Constraining dark matter in the LRTH model with latest LHC, XENON100 and LUX data

TL;DR

This paper investigates the constraints on light dark matter candidates in the LRTH model using recent LHC, XENON100, and LUX data, providing updated limits on invisible Higgs decays and dark matter scattering cross sections.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive analysis combining collider and direct detection data to constrain the LRTH dark matter parameter space.

Findings

ATLAS and CMS data exclude large invisible Higgs branching ratios.

LHC global fits tighten constraints on invisible decay rates.

XENON100 and LUX data strongly limit dark matter-nucleon scattering cross sections.

Abstract

In the left-right twin Higgs (LRTH) model, the neutral $\hat{S}$ is a candidate for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM). If its mass is lighter than half of the SM-like Higgs boson $h$, the new invisible decay $h \to \hat{S}\hat{S}$ will become open. In this paper, we examine the status of a light dark matter ($\hat{S}$) under current experimental constraints including the latest LHC Higgs data, the XENON100 and LUX limit on the dark matter scattering off the nucleon. The following observations have been obtained: (i) The current ATLAS (CMS) measurements of $R_{\gamma\gamma}$ can exclude the invisible Higgs branching ratio ${\rm Br}_{\rm inv}$ larger than $34\%$ ($48\%$) at $2\sigma$ level; (ii) the Global fits to the latest LHC and Tevatron Higgs data provide a stronger constraint: ${\rm Br}_{\rm inv}< 20\%$ ($30\%$) at $2\sigma$ ($3\sigma$) level, which could be tested in the LHC experiments; (iii) for the spin-independent scattering cross section off the nucleon, the recent XENON100 (LUX) data can exclude the invisible decay rate larger than $50\%$ $(25\%)$; and (iv) the results of direct DM searches with LUX can give strong constraint on the viable parameter space of $\{g_{h\hat{S}\hat{S}}, m_{\hat{S}}\}$ in this LRTH model.