MSSM dark matter and a light slepton sector: The Incredible Bulk

TL;DR

This paper explores leptophilic MSSM scenarios with light sleptons that remain consistent with experimental constraints and can account for dark matter, highlighting their unique signatures and constraints from dipole moment measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a leptophilic MSSM framework with light sleptons that preserves dark matter relic density and complies with experimental bounds, expanding viable supersymmetric models.

Findings

Large parameter space for neutralino dark matter with light sleptons.

Constraints from electron and muon dipole moments limit model viability.

Potential signatures at indirect detection experiments.

Abstract

Recent experimental results from the LHC have placed strong constraints on the masses of QCD-charged superpartners. The MSSM parameter space is also constrained by the measurement of the Higgs boson mass, and the requirement that the relic density of lightest neutralinos be consistent with observations. Although large regions of the MSSM parameter space can be excluded by these combined bounds, leptophilic versions of the MSSM can survive these constraints. In this paper we consider a scenario in which the requirements of minimal flavor violation, vanishing $CP$-violation, and mass universality are relaxed, specifically focusing on scenarios with light sleptons. We find a large region of parameter space, analogous to the original bulk region, for which the lightest neutralino is a thermal relic with an abundance consistent with that of dark matter. We find that these leptophilic models are constrained by measurements of the magnetic and electric dipole moments of the electron and muon, and that these models have interesting signatures at a variety of indirect detection experiments.