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We discuss how to consistently use Effective Field Theories (EFTs) to set universal bounds on heavy-mediator Dark Matter at colliders, without prejudice on the model underlying a given effective interaction. We illustrate the method for a Majorana fermion, universally coupled to the Standard Model quarks via a dimension-6 axial-axial four-fermion operator. We recast the ATLAS mono-jet analysis and show that a considerable fraction of the parameter space, seemingly excluded by a naive EFT interpretation, is actually still unexplored. Consistently set EFT limits can be reinterpreted in any specific underlying model. We provide two explicit examples for the chosen operator and compare the reach of our model-independent method with that obtainable by dedicated analyses.
We investigate the thermal cosmology and terrestrial and astrophysical phenomenology of a sub-GeV hadrophilic dark sector. The specific construction explored in this work features a Dirac fermion dark matter candidate interacting with a light scalar mediator that dominantly couples to the up-quark. The correct freeze-out relic abundance may be achieved via dark matter annihilation directly to hadrons or through secluded annihilation to scalar mediators. A rich and distinctive phenomenology is present in this scenario, with probes arising from precision meson decays, proton beam dump experiments, colliders, direct detection experiments, supernovae, and nucleosynthesis. In the future, experiments such as NA62, REDTOP, SHiP, SBND, and NEWS-G will be able to explore a significant portion of the cosmologically motivated parameter space.
A preponderance of astrophysical and cosmological evidence indicates that the universe contains not only visible matter but also dark matter. In order to suppress the couplings between the dark and visible sectors, a standard assumption is that these two sectors communicate only through a mediator. In this paper we make a simple but important observation: if the dark sector contains multiple components with similar quantum numbers, then this mediator also generically gives rise to dark-sector decays, with heavier dark components decaying to lighter components. This in turn can even give rise to relatively long dark decay chains, with each step of the decay chain also producing visible matter. The visible byproducts of such mediator-induced decay chains can therefore serve as a unique signature of such scenarios. In order to examine this possibility more concretely, we examine a scenario in which a multi-component dark sector is connected through a mediator to Standard-Model quarks. We then demonstrate that such a scenario gives rise to multi-jet collider signatures, and we examine the properties of such jets at both the parton and detector levels. Within relatively large regions of parameter space, we find that such multi-jet signatures are not excluded by existing monojet and multi-jet searches. Such decay cascades therefore represent a potential discovery route for multi-component dark sectors at current and future colliders.
Using the latest PandaX limits on light dark matter (DM) with light mediator, we check the implication on the parameter space of the general singlet extension of MSSM (without $Z_3$ symmetry), which can have a sizable DM self-interaction to solve the small-scale structure problem. We find that the PandaX limits can stringently constrain such a paramter space, depending on the coupling $lambda$ between the singlet and doublet Higgs fields. For the singlet extension of MSSM with $Z_3$ symmetry, the so-called NMSSM, we also demonstrate the PandaX constraints on its parameter space which gives a light DM with correct relic density but without sufficient self-interaction to solve the small-scale structure problem. We find that in this NMSSM the GeV dark matter with a sub-GeV mediator has been stringently constrained.
We investigate the signatures at the Large Hadron Collider of a minimal model where the dark matter particle is a Majorana fermion that couples to the Standard Model via one or several coloured mediators. We emphasize the importance of the production channel of coloured scalars through the exchange of a dark matter particle in the t-channel, and perform a dedicated analysis of searches for jets and missing energy for this model. We find that the collider constraints are highly competitive compared to direct detection, and can even be considerably stronger over a wide range of parameters. We also discuss the complementarity with searches for spectral features at gamma-ray telescopes and comment on the possibility of several coloured mediators, which is further constrained by flavour observables.
We search for nuclear recoil signals of dark matter models with a light mediator in PandaX-II, a direct detection experiment in China Jinping underground Laboratory. Using data collected in 2016 and 2017 runs, corresponding to a total exposure of 54 ton day, we set upper limits on the zero-momentum dark matter-nucleon cross section. These limits have a strong dependence on the mediator mass when it is comparable to or below the typical momentum transfer. We apply our results to constrain self-interacting dark matter models with a light mediator mixing with standard model particles, and set strong limits on the model parameter space for the dark matter mass ranging from $5~{rm GeV}$ to $10~{rm TeV}$.