Abstract
The existence of Dark Matter (DM) in the form of Strongly Interacting Massive Particles (SIMPs) may be motivated by astrophysical observations that challenge the classical Cold DM scenario. Other observations greatly constrain, but do not completely exclude, the SIMP alternative. The signature of SIMPs at the LHC may consist of neutral, hadron-like, trackless jets produced in pairs. We show that the absence of charged content can provide a very efficient tool to suppress dijet backgrounds at the LHC, thus enhancing the sensitivity to a potential SIMP signal. We illustrate this using a simplified SIMP model and present a detailed feasibility study based on simulations, including a dedicated detector response parametrization. We evaluate the expected sensitivity to various signal scenarios and tentatively consider the exclusion limits on the SIMP elastic cross section with nucleons.
Highlights
Background reduction factorSignal efficiency was found to significantly improve the search in case of a reduced SIMP production cross section
The results show readily that the considered SIMP signal can be discovered at the LHC for low SIMP mass
For strongly interacting massive particles, are much less considered than their more popular siblings, the WIMPs, but they are regularly considered in the literature in order to address some astrophysical issues
Summary
We motivate the SIMP models that we consider. Taking into account the existing constraints, the possibilities boil down to a few options [19], at least provided we focus on simple models. Provided the simulations may be trusted at such low energies, we found that, for a benchmark model with mφ = 1 GeV and gχ = 1, a total production cross section of ∼ 103 pb for mχ = 2 GeV, ∼ 10 pb for mχ = 4 GeV, ∼ 0.1 pb for mχ = 6 GeV and negligibly small for larger masses, a suppression probably due to the behaviour of the PDFs. More work would be required to set precise limits but, from these numbers, we tentatively conclude that SIMPs between 2 and about 6 GeV appear excluded on the basis of this experiment. The production at LHC of WIMPs is currently studied through missing transverse energy signals, typically jets or photons with large missing momentum [43,44,45,46,47] Such constraints apply to SIMPs, provided their interaction with baryons is less than that characteristic of hadrons, so that the DM particles produced do not deposit substantial energy in the calorimeters of the detectors. We discuss further the complementary possibility of observing trackless jets from DM interactions
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