LHC Phenomenology of Dark Matter with a Color-Octet Partner

TL;DR

This paper investigates a dark matter model with a color-octet partner, analyzing collider signatures like R-hadrons and assessing current and future LHC constraints on such scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a novel dark matter model with a color-octet partner interacting via effective gluon operators and explores its collider phenomenology and experimental constraints.

Findings

Collider signatures such as R-hadrons are significant for this model.

Current LHC data constrains the parameter space.

Future LHC searches can further probe the model.

Abstract

Colored dark sectors where the dark matter particle is accompanied by colored partners have recently attracted theoretical and phenomenological interest. We explore the possibility that the dark sector consists of the dark matter particle and a color-octet partner, where the interaction with the Standard Model is governed by an effective operator involving gluons. The resulting interactions resemble the color analogues of electric and magnetic dipole moments. Although many phenomenological features of this kind of model only depend on the group representation of the partner under SU(3)$_c$, we point out that interesting collider signatures such as $R$-hadrons are indeed controlled by the interaction operator between the dark and visible sector. We perform a study of the current constraints and future reach of LHC searches, where the complementarity between different possible signals is highlighted and exploited.