Eur. Phys. J. C (2022) 82: 665
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10541-4

Review

Unveiling hidden physics at the LHC

¹ Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZL, Liverpool, UK
² School of Physics and Institute for Collider Particle Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
³ iThemba LABS, National Research Foundation, PO Box 722, 7129, Somerset West, South Africa
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstr. 82, 4056, Basel, Switzerland
⁵ Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
⁶ CERN Theory Division, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica“E. Fermi”, Università di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy
⁸ INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, 56127, Pisa, Italy
⁹ Siena College, 515 Loudon Road, 12211-1462, Loudonville, NY, USA
¹⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, Università di L’Aquila, 67100, Coppito, L’Aquila, Italy
¹¹ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, L’Aquila, Assergi, Italy
¹² Institute for Astroparticle Physics (IAP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
¹³ Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics (TTP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Engesserstrasse 7, 76128, Karlsruhe, Germany
¹⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino, via P. Giuria 1, 10125, Turin, Italy
¹⁵ INFN Sezione di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125, Turin, Italy
¹⁶ Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, 300, Hsinchu, Taiwan
¹⁷ Physik-Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
¹⁸ Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1 Homi Bhabha Road, 400005, Mumbai, India
¹⁹ Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, 63130, St. Louis, MO, USA
²⁰ Indian Institute of Science (IISc), 560012, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pittsburgh Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Center, University of Pittsburgh, 15206, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
²² Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA
²³ The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions, Cambridge, USA
²⁴ Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
²⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
²⁶ INFN Sezione di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
²⁷ Institute of Physics, NAWI Graz, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, 8010, Graz, Austria
²⁸ Experimental Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
²⁹ Helsinki Institute of Physics (HIP), University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
³⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 55455, Minneapolis, MN, USA
³¹ Univ Lyon, Univ Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis de Lyon, UMR 5822, 69622, Villeurbanne, France
³² INFN, Sezione di Trieste, SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy
³³ Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, India
³⁴ IFIC, Universitat de València-CSIC, 46980, Paterna, Spain
³⁵ Departement Physik, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 1, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
³⁶ Département de Physique, École Polytechnique, Route de Saclay, 91128, Palaiseau Cedex, France
³⁷ Institute for Theoretical Physics, Heidelberg University, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

^a oliver.fischer@liverpool.ac.uk

Received: 3 November 2021
Accepted: 31 May 2022
Published online: 3 August 2022

Abstract

The field of particle physics is at the crossroads. The discovery of a Higgs-like boson completed the Standard Model (SM), but the lacking observation of convincing resonances Beyond the SM (BSM) offers no guidance for the future of particle physics. On the other hand, the motivation for New Physics has not diminished and is, in fact, reinforced by several striking anomalous results in many experiments. Here we summarise the status of the most significant anomalies, including the most recent results for the flavour anomalies, the multi-lepton anomalies at the LHC, the Higgs-like excess at around 96 GeV, and anomalies in neutrino physics, astrophysics, cosmology, and cosmic rays. While the LHC promises up to 4 of integrated luminosity and far-reaching physics programmes to unveil BSM physics, we consider the possibility that the latter could be tested with present data, but that systemic shortcomings of the experiments and their search strategies may preclude their discovery for several reasons, including: final states consisting in soft particles only, associated production processes, QCD-like final states, close-by SM resonances, and SUSY scenarios where no missing energy is produced. New search strategies could help to unveil the hidden BSM signatures, devised by making use of the CERN open data as a new testing ground. We discuss the CERN open data with its policies, challenges, and potential usefulness for the community. We showcase the example of the CMS collaboration, which is the only collaboration regularly releasing some of its data. We find it important to stress that individuals using public data for their own research does not imply competition with experimental efforts, but rather provides unique opportunities to give guidance for further BSM searches by the collaborations. Wide access to open data is paramount to fully exploit the LHCs potential.