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The 750 GeV diphoton excess from the goldstino superpartner

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Christoffer Petersson, Riccardo Torre

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Submitted 16 Dec 2015 · 35 references

Pith's verdict: A sound, internally consistent sgoldstino fit to the 2015 diphoton bump, wrapped in an abstract that claims two results the body explicitly disowns.

T0 · AI review

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arXiv ID1512.05333 (version 2)
Pith IDNRVF4DN6, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review
CitationChristoffer Petersson, Riccardo Torre. "The 750 GeV diphoton excess from the goldstino superpartner." arXiv:1512.05333 (2015). https://pith.science/paper/NRVF4DN6
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The paper

The paper claims

The 750 GeV diphoton bump might be the superpartner of the goldstino, with its couplings fixed by the gaugino masses and the scale of supersymmetry breaking.

The reading

The paper asks whether the modest diphoton excess seen near 750 GeV in early 13 TeV LHC data can be the sgoldstino: the scalar partner of the goldstino, the Goldstone fermion of spontaneously broken supersymmetry. The appeal of this identification is that the sgoldstino's production and decay strengths are not free parameters — they are fixed by ratios of the gaugino masses to the supersymmetry-breaking scale $m_i/2f$, so a single choice of those few numbers predicts the rates in gluon fusion, photons, di-jets, $Zgamma$, $ZZ$ and $WW$ at once. Requiring the diphoton rate to land in the range the excess prefers, while staying under the Run-I limits in the other channels, pins the breaking scale near a few TeV and forces a hierarchy $m_1 < m_2 < m_3$ among the bino, wino and gluino. The paper also offers a way out of an awkward detail — the data mildly prefer a resonance about 45 GeV wide, while the sgoldstino must be narrower than a GeV — by noting that electroweak corrections can split the CP-even and CP-odd halves of the complex sgoldstino by 10–30 GeV, so two unresolved narrow peaks could pass for one broad one. If this is right, the same parameter space feeds extra tree-level $F$-term contributions into the Higgs mass, tying the diphoton bump to the Higgs sector and to direct searches for gluinos and winos.

What carries the argument

The sgoldstino itself is the load-bearing object: a complex scalar whose real and imaginary parts are the CP-even and CP-odd partners of the goldstino, with all its interactions suppressed by the supersymmetry-breaking scale $sqrt{f}$ and weighted by soft gaugino masses. Its loop-induced couplings do the work — the digluon width $Gamma(phi to gg) = m_3^2 m_phi^3/(4 pi f^2)$ sets both the gluon-fusion production rate and the di-jet danger, while the diphoton width $Gamma(phi to gammagamma) = (m_1 c_W^2 + m_2 s_W^2)^2 m_phi^3/(32 pi f^2)$ ties the signal to a specific combination of bino and wino masses. The second piece of machinery is the mass-splitting formula of equation (4), driven by $mu$ and $B_mu$, which converts the apparent broad-width preference into a two-peak signature, and the third is the modified tree-level Higgs mass of equation (5), where the standard $D$-term is augmented by $F$-term quartics and a destructive interference between $2 mu^2$ and $B_mu sin 2beta$.

Extended reading notes

Core claim

The central claim is that the complex sgoldstino scalar $x = (phi + i a)/sqrt{2}$ can account for the ATLAS and CMS diphoton excess without violating any existing resonance search. Because the sgoldstino couples to gauge bosons in proportion to the corresponding gaugino masses divided by the supersymmetry-breaking scale, the diphoton rate, the di-jet rate and the $Zgamma$, $ZZ$ and $WW$ rates are all correlated predictions of the same small set of parameters. Imposing the Run-I di-jet limit forces $sqrt{f}/3.9~text{TeV} gtrsim sqrt{m_3/1.7~text{TeV}}$, so the breaking scale cannot be far above a few TeV; the $Zgamma$ search is the tightest of the electroweak constraints on the surviving region, with $ZZ$ and $WW$ close behind. Saturating the di-jet bound also caps the total sgoldstino width below about 0.4 GeV, which is why the authors turn to mass splitting: the operator structure of equation (3) generates $m_a^2 - m_phi^2 = 2 v^2 mu^2 B_mu m_x^2 / f^2 , (2 mu^2 sin 2beta - B_mu)$, allowing two narrow states separated by 10–30 GeV that the current low-statistics diphoton spectrum cannot resolve. In the same low-$sqrt{f}$ regime, integrating out the auxiliary field $F_X$ adds $F$-term quartics to the Higgs potential, giving a tree-level Higgs mass that can be pushed well above the ordinary $D$-term value, though the authors find that keeping sgoldstino–Higgs mixing corrections under 10% requires small $tanbeta$, large $B_mu/f$ and small $mu$ — for example $B_mu/f = 0.8$, $mu = 400$ GeV, $tanbeta = 2$ yields $m_h approx 120$ GeV with a 15 GeV splitting.

