Chromo-Rayleigh Interactions of Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper explores how the LHC can effectively probe dark matter interactions with gluons via chromo-Rayleigh interactions, introducing simplified models and collider signatures, and demonstrating superior sensitivity compared to direct detection methods.

Contribution

The paper develops simplified UV-complete models for dark matter chromo-Rayleigh interactions and analyzes their collider signatures at the LHC, highlighting the collider's superior sensitivity.

Findings

LHC can outperform direct detection in probing dark matter chromo-Rayleigh interactions.

Collider signatures include four jets or di-jet resonances with missing energy.

LHC sensitivity improves with higher energy and luminosity.

Abstract

For a wide range of models, dark matter can interact with QCD gluons via chromo-Rayleigh interactions. We point out that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as a gluon machine, provides a superb probe of such interactions. In this paper, we introduce simplified models to UV-complete two effective dark matter chromo-Rayleigh interactions and identify the corresponding collider signatures, including four jets or a pair of di-jet resonances plus missing transverse energy. After performing collider studies for both the 8 TeV and 14 TeV LHC, we find that the LHC can be more sensitive to dark matter chromo-Rayleigh interactions than direct detection experiments and thus provides the best opportunity for future discovery of this class of models.