Light dark matter in leptophobic Z' models

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model where a light dark matter particle interacts via a leptophobic Z' gauge boson, explaining recent direct detection signals without conflicting with accelerator constraints.

Contribution

It introduces a leptophobic Z' model with a light gauge boson and small coupling, providing a viable explanation for dark matter detection results.

Findings

Dark matter particle around 10 GeV/c^2 can be explained by a light Z' boson.

The Z' boson couples to quarks but not leptons, avoiding accelerator constraints.

The model is consistent with current experimental data.

Abstract

Recent experimental results in direct dark matter detection may be interpreted in terms of a dark matter particle of mass around 10 GeV/c^2. We show that the required scenario can be realized with a new dark matter particle charged under an extra abelian gauge boson Z' that couples to quarks but not leptons. This is possible provided the Z' gauge boson is very light, around 10-20 GeV/c^2 in mass, and the gauge coupling constant is small, alpha' ~ 10^(-5). Such scenarios are not constrained by accelerator data.