Unitarity and Monojet Bounds on Models for DAMA, CoGeNT, and CRESST-II

TL;DR

This paper examines collider bounds on dark matter models related to direct detection anomalies, showing that LHC and Tevatron data impose strong constraints on mediator scales and interaction cross-sections, especially for light mediators.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of collider bounds on dark matter models, connecting contact operator limits with monojet search sensitivities for various mediator scenarios.

Findings

LHC bounds imply mediator scales stronger than missing energy searches.

Tevatron monojet data constrains light mediator models below 100 GeV.

Collider searches can exclude models explaining DAMA, CoGeNT, CRESST-II if mediators decay to dark matter.

Abstract

If dark matter interacts with quarks or gluons, the mediator of these interactions is either directly accessible at the LHC or is so heavy that its effects are encoded in contact operators. We find that the self-consistency of a contact operator description at the LHC implies bounds on the mediator scale stronger than those found from missing energy searches. This translates into spin-independent elastic scattering cross-sections at a level < 10^-41 cm^2, with direct implications for the DAMA, CoGeNT, and CRESST-II anomalies. We then carefully explore the potential of monojet searches in the light mediator limit, focusing on a Z' model with arbitrary couplings to quarks and dark matter. We find that the Tevatron data currently provides the most stringent bounds for dark matter and Z' masses below 100 GeV, and that these searches can constrain models for the DAMA, CoGeNT, and CRESST-II anomalies only if the mediator can decay to a pair of dark matter particles.