Closing up on dark sectors at colliders: From 14 to 100 TeV

Philip Harris,Ciaran Williams,Michael Spannowsky,Valentin V Khoze

doi:10.1103/physrevd.93.054030

Abstract

We investigate the reach of the LHC Run 2 and that of a future circular hadron collider with up to 100 TeV centre of mass energy for the exploration of potential Dark Matter sectors. These dark sectors are conveniently and broadly described by simplified models. The simplified models we consider provide microscopic descriptions of interactions between the Standard Model partons and the dark sector particles mediated by the four basic types of messenger fields: scalar, pseudo-scalar, vector or axial-vector. Our analysis extends and updates the previously available results for the LHC at 8 and 14 TeV to 100 TeV for models with all four messenger types. We revisit and improve the analysis at 14 TeV, by studying a variety of analysis techniques, concluding that the most discriminating variables correspond to the missing transverse energy and the azimuthal angle between jets in the final state. Going to 100 TeV, the limits on simplified models of Dark Matter are enhanced significantly, in particular for heavier mediators and dark sector particles, for which the available phase space at the LHC is restricted. The possibility of a 100 TeV collider provides an unprecedented coverage of the dark sector basic parameters and a unique opportunity to pin down the particle nature of Dark Matter and its interactions with the Standard Model.

Highlights

The data collected by the Planck mission [1] confirms that, based on the standard model of cosmology, dark matter constitutes nearly 85% of the total matter content in the universe
We investigate the reach of the LHC Run 2 and that of a future circular hadron collider with up to 100 TeV center of mass energy for the exploration of potential dark matter sectors
As a result the results we present here should be interpreted as those which can be obtained over the lifetime of the LHC, and for a shorter run with the Future Circular Collider (FCC)

Summary

Introduction

The data collected by the Planck mission [1] confirms that, based on the standard model of cosmology, dark matter constitutes nearly 85% of the total matter content in the universe. With a natural assumption that all matter in the universe, dark and visible, is fundamental, dark matter should be described by a microscopic particle theory.. The quest to establish the identity of dark matter, and its fundamental interactions, amounts to one of the most important goals in particle physics. The observational evidence for dark matter (DM) was established from gravitational effects on visible matter. The standard model (SM) of particle physics does not contain any viable DM candidates. In this way dark matter provides us with arguably the strongest experimental evidence for the existence of physics beyond the standard model. The observation of nongravitational interactions of DM with visible matter could be crucial in discovering extensions of known fundamental theories.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion