118791035
Flavored Dark Matter, and Its Implications for Direct Detection and Colliders
We consider theories where the dark matter particle carries flavor quantum numbers, and has renormalizable contact interactions with the Standard Model fields. The phenomenology of this scenario depends sensitively on whether dark matter carries lepton flavor, quark flavor or its own internal flavor quantum numbers. We show that each of these possibilities is associated with a characteristic type of vertex, has different implications for direct detection experiments and gives rise to distinct collider signatures. We find that the region of parameter space where dark matter has the right abundance to be a thermal relic is in general within reach of current direct detection experiments. We focus on a class of models where dark matter carries tau flavor, and show that the collider signals of these models include events with four or more isolated leptons and missing energy. A full simulation of the signal and backgrounds, including detector effects, shows that in a significant part of parameter space these theories can be discovered above Standard Model backgrounds at the Large Hadron Collider. We also study the extent to which flavor and charge correlations among the final state leptons allows models of this type to be distinguished from theories where dark matter couples to leptons but does not carry flavor.
116347830
Direct Detection Constraints on Dark Matter Event Rates in Neutrino Telescopes, and Collider Implications
Neutrino telescopes are looking to detect neutrinos produced by the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter in the sun. The event rate depends on the dark matter density in the sun, which in turn is dictated by the cross section of WIMPs with nucleons. This however is bounded by direct detection experiments. We use the constraints from these experiments to place model-independent upper bounds on the event rates in neutrino telescopes that apply to any elastic dark matter model. Since the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section is much more tightly constrained than the corresponding spin-dependent cross section, the bounds are much stronger in the former case and are competitive with the current limits from IceCube. If the number of events observed in neutrino telescopes exceeds the upper bound corresponding to spin-independent interactions, the implication is that the cross section of dark matter with nucleons is dominated by spin- dependent interactions. In such a scenario the natural dark matter candidates are Majorana fermions and real vector bosons, so that dark matter particles are their own anti-particles. We show that any such theory that leads to observable event rates at current generation neutrino telescopes will in general contain new particles charged under the Standard Model gauge groups that naturally lie in a mass range that is kinematically accessible to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
85504800
WIMPs at the galactic center
Simple models of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) predict dark matter annihilations into pairs of electroweak gauge bosons, Higgses or tops, which through their subsequent cascade decays produce a spectrum of gamma rays. Intriguingly, an excess in gamma rays coming from near the Galactic center has been consistently observed in Fermi data. A recent analysis by the Fermi collaboration confirms these earlier results. Taking into account the systematic uncertainties in the modelling of the gamma ray backgrounds, we show for the first time that this excess can be well fit by these final states. In particular, for annihilations to (WW, ZZ, hh, tt{sup -bar}), dark matter with mass between threshold and approximately (165, 190, 280, 310) GeV gives an acceptable fit. The fit range for bb{sup -bar} is also enlarged to 35 GeV≲m{sub χ}≲165 GeV. These are to be compared to previous fits that concluded only much lighter dark matter annihilating into b, τ, and light quark final states could describe the excess. We demonstrate that simple, well-motivated models of WIMP dark matter including a thermal-relic neutralino of the MSSM, Higgs portal models, as well as other simplified models can explain the excess.
54077204
Identifying dark matter interactions in monojet searches
A bstractWe study the discrimination of quark-initiated jets from gluon-initiated jets in monojet searches for dark matter using the technique of averaged jet energy profiles. We demonstrate our results in the context of effective field theories of dark matter interactions with quarks and gluons, but our methods apply more generally to a wide class of models. Different effective theories of dark matter and the standard model backgrounds each have a characteristic quark/gluon fraction for the leading jet. When used in conjunction with the traditional cut-and-count monojet search, the jet energy profile can be used to set stronger bounds on contact interactions of dark matter. In the event of a discovery of a monojet excess at the 14 TeV LHC, contact interactions between dark matter with quarks or with gluons can be differentiated at the 95% confidence level. For a given rate at the LHC, signal predictions at direct detection experiments for different dark matter interactions can span five orders of magnitude. The ability to identify these interactions allows us to make a tighter connection between LHC searches and direct detection experiments.
