Collider limits on dark matter

TL;DR

This paper analyzes collider data from Tevatron and LEP to set constraints on dark matter properties, providing competitive bounds especially for light WIMPs and specific interaction types, using a largely model-independent approach.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent effective theory framework to derive collider bounds on dark matter, translating them into constraints on scattering and annihilation cross sections.

Findings

Collider bounds are competitive with direct and indirect searches.

LEP rules out light (<10 GeV) thermal relic dark matter with electron annihilation.

Constraints are especially strong for spin-dependent and leptophilic interactions.

Abstract

Dark matter pair production at high energy colliders may leave observable signatures in the energy and momentum spectra of the objects recoiling against the dark matter. We discuss signatures of Dark Matter in the jets + missing energy and photon + missing energy channels at the Tevatron and at LEP. Working in a largely model-independent effective theory framework, we can convert the collider bounds into constraints on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section and on the dark matter annihilation cross section. Our bounds are highly competitive with those from direct and indirect dark matter searches, especially for light WIMPs and for WIMPs with spin-dependent or leptophilic interactions. For example, we show that LEP rules out light (<~ 10 GeV) thermal relic dark matter if annihilation into electrons is among the dominant annihilation channels.