Load-bearing premise

The whole analysis rests on the 750 GeV diphoton excess being a real resonance rather than a statistical fluctuation of the background, a premise the paper cannot test with the data then available and that the authors themselves flag when they write that they look forward to knowing whether the signal is new physics or yet another fluctuation.

Editorial extensions

If this is right

  • Gaugino masses must be hierarchical, $m_1 < m_2 < m_3$, with the supersymmetry-breaking scale in the few-TeV range — far below what gauge, gravity or anomaly mediation typically select.
  • The same parameter space predicts correlated signals in di-jets, $Zgamma$ and $ZZ$, so hints should appear in those channels within the next few inverse femtobarns of 13 TeV data if the interpretation holds.
  • The two narrow sgoldstino peaks, split by 10–30 GeV, should become resolvable as diphoton statistics grow, replacing the single broad bump with a double peak.
  • Because the low-$sqrt{f}$ regime generates extra tree-level $F$-term contributions to the Higgs mass, the diphoton excess becomes linked to Higgs coupling measurements and to direct searches for gluinos, winos and higgsinos.

Reading between the lines

Editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • The interpretation is unusually falsifiable for a new-physics explanation of a bump: the ratios of di-jet to $Zgamma$ to diphoton rates are fixed by the gaugino mass ratios alone, so a single channel's rate effectively predicts the others once one is measured.
  • If the two-peak structure were resolved and the separation measured, equation (4) would translate it into a constraint on $mu$, $B_mu$ and $tanbeta$ — turning a diphoton observation into a probe of the Higgs sector rather than only of supersymmetry breaking.
  • The same $B_mu/f$ coupling that splits the sgoldstino masses also shifts Higgs couplings to gluons, photons and $Zgamma$ proportionally to the corresponding gaugino mass combinations, so precision Higgs measurements and diphoton resonance searches constrain the same parameter from two directions.
  • A low supersymmetry-breaking scale of a few TeV sits in a range that future high-luminosity running could probe through the sgoldstino's own digluon width, since the di-jet bound is what currently caps the width below a GeV.
Original abstract

We interpret the di-photon excess recently reported by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations as a new resonance arising from the sgoldstino scalar, which is the superpartner of the Goldstone mode of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, the goldstino. The sgoldstino is produced at the LHC via gluon fusion and decays to photons, with interaction strengths proportional to the corresponding gaugino masses over the supersymmetry breaking scale. Fitting the excess, while evading bounds from searches in the di-jet, $Z\gamma$, $ZZ$ and $WW$ final states, selects the supersymmetry breaking scale to be a few TeV, and particular ranges for the gaugino masses. The two real scalars, corresponding to the CP-even and CP-odd parts of the complex sgoldstino, both have narrow widths, but their masses can be split of the order 10-30 GeV by electroweak mixing corrections, which could account for the preference of a wider resonance width in the current low-statistics data. In the parameter space under consideration, tree-level $F$-term contributions to the Higgs mass arise, in addition to the standard $D$-term contribution proportional to the $Z$-boson mass, which can significantly enhance the tree level Higgs mass.

The compiled record

The paper's own sentences, arranged, kept beside the review and separate from it. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

Compiled by classifier-1.13.0 via TypeSafe API, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 4,664 input tokens.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.03 · states limitation 0.46 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.04 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.95 · compares with prior results 0.46 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v2. Results and the main claim are underlined; .

