Towards better discrimination and improved modelling of dark-sector showers

TL;DR

This paper explores advanced jet substructure techniques to differentiate dark-sector jets from QCD jets at the LHC, aiming to improve detection of elusive dark matter signatures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using IRC-safe linear basis observables to distinguish dark-sector jets from QCD jets in collider data.

Findings

Jet substructure methods can effectively differentiate dark-sector from QCD jets.

IRC-safe observables provide a robust basis for jet classification.

The approach enhances the potential to identify dark matter signals at the LHC.

Abstract

As no evidence for classic WIMP-based signatures of dark matter have been found at the LHC, several phenomenological studies have raised the possibility of accessing a strongly-interacting dark sector through new collider-event topologies. If dark mesons exist, their evolution and hadronization procedure are currently little constrained. They could decay promptly and result in QCD-like jet structures, even though the original decaying particles are dark sector ones; they could behave as semi-visible jets; or they could behave as completely detector-stable hadrons, in which case the final state is just the missing transverse momentum. In this contribution we will introduce a study performed to explore use of jet substructure methods to distinguish dark-sector from QCD jets in the first two scenarios, using observables in a IRC-safe linear basis, and discuss ways forward for this approach to dark-matter at the LHC.