Supersymmetric sphaleron configurations as the origin of the perplexing ANITA events

Abstract

The ANITA experiment has observed two air shower events with energy ~ 500 PeV emerging from the Earth with exit angles of ~ 30 degrees. We explain ANITA events as arising from neutrino-induced supersymmetric sphaleron transitions. These high-multiplicity configurations could contain a large number of long-lived supersymmetric fermions, which can traverse the Earth and decay in the atmosphere to initiate upward-pointing air showers at large angles above the horizon. We comment on the sensitivity of new generation LHC detectors, designed to searching for displaced decays of beyond standard model long-lived particles, to test our model.

Comments: Matching version accepted for publication in PLB