<p>In this paper, we systematically investigate the general spin-1 dark matter–nucleus interactions within the framework of effective field theories (EFTs). We consider both the nonrelativistic (NR) and the relativistic EFT descriptions of the DM interactions with nucleons and quarks. In the NREFT framework, we present a complete list of NR operators for spin-1 DM coupling to nucleons and compute their contributions to the DM response functions. Next, we consider all possible leading-order relativistic EFT operators between DM and light quarks and the photon, and we perform NR reductions to match them onto the NREFT. We then derive the nuclear scattering rate from these interactions and employ recent DM direct detection data (from both the nuclear recoil and the Migdal effect) to constrain all these EFT operators and DM electromagnetic properties. We find that the elastic nuclear recoil data (from PandaX-4T, XENONnT, LZ, and DarkSide-50) set stringent bounds on the EFT coefficients for a DM mass above a few GeV, while the Migdal-effect datasets (from PandaX-4T, XENONnT, and DarkSide-50) can probe a DM mass region as small as 20 MeV. Lastly, we construct a UV-complete model that can provide a complex spin-1 DM candidate, and at the same time generate DM-quark/photon operators discussed in this work.</p>

China

Jin-Han Liang

Yi Liao

Xiao-Dong Ma

Hao-Lin Wang

Systematic investigation on vector dark matter-nucleus scattering in effective field theories

Effective field theory (EFT) provides a model-independent framework for interpreting the results of dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments. In this study, we demonstrate that the two fermionic DM-quark tensor operators   $(\bar{\chi} {\rm{i}}\sigma^{\mu\nu} \gamma^5 \chi) (\bar{q} \sigma_{\mu\nu}q)$   and   $(\bar{\chi} {\rm{i}}\sigma^{\mu\nu} \gamma^5 \chi) (\bar{q} \sigma_{\mu\nu}q)$   can contribute to the DM electric and magnetic dipole moments via nonperturbative QCD effects, in addition to the well-studied contact DM-nucleon operators. We then investigate the constraints on these two operators by considering both the contact and dipole contributions using the XENON1T nuclear recoil and Migdal effect data. We also recast other existing bounds on the DM dipole operators, derived from electron and nuclear recoil measurements in various direct detection experiments, as constraints on the two tensor operators. For   $(\bar{\chi} {\rm{i}}\sigma^{\mu\nu} \gamma^5 \chi) (\bar{q} \sigma_{\mu\nu}q)$  , our results significantly extend the reach of constraints on the DM-quark tensor operators to masses as low as   $(\bar{\chi} {\rm{i}}\sigma^{\mu\nu} \gamma^5 \chi) (\bar{q} \sigma_{\mu\nu}q)$  , with the bound exceeding that obtained by the Migdal effect with only contact interactions by approximately an order of magnitude. In particular, for the operator   $(\bar{\chi} {\rm{i}}\sigma^{\mu\nu} \gamma^5 \chi) (\bar{q} \sigma_{\mu\nu}q)$   with DM mass   $(\bar{\chi} {\rm{i}}\sigma^{\mu\nu} \gamma^5 \chi) (\bar{q} \sigma_{\mu\nu}q)$  , the latest PandaX constraint on the DM electric dipole moment puts more stringent bounds than the previous direct detection limit. We also briefly discuss the constraints obtained from experiments other than direct detection.

Comprehensive constraints on fermionic dark matter-quark tensor interactions in direct detection experiments  

In this Letter we revisit general dark matter (DM)-bound-electron interactions studied previously in the influential work [R. Catena et al., Atomic responses to general dark matter-electron interactions, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 033195 (2020)]. For the most general DM-electron nonrelativistic or relativistic interactions for DM with spin up to 1, we find the average ionization matrix element squared can be organized into three terms, each of which is a product of a DM response function (<math><msub><mi>a</mi><mrow><mn>0</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>) and a linear combination (<math><msub><mover><mi>W</mi><mo>˜</mo></mover><mrow><mn>0</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>) of the four atomic response functions (<math><msub><mi>W</mi><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>3</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>4</mn></mrow></msub></math>) given in that work, <math><mrow><msub><mrow><mover><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>˜</mo></mrow></mover></mrow><mn>0</mn></msub><mo>=</mo><msub><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mn>1</mn></msub></mrow></math>, <math><mrow><msub><mrow><mover><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>˜</mo></mrow></mover></mrow><mn>1</mn></msub><mo>=</mo><mo>|</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>v</mi></mrow><mn>0</mn><mrow><mo>⊥</mo></mrow></msubsup><msup><mrow><mo>|</mo></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup><msub><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mn>1</mn></msub><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn><mfrac><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>e</mi></mrow></msub><mi>q</mi><mo>·</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>v</mi></mrow><mn>0</mn><mrow><mo>⊥</mo></mrow></msubsup></mrow><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>q</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac><msub><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>+</mo><msub><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mn>3</mn></msub></mrow></math>, <math><mrow><msub><mrow><mover><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mrow><mo>˜</mo></mrow></mover></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>q</mi><mo>·</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>v</mi></mrow><mn>0</mn><mrow><mo>⊥</mo></mrow></msubsup><msup><mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>q</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac><msub><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mn>1</mn></msub><mo>−</mo><mn>2</mn><mfrac><mrow><msub><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>e</mi></mrow></msub><mi>q</mi><mo>·</mo><msubsup><mrow><mi>v</mi></mrow><mn>0</mn><mrow><mo>⊥</mo></mrow></msubsup></mrow><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>q</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac><msub><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>+</mo><mfrac><mrow><msubsup><mrow><mi>m</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>e</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msubsup></mrow><mrow><msup><mrow><mi>q</mi></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac><msub><mrow><mi>W</mi></mrow><mn>4</mn></msub></mrow></math>. Furthermore, we find a crucial minus sign was missed for the calculation of <math><msub><mi>W</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></math> in that work, which has significant phenomenological consequences when explaining experimental bounds on specific DM scenarios. Due to the corrected sign, there can be significant cancellations between the <math><msub><mi>W</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></math> and <math><msub><mi>W</mi><mrow><mn>3</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>4</mn></mrow></msub></math> terms, so that <math><msub><mover><mi>W</mi><mo>˜</mo></mover><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>,</mo><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math> are dominated by the usual response function <math><msub><mi>W</mi><mn>1</mn></msub></math> in some cases. Many DM scenarios involving DM or electron axial-vector current can yield <math><msub><mi>W</mi><mn>2</mn></msub></math> and thus are potentially affected by the sign. As an example, we show that the recent XENON1T constraint on the fermionic DM anapole moment is weakened by a factor of 2 or so. We also present a complete list of NR operators for spin-1 DM and compute their contributions to the DM response functions.

