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Title: A taste of dark matter: Flavour constraints on pseudoscalar mediators

Journal Article · · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Theory Group, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  2. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)
  3. Univ. of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Dark matter interacting via the exchange of a light pseudoscalar can induce observable signals in indirect detection experiments and experience large self-interactions while evading the strong bounds from direct dark matter searches. The pseudoscalar mediator will however induce flavour-changing interactions in the Standard Model, providing a promising alternative way to test these models. We investigate in detail the constraints arising from rare meson decays and fixed target experiments for different coupling structures between the pseudoscalar and Standard Model fermions. The resulting bounds are highly complementary to the information inferred from the dark matter relic density and the constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis. We discuss the implications of our findings for the dark matter self-interaction cross section and the prospects of probing dark matter coupled to a light pseudoscalar with direct or indirect detection experiments. In particular, we find that a pseudoscalar mediator can only explain the Galactic Centre excess if its mass is above that of the B mesons, and that it is impossible to obtain a sufficiently large direct detection cross section to account for the DAMA modulation.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1213911
Journal Information:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Vol. 2015, Issue 3; ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer BerlinCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 125 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Model-independent analysis of the DAMPE excess journal February 2018
Exploring light mediators with low-threshold direct detection experiments journal November 2017
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Physics beyond colliders at CERN: beyond the Standard Model working group report journal December 2019
Decays of the neutral Higgs bosons into SM fermions and gauge bosons in the $$\mathcal{CP}$$ CP -violating NMSSM journal November 2018
DAMA confronts null searches in the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions journal May 2016
Dark forces coupled to nonconserved currents journal October 2017
ALPtraum: ALP production in proton beam dump experiments text January 2015
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O 1 $$ \mathcal{O}(1) $$ GeV dark matter in SUSY and a very light pseudoscalar at the LHC journal July 2015
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Revised constraints and Belle II sensitivity for visible and invisible axion-like particles journal December 2017
Freeze-in production of decaying dark matter in five steps journal November 2018
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Pseudoscalar mediators: a WIMP model at the neutrino floor journal March 2018
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