete tools for efficiency tables and stats, then applies them to two ATLAS soft-lepton searches, but the validation depth is the part that needs checking.

read the letter

The main takeaway is that this updates MadAnalysis 5 with concrete tools for efficiency tables and stats, then applies them to two ATLAS soft-lepton searches, but the validation depth is the part that needs checking. The authors added handling for efficiency tables, observables in different reference frames, and modules for statistical limits or significance. They did this because they wanted to code up ATLAS-SUSY-2018-16 and ATLAS-SUSY-2019-09, which both show mild excesses in channels with soft leptons and missing energy. They then use the updated package to look at whether the NMSSM can tie together a broader set of similar signals across soft lepton and jet plus MET channels. That is the actual new piece: the specific combination of those code extensions plus the documented re-implementation of the two named analyses inside the new framework. Releasing the changes in a public tool and showing how they work on real published searches is the useful part. People who already run MadAnalysis or who need to check similar compressed electroweakino signals now have documented extensions they can try without starting from scratch. The soft spot is the validation step. The abstract says implementation and validation were performed, yet the description does not make clear whether they produced direct, quantitative matches to the ATLAS published cut-flow tables or efficiency maps for the same signal points. If object definitions, isolation, or MET reconstruction differ even modestly, the predicted yields shift and so do the excess significances and the NMSSM conclusions that follow. Without side-by-side numbers or the full code, it is hard to judge how close the reproduction actually is. This paper is for LHC phenomenologists who work with MadAnalysis or who study soft-object SUSY searches. A reader who needs the new features for their own work or who wants to explore the NMSSM angle will get direct value. It is not a broad theoretical advance, but the tool-building is real and grounded enough that it deserves a serious referee to look at the implementation details and the statistical modules. I would send it to peer review.

Referee Report

1 major / 3 minor

Summary. The manuscript presents version 1.11 of MadAnalysis 5, which adds capabilities for handling efficiency tables, computing observables in alternative reference frames, and performing statistical limit and significance calculations. These extensions were developed to enable re-implementation of two ATLAS Run 2 searches (ATLAS-SUSY-2018-16 and ATLAS-SUSY-2019-09) that target soft-lepton plus missing-energy signatures and report mild excesses; the paper documents the code changes, states that validation was performed, and applies the framework to an NMSSM interpretation of these and related overlapping excesses.

Significance. If the re-implementations are shown to reproduce the ATLAS results at the level needed to interpret the excesses, the work supplies a publicly usable extension to an established analysis package that addresses recurring technical issues in compressed electroweakino searches. The new efficiency-table and statistics modules could improve reproducibility for the broader LHC phenomenology community.

major comments (1)

[Validation section] Validation section (implementation and validation of the two ATLAS analyses): the manuscript states that the re-implementations of ATLAS-SUSY-2018-16 and ATLAS-SUSY-2019-09 were validated, yet provides no quantitative, point-by-point comparison against the collaboration's published cut-flow tables, efficiency maps, or public likelihoods for the signal benchmarks used to claim the mild excesses. Any systematic difference in object definitions, isolation, or MET reconstruction would directly affect the reported significances and the subsequent NMSSM conclusions.

minor comments (3)

[Abstract] The abstract refers to 'a larger set of overlapping excesses' without enumerating the additional analyses or channels that are included in the NMSSM study.
[Figures] Figure captions and axis labels for any validation or limit plots should explicitly state whether the MadAnalysis results are overlaid on the original ATLAS values or derived quantities.
[Code and data availability] Ensure that the updated MadAnalysis 5 code, efficiency-table handling routines, and any validation scripts are deposited in a public repository with version tags and reproduction instructions.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

1 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for the thorough review of our manuscript. We address the major comment on the validation of the ATLAS analyses below.

read point-by-point responses

Referee: Validation section (implementation and validation of the two ATLAS analyses): the manuscript states that the re-implementations of ATLAS-SUSY-2018-16 and ATLAS-SUSY-2019-09 were validated, yet provides no quantitative, point-by-point comparison against the collaboration's published cut-flow tables, efficiency maps, or public likelihoods for the signal benchmarks used to claim the mild excesses. Any systematic difference in object definitions, isolation, or MET reconstruction would directly affect the reported significances and the subsequent NMSSM conclusions.

Authors: We agree with the referee that explicit quantitative validation is essential to substantiate the re-implementations and support the subsequent NMSSM interpretation. While the manuscript describes the analysis implementations and states that validation against ATLAS results was performed, we acknowledge that detailed point-by-point comparisons with published cut-flow tables, efficiency maps, and yields for the relevant signal benchmarks were not included. In the revised manuscript we will add explicit tables and figures presenting these comparisons for the benchmark points used in the excess interpretation. Where public likelihood information is available from the ATLAS collaboration we will also include direct comparisons to the statistical outputs. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity in software extensions or analysis re-implementations

full rationale

The paper describes code-level extensions to MadAnalysis 5 for efficiency tables, reference-frame observables, and statistical modules, followed by documentation of re-implementations of two external ATLAS analyses (ATLAS-SUSY-2018-16 and ATLAS-SUSY-2019-09) and an NMSSM interpretation. No load-bearing steps reduce by construction to self-defined quantities, fitted inputs renamed as predictions, or self-citation chains. Validation is framed against external published analyses rather than internal parameter fits, rendering the central claims self-contained against independent benchmarks.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 1 axioms · 0 invented entities

The paper introduces no new free parameters, axioms beyond standard particle-physics Monte-Carlo assumptions, or invented entities; all physics content is taken from published ATLAS analyses and the NMSSM framework.

axioms (1)

domain assumption Standard assumptions underlying LHC Monte-Carlo event generation and detector simulation remain valid for the re-implemented analyses.
Invoked when the authors state that the new modules correctly reproduce the ATLAS results.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5693 in / 1270 out tokens · 61117 ms · 2026-05-22T00:12:36.220823+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

Lean theorems connected to this paper

Citations machine-checked in the Pith Canon. Every link opens the source theorem in the public Lean library.

IndisputableMonolith/Cost/FunctionalEquation.lean washburn_uniqueness_aczel unclear

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unclear
Relation between the paper passage and the cited Recognition theorem.

We present version 1.11 of MadAnalysis 5, which extends the software package in several major ways to improve the handling of efficiency tables, the computation of observables in different reference frames and the calculation of statistical limits and/or significance.
IndisputableMonolith/Foundation/AlexanderDuality.lean alexander_duality_circle_linking unclear

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unclear
Relation between the paper passage and the cited Recognition theorem.

The PHYSICS service of MadAnalysis 5 has been extended to include a helper pointer, RF, which provides direct access to RestFrames methods.

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