Fermionic Singlet Dark Matter in One-Loop Solutions to the $R_K$ Anomaly: A Systematic Study

Abstract

We study the dark matter phenomenology of Standard Model extensions addressing the reported anomaly in the $R_K$ observable at one-loop. The article covers the case of fermionic singlet DM coupling leptophilically, quarkphilically or amphiphilically to the SM. The setup utilizes a large coupling of the new particle content to the second lepton generation to explain the $R_K$ anomaly, which in return tends to diminish the dark matter relic density. Further, dark matter direct detection experiments provide stringent bounds even in cases where the dark matter candidate only contributes a small fraction of the observed dark matter energy density. In fact, direct detection rules out all considered models as an explanation for the $R_K$ anomaly in the case of Dirac dark matter. Conversely, for Majorana dark matter, the $R_K$ anomaly can be addressed in agreement with direct detection in coannihilation scenarios. For leptophilic dark matter this region only exists for $M_\text{DM} \lesssim 1000 \, \mathrm{GeV}$ and dark matter is underabundant. Quarkphilic and amphiphilic scenarios even provide narrow regions of parameter space where the observed relic density can be reproduced while offering an explanation to $R_K$ in agreement with direct detection experiments.