An Effective Theory of Dirac Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper proposes a Dirac fermion dark matter model with leptonic interactions that aligns with cosmological data, avoids direct detection constraints, and explains cosmic ray positron excesses, with testable predictions for collider experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a viable Dirac fermion dark matter model with leptonic interactions, compatible with cosmology and astrophysical observations, and provides a UV completion via supersymmetry.

Findings

Matches relic abundance with cosmology

Explains PAMELA positron excess with minimal boost

Predicts light sleptons detectable at LHC

Abstract

A stable Dirac fermion with four-fermion interactions to leptons suppressed by a scale Lambda ~ 1 TeV is shown to provide a viable candidate for dark matter. The thermal relic abundance matches cosmology, while nuclear recoil direct detection bounds are automatically avoided in the absence of (large) couplings to quarks. The annihilation cross section in the early Universe is the same as the annihilation in our galactic neighborhood. This allows Dirac fermion dark matter to naturally explain the positron ratio excess observed by PAMELA with a minimal boost factor, given present astrophysical uncertainties. We use the Galprop program for propagation of signal and background; we discuss in detail the uncertainties resulting from the propagation parameters and, more importantly, the injected spectra. Fermi/GLAST has an opportunity to see a feature in the gamma-ray spectrum at the mass of the Dirac fermion. The excess observed by ATIC/PPB-BETS may also be explained with Dirac dark matter that is heavy. A supersymmetric model with a Dirac bino provides a viable UV model of the effective theory. The dominance of the leptonic operators, and thus the observation of an excess in positrons and not in anti-protons, is naturally explained by the large hypercharge and low mass of sleptons as compared with squarks. Minimizing the boost factor implies the right-handed selectron is the lightest slepton, which is characteristic of our model. Selectrons (or sleptons) with mass less than a few hundred GeV are an inescapable consequence awaiting discovery at the LHC.