The "96 GeV excess" in the N2HDM

Abstract: The CMS collaboration reported an intriguing $\sim 3 \, \sigma$ (local) excess at $96\;$GeV in the light Higgs-boson search in the diphoton decay mode. This mass coincides with a $\sim 2 \, \sigma$ (local) excess in the $b\bar b$ final state at LEP. We present the interpretation of this possible signal as the lightest Higgs boson in the 2 Higgs Doublet Model with an additional real Higgs singlet (N2HDM). We show that the type II and type IV (flipped) of the N2HDM can perfectly accommodate both excesses simultaneously, while being in agreement with all experimental and theoretical constraints. The excesses are most easily accommodated in the type II N2HDM, which resembles the Yukawa structure of supersymmetric models. We discuss the experimental prospects for constraining our explanation via charged Higgs-boson decays at the LHC or direct production of the $\sim 96\,$GeV Higgs boson at a future lepton collider like the ILC.