Probing Leptophilic Dark Sectors with Hadronic Processes
  We study vector portal dark matter models where the mediator couples only to
leptons. In spite of the lack of tree-level couplings to colored states,
radiative effects generate interactions with quark fields that could give rise
to a signal in current and future experiments. We identify such experimental
signatures: scattering of nuclei in dark matter direct detection; resonant
production of lepton-antilepton pairs at the Large Hadron Collider; and
hadronic final states in dark matter indirect searches. Furthermore, radiative
effects also generate an irreducible mass mixing between the vector mediator
and the $Z$ boson, severely bounded by ElectroWeak Precision Tests. We use
current experimental results to put bounds on this class of models, accounting
for both radiatively induced and tree-level processes. Remarkably, the former
often overwhelm the latter.
