No Arabic abstract
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.
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 consider flavor constraints on, and collider signatures of, Asymmetric Dark Matter (ADM) via higher dimension operators. In the supersymmetric models we consider, R-parity violating (RPV) operators carrying B-L interact with n dark matter (DM) particles X through an interaction of the form W = X^n O_{B-L}, where O_{B-L} = q l d^c, u^c d^c d^c, l l e^c. This interaction ensures that the lightest ordinary supersymmetric particle (LOSP) is unstable to decay into the X sector, leading to a higher multiplicity of final state particles and reduced missing energy at a collider. Flavor-violating processes place constraints on the scale of the higher dimension operator, impacting whether the LOSP decays promptly. While the strongest limitations on RPV from n-bar{n} oscillations and proton decay do not apply to ADM, we analyze the constraints from meson mixing, mu-e conversion, mu -> 3 e and b -> s l^+ l^-. We show that these flavor constraints, even in the absence of flavor symmetries, allow parameter space for prompt decay to the X sector, with additional jets and leptons in exotic flavor combinations. We study the constraints from existing 8 TeV LHC SUSY searches with (i) 2-6 jets plus missing energy, and (ii) 1-2 leptons, 3-6 jets plus missing energy, comparing the constraints on ADM-extended supersymmetry with the usual supersymmetric simplified models.
We study the prospect of probing electroweak baryogenesis driven by an extra bottom Yukawa coupling $rho_{bb}$ in a general two Higgs doublet model via electric dipole moment (EDM) measurements and at the collider experiments. The parameter space receives meaningful constraints from 125 GeV Higgs $h$ boson signal strength measurements as well as several heavy Higgs boson searches at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In addition, we show that the asymmetry of the CP asymmetry of inclusive $Bto X_s gamma$ decay would provide complementary probe. A discovery is possible at the LHC via $bgto bA to b Z h$ process if $|rho_{bb}|sim 0.15$ and $250~mbox{GeV}lesssim m_A lesssim 350$ GeV, where $A$ is CP odd scalar. For $m_A> 2 m_t$ threshold, where $m_t$ is the top quark mass, one may also discover $bgto bA to b t bar t$ at the high luminosity LHC run if an extra top Yukawa coupling $|rho_{tt}|sim0.5$, though it may suffer from systematic uncertainties. For completeness we study $ggto t bar t A to t bar t b bar b $ but find it not promising.
Many proposals for physics beyond the Standard Model give rise to a dark sector containing many degrees of freedom. In this work, we explore the cosmological implications of the non-trivial dynamics which may arise within such dark sectors, focusing on decay processes which take place entirely among the dark constituents. First, we demonstrate that such decays can leave dramatic imprints on the resulting dark-matter phase-space distribution. In particular, this distribution need not be thermal -- it can even be multi-modal, exhibiting a non-trivial pattern of peaks and troughs as a function of momentum. We then proceed to show how these features can induce modifications to the matter power spectrum. Finally, we assess the extent to which one can approach the archaeological inverse problem of deciphering the properties of an underlying dark sector from the matter power spectrum. Indeed, one of the main results of this paper is a remarkably simple conjectured analytic expression which permits the reconstruction of many of the important features of the dark-matter phase-space distribution directly from the matter power spectrum. Our results therefore provide an interesting toolbox of methods for learning about, and potentially constraining, the features of non-minimal dark sectors and their dynamics in the early universe.
We study an extension of the Standard Model (SM) in which two copies of the SM-Higgs doublet which do not acquire a vacuum expectation value, and hence are {it inert}, are added to the scalar sector. The lightest particle from the inert sector, which is protected from decaying to SM particles through the conservation of a $Z_2$ symmetry, is a viable dark matter candidate. We allow for CP-violation in this extended dark sector and evaluate the $ZZZ$ vertex and its CP-violating form factor in several benchmark scenarios. We provide collider signatures of this dark CP-violation in the form of potentially observable asymmetries and cross sections for the $fbar fto Z^*to ZZ$ process at both leptonic and hadronic machines.