# Probing pseudo-Goldstone dark matter at the LHC

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential for detecting pseudo-Goldstone dark matter at the LHC, focusing on the vector boson fusion channel, and finds promising discovery prospects for light dark matter in certain parameter regions.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of pseudo-Goldstone dark matter detection prospects at the LHC via VBF channel, emphasizing Higgs-like boson decays.

## Key findings

- Light dark matter ($m_ ext{DM} < 100$ GeV) can be discovered at the LHC in high luminosity runs.
- Detection is feasible when dark matter is produced in Higgs-like boson decays.
- The model naturally suppresses direct detection signals, aligning with current bounds.

## Abstract

Pseudo-Goldstone dark matter coupled to the Standard Model via the Higgs portal offers an attractive framework for phenomenologically viable pseudo-scalar dark matter. It enjoys natural suppression of the direct detection rate due to the vanishing of the relevant (tree level) Goldstone boson vertex at zero momentum transfer, which makes light WIMP-like dark matter consistent with the strong current bounds. In this work, we explore prospects of detecting pseudo-Goldstone dark matter at the LHC, focusing on the vector boson fusion (VBF) channel with missing energy. We find that, in substantial regions of parameter space, relatively light dark matter ($m_\chi < 100$ GeV) can be discovered in the high luminosity run as long as it is produced in decays of the Higgs-like bosons.