The 750 GeV diphoton excess in unified SU(2)_Ltimes SU(2)_Rtimes SU(4) models from noncommutative geometry

We discuss a possible interpretation of the $750$ GeV diphoton resonance, recently reported at the LHC, within a class of $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R\times SU(4)$ models with gauge coupling unification. The unification is imposed by the underlying non-commutative geometry (NCG), which in these models is extended to a left-right symmetric completion of the Standard Model (SM). Within such \textit{unified} $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R\times SU(4)$ models the Higgs content is restrictively determined from the underlying NCG, instead of being arbitrarily selected. We show that the observed cross sections involving the $750$ GeV diphoton resonance could be realized through a SM singlet scalar field accompanied by colored scalars, present in these unified models. In view of this result we discuss the underlying rigidity of these models in the NCG framework and the wider implications of the NCG approach for physics beyond the SM.