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arXiv · 1707.05326

LHC Searches for Dark Sector Showers

Abstract

This paper proposes a new search program for dark sector parton showers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). These signatures arise in theories characterized by strong dynamics in a hidden sector, such as Hidden Valley models. A dark parton shower can be composed of both invisible dark matter particles as well as dark sector states that decay to Standard Model particles via a portal. The focus here is on the specific case of 'semi-visible jets,' jet-like collider objects where the visible states in the shower are Standard Model hadrons. We present a Simplified Model-like parametrization for the LHC observables and propose targeted search strategies for regions of parameter space that are not covered by existing analyses. Following the 'mono-$X$' literature, the portal is modeled using either an effective field theoretic contact operator approach or with one of two ultraviolet completions; sensitivity projections are provided for all three cases. We additionally highlight that the LHC has a unique advantage over direct detection experiments in the search for this class of dark matter theories.

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Timothy Cohen, Mariangela Lisanti, Hou Keong Lou, Siddharth Mishra-Sharma. 2017-11-25. LHC Searches for Dark Sector Showers. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep11(2017)196

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