Revisiting general dark matter-bound-electron interactions

In this paper, we systematically investigate the general dark matter-electron interactions within the framework of effective field theories (EFTs). We consider both the non-relativistic (NR) EFT and the relativistic EFT descriptions of the interactions with the spin of dark matter (DM) up to one, i.e., the scalar (ϕ), fermion (χ), and vector (X) DM scenarios. We first collect the leading-order NR EFT operators describing the DM-electron interactions, and construct especially the NR operators for the vector DM case. Next, we consider all possible leading-order relativistic EFT operators including those with a photon field and perform the NR reduction to match them onto the NR EFT. Then we rederive the DM-bound-electron scattering rate within the NR EFT framework and find that the matrix element squared, which is the key input that encodes the DM and atomic information, can be compactly decomposed into three terms. Each term is a product of a DM response function (a 0,1,2), which is essentially a factor of Wilson coefficients squared, and its corresponding generalized atomic response function   <math> <mfenced> <msub> <mover> <mi>W</mi> <mo>~</mo> </mover> <mrow> <mn>0</mn> <mo>,</mo> <mn>1</mn> <mo>,</mo> <mn>2</mn> </mrow> </msub> </mfenced> </math>  $$ \left({\overset{\sim }{W}}_{0,1,2}\right) $$ . Lastly, we employ the electron recoil data from the DM direct detection experiments (including XENON10, XENON1T, and PandaX-4T) to constrain all the non-relativistic and relativistic operators in all three DM scenarios. We set strong bounds on the DM-electron interactions in the sub-GeV region. Particularly, we find that the latest PandaX-4T S2-only data provide stringent constraints on dark matter with a mass greater than approximately 20 MeV, surpassing those from the previous XENON10 and XENON1T experiments.

A systematic investigation on dark matter-electron scattering in effective field theories

We introduce the effective field theory of two different light dark particles interacting with the standard model (SM) light states in a single vertex, termed dark sector effective field theory (DSEFT). We focus on the new light particles with spin up to 1 and being real in essence, namely, new real scalars ϕ and S, Majorana fermions χ and ψ, and real vectors X  μ  and V  μ . In the framework of low energy effective field theory with QED and QCD symmetry, the DSEFT can be classified into six categories, including the scalar-scalar-SM (ϕS-SM), fermion-fermion-SM (χψ-SM), vector-vector-SM (XV-SM), scalar-fermion-SM (ϕχ-SM), scalar-vector-SM (ϕX-SM), and fermion-vector-SM (χX-SM) cases. For each case, we construct the effective operator basis up to canonical dimension 7, which will cover most interesting phenomenology at low energy. As a phenomenological example, we investigate the longstanding neutron lifetime anomaly through the neutron dark decay modes n → χϕ or χX from the effective interactions in the fermion-scalar-SM or fermion-vector-SM case. When treating the light fermion as a dark matter candidate, we also explore the constraints from DM-neutron annihilation signal at Super-Kamiokande. We find the neutron dark decay in each scenario can accommodate the anomaly, at the same time, without contradicting with the Super-Kamiokande limit.

Dark sector effective field theory

Considering the constraints from collider experiments and dark matter detection, we investigate the SUSY effects in the Higgs production channels e+ e− → Zh at an e+ e− collider with a center-of-mass energy above 240 GeV and γγ → h → bb̄ at a photon collider with a center-of-mass energy above 125 GeV. In the parameter space allowed by current experiments, we find that the SUSY corrections to e+ e− → Zh can reach a few percent and the production rate of γγ → h → bb̄ can be enhanced by a factor of 1.2 over the SM prediction. We also calculate the exotic Higgs production e+ e−→ Zh1 in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric model (NMSSM) (h is the SM-like Higgs, h1 is the CP-even Higgs bosons which can be much lighter than h). We find that at a 250 GeV e+ e− collider the production rates of e+ e−→ Zh1 can reach 60 fb.

Junjie Cao

South Korea

Japan

Chengcheng Han

Jie Ren

Australia

Lei Wu

Jin-Min Yang

Yang Zhang

SUSY effects in Higgs production at high energy e+ e− collidersSupported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC)(10821504, 11222548, 11305049, 11135003), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, and ARC Center of Excellence for Particle Physics at Tera-scale. C. Han is supported by World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI Initiative), MEXT, Japan