120513086
Flavored Dark Matter
Title of dissertation: FLAVORED DARK MATTER Prateek Agrawal, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Zackaria Chacko Department of Physics Astrophysical observations point to the fact that most of the matter density in the universe is in the form of a non-luminous “dark matter”. No particles detected so far satisfy the criteria to be dark matter candidates. If the present day dark matter density is set by thermal freeze out due to the expansion of the universe, then the dark matter particles likely have weak-scale interactions with ordinary matter. This opens up the possibility of detecting them in current experiments. We focus on a novel class of models – flavored dark matter – which contains multiple copies, or flavors, of dark matter particles, in analogy with the three copies of matter particles observed in nature. We classify such models and consider their implications for various dark matter searches. As an example, we choose one specific model with tau flavored dark matter, and consider its prospects for detection at the Large Hadron Collider. FLAVORED DARK MATTER
117007207
A Classification of Dark Matter Candidates with Primarily Spin-Dependent Interactions with Matter
We perform a model-independent classification of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter candidates that have the property that their scattering off nucleons is dominated by spin-dependent interactions. We study renormalizable theories where the scattering of dark matter is elastic and arises at tree-level. We show that if the WIMP-nucleon cross section is dominated by spin-dependent interactions the natural dark matter candidates are either Majorana fermions or real vector bosons, so that the dark matter particle is its own anti-particle. In such a scenario, scalar dark matter is disfavored. Dirac fermion and complex vector boson dark matter are also disfavored, except for very specific choices of quantum numbers. We further establish that any such theory must contain either new particles close to the weak scale with Standard Model quantum numbers, or alternatively, a $Z'$ gauge boson with mass at or below the TeV scale. In the region of parameter space that is of interest to current direct detection experiments, these particles naturally lie in a mass range that is kinematically accessible to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
1968264
Production of two photons and a jet through gluon fusion
We have computed the cross-section and distributions for the production of two photons and a jet via the process gg ! g. In the Standard Model, this process occurs at the one-loop level through pentagon and box diagrams. We show that at the LHC this is a signicant mechanism for the production of the two photons and a jet. This process is also an important background to the Higgs boson production, when the Higgs boson decays into two photons. We also explore this process at the Tevatron.
122943004
Looking for a higgs boson of intermediate mass
Abstract It is pointed out that the ability to identify and reconstruct bottoms jets will be important for the identification of the Higgs boson at hadron colliders, if its mass is in the intermediate mass range (2 M W > M H > M Z ). We examine a particular tagging scheme.
119230801
Production of a KK-graviton and a vector boson in ADD model via gluon fusion
A bstractIn the models with large extra-dimensions, we examine the production of a vector boson (γ/ Z) in association with the Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of the graviton via gluon fusion. At the leading order, the process takes place through quark-loop box and triangle diagrams and it is ultraviolate finite. We report the results for the LHC. We also discuss the issues of anomaly and decoupling of heavy quarks in the amplitude.
120022857
On detecting new heavy quarks at hadron colliders
Abstract The implications of the existence of a new quark that is heavy enough so that its decay products include an on-shell W boson are discussed. It is argued that in this case the production and subsequent decay of quark-anti-quark pairs of this new flavor will yield a large enough rate of W + W − →l ± vjj events that the two jet mass distribution associated with events selected by the usual W→l ν signal will exhibit and observable W resonance. This feature could serve as a signal for the presence of new heavy quark production at hadron colliders.
119181725
Gluon fusion contribution to VHj production at hadron colliders
Abstract We study the associated production of an electroweak vector boson and the Higgs boson with a jet via gluon–gluon fusion. At the leading order, these processes occur at one-loop level. The amplitudes of these one-loop processes are gauge invariant and finite. Therefore, their contributions towards the corresponding hadronic cross sections and kinematic distributions can be calculated separately. We present results for the Large Hadron Collider and its discussed upgrades. We find that the gluon–gluon one-loop process gives dominant contribution to the γHj production. We observe a destructive interference effect in the g g → Z H j amplitude. We also find that in the high transverse momentum and central rapidity region, the ZHj production cross section via gluon–gluon fusion becomes comparable to the cross section contributions coming from quark–quark and quark–gluon channels.