We interpret the di-photon excess recently reported by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations as a new resonance arising from the sgoldstino scalar, which is the superpartner of the Goldstone mode of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, the goldstino. The sgoldstino is produced at the LHC via gluon fusion and decays to photons, with interaction strengths proportional to the corresponding gaugino masses over the supersymmetry breaking scale. Fitting the excess, while evading bounds from searches in the di-jet, $Z\gamma$, $ZZ$ and $WW$ final states, selects the supersymmetry breaking scale to be a few TeV, and particular ranges for the gaugino masses. The two real scalars, corresponding to the CP-even and CP-odd parts of the complex sgoldstino, both have narrow widths, but their masses can be split of the order 10-30 GeV by electroweak mixing corrections, which could account for the preference of a wider resonance width in the current low-statistics data. In the parameter space under consideration, tree-level $F$-term contributions to the Higgs mass arise, in addition to the standard $D$-term contribution proportional to the $Z$-boson mass, which can significantly enhance the tree level Higgs mass.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#sentencerolethe authors' own workstates the main conclusionstrength
s0 We interpret the di-photon excess recently reported by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations as a new resonance arising from the sgoldstino scalar, which is the superpartner of the Goldstone mode of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking, the goldstino. interpretation 0.64 0.78 0.82 asserted 0.77
s1 The sgoldstino is produced at the LHC via gluon fusion and decays to photons, with interaction strengths proportional to the corresponding gaugino masses over the supersymmetry breaking scale. method 0.64 0.33 0.07 asserted 1.00
s2 Fitting the excess, while evading bounds from searches in the di-jet, $Z\gamma$, $ZZ$ and $WW$ final states, selects the supersymmetry breaking scale to be a few TeV, and particular ranges for the gaugino masses. result 0.97 0.86 0.34 asserted 0.99
s3 The two real scalars, corresponding to the CP-even and CP-odd parts of the complex sgoldstino, both have narrow widths, but their masses can be split of the order 10-30 GeV by electroweak mixing corrections, which could account for the preference of a wider resonance width in the current low-statistics data. result 0.65 0.75 0.06 hedged possibility 0.84
s4 In the parameter space under consideration, tree-level $F$-term contributions to the Higgs mass arise, in addition to the standard $D$-term contribution proportional to the $Z$-boson mass, which can significantly enhance the tree level Higgs mass. result 0.63 0.57 0.08 asserted 0.70

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: theoretical result 0.98 · evidence from analysis of existing data 0.93.

What was examined, and what was not

sources read
  • arXiv listing abstract v2
not examined
  • full text
  • figures and tables
  • references and citing sentences
  • relations to other papers
levels run
  • P abstract
not run
  • S sections
  • T body sentences
  • C citations
  • R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

Figures
Figure 1. FIG. 1. The green region is allowed by the Run-I searches
Figure 2. FIG. 2. The two blue regions in the (

Figures reproduced from arXiv:1512.05333 by the authors.

References
How the literature uses it

73 arXiv papers cite this in 85 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers whose main result relates to this one's

Found among the papers closest to this one by title and main claim. Pith's classifier compared each pair's main results and a second model family confirmed the relation; checked against two further families, shown conflicts agreed 118 times in 120 and shown same results 218 times in 239. The quoted sentence is the other paper's main claim.

States the same result 1 paper
  • We point out that the diphoton excess at about 750 GeV recently discovered by the LHC experiments can be explained within supersymmetric models with low scale supersymmetry breaking with sgoldstino as a natural candidate.

    On sgoldstino interpretation of the diphoton excess · 0.98

Papers citing it · 26 sentences without a confident label

Builds on it 1 paper
Cites it as background 56 papers

What it cites · 7 sentences without a confident label

Uses data or values from 6 papers
  • The fact that the sgoldstino is produced at the LHC via gluon fusion implies compatibility with the $√(s)=8$ TeV LHC Run-I data, in which no significant di-photon excess was found and where a 95% confidence level (CL) upper limit on the di-photon signal rate at around 1.5 fb was placed [ref] , since the gain in cross-section from 8 to 13 TeV is about a factor of 4.7, in comparison to the $uu̅$/$dd̅$ gain of about a factor of 2.5/2.3 [ref] .

    Search for high-mass diphoton resonances in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector · Introduction · 0.80

  • The fact that the sgoldstino is produced at the LHC via gluon fusion implies compatibility with the $√(s)=8$ TeV LHC Run-I data, in which no significant di-photon excess was found and where a 95% confidence level (CL) upper limit on the di-photon signal rate at around 1.5 fb was placed [ref] , since the gain in cross-section from 8 to 13 TeV is about a factor of 4.7, in comparison to the $uu̅$/$dd̅$ gain of about a factor of 2.5/2.3 [ref] .

    What is the gamma gamma resonance at 750 GeV? · Introduction · 0.80

  • Run-I searches for resonances in the $Zγ$ [ref] , $ZZ$ [ref] and $WW$ [ref] final states, place $95%$ CL upper limits on the signal rate at around 4 fb, 12 fb and 40 fb, respectively.

    Search for new resonances in $W\gamma$ and $Z\gamma$ Final States in $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS Detector · Explaining the di-photon excess · 1.00

Cites as background 22 papers

Discussion

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