Flavored Dark Matter in Direct Detection Experiments and at LHC

TL;DR

This paper explores flavored dark matter models where dark matter interacts with Standard Model particles via flavor-dependent interactions, analyzing constraints from meson decays, collider data, and implications for direct detection and LHC experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for flavored dark matter with flavor-dependent interactions and assesses experimental constraints and detection prospects.

Findings

Flavor-changing interactions are constrained by meson decay data.

Flavor-conserving interactions face bounds from collider experiments.

Implications for direct detection experiments are discussed.

Abstract

We consider the possibility that dark matter can communicate with the Standard Model fields via flavor interactions. We take the dark matter to belong to a "dark sector" which contains at least two types, or "flavors", of particles and then hypothesize that the Standard Model fields and dark matter share a common interaction which depends on flavor. As, generically, interaction eigenstates and mass eigenstates need not coincide, we consider both flavor-changing and flavor-conserving interactions. These interactions are then constrained by meson decays, kaon mixing, and current collider bounds, and we examine their relevance for direct detection and LHC.