Related papers: Unblinding the Dark Matter Blind Spots
We present an overview of supersymmetry searches, both at collider experiments and via searches for dark matter (DM). We focus on three DM possibilities in the SUSY context: the thermally produced neutralino, a mixture of axion and axino,…
Recent LHC searches have not found a clear signal of the Higgs boson h of the standard model (SM) with three or four families in the mass range m_h = 120-600 GeV. If the Higgs had an unexpectedly large invisible branching ratio, the…
Dark matter (DM) interacting with the SM fields via a $Z'-$boson ('$Z'$-portal') remains one of the most attractive WIMP scenarios, both from the theoretical and the phenomenological points of view. In order to avoid the strong constraints…
Null results from dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments and the 125 GeV Higgs both pose serious challenges to minimal supersymmetry. In this paper, we propose a simple extension of the MSSM that economically solves both problems: a…
We consider two potential non-accelerator signatures of generalizations of the well-studied constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM). In one generalization, the universality constraints on soft supersymmetry-breaking…
In the light dark matter (DM) scenario of the MSSM, the DM relic density puts non-trivial requirements on the spectrum of supersymmetric particles. As a result, the direct search for multi-lepton signals at the LHC has great impact on the…
We study dark matter at the MSSM pseudoscalar Higgs resonance (A-funnel), which is one of the few remaining MSSM thermal dark matter candidates in the $100-1000$ GeV range safe from direct detection constraints. To illustrate the various…
We consider a minimal Dark Matter model with just two additional states, a Dark Matter Majorana fermion and a colored or electroweakly charged scalar, without introducing any symmetry to stabilize the DM state. We identify the parameter…
The relationship between the degree of fine-tuning in Electroweak Symmetry Breaking (EWSB) and the discoverability of dark matter in current and next generation direct detection experiments is investigated in the context of two unified…
We give a brief review of the current constraints and prospects for detection of higgsino dark matter in low-scale supersymmetry. In the first part we argue, after performing a survey of all potential dark matter particles in the MSSM, that…
Simplified models of light new physics provide a convenient benchmark for experimental searches for new physics signatures, including dark matter (DM). However, additional detection modes can arise in less simplified and more realistic…
Using the existing simplified model framework, we build several dark matter models which have suppressed spin-independent scattering cross section. We show that the scattering cross section can vanish due to interference effects with models…
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are among the main candidates for the relic dark matter (DM). The idea of the direct DM detection relies on elastic spin-dependent (SD) and spin-independent (SI) interaction of WIMPs with target…
In this work we show how the inclusion of dark matter (DM) direct detection upper bounds in a theoretically consistent manner can affect the allowed parameter space of a DM model. Traditionally, the limits from DM direct detection…
We review dark matter (DM) candidates of a very low mass, appearing in the window below the traditional weakly-interacting massive particle $m_\chi \lesssim 10$ GeV and extending down to $m_\chi \gtrsim 1$ meV, somewhat below the mass limit…
We investigate the viability of light neutralino scenarios as promoted by dark matter direct detection experiments. Using high statistics scans in the pMSSM we have identified several scenarios which give rise to very light neutralinos with…
Unlike its minimal counterpart, the Next to Minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) allows the possibility that the lightest neutralino could have a mass as small as $\sim 1 {\rm GeV}$ while still providing a significant component of…
In the natural realization of the Next-to-minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, Higgsinos tend to be lighter than about several hundred GeVs, which can induce detectable leptonic signals at the LHC as well as large DM-nucleon scattering…
We review scenarios in which the particles that account for the Dark Matter (DM) in the Universe interact only through their couplings with the Higgs sector of the theory, the so-called Higgs-portal models. In a first step, we use a general…
Gauging the global $B-L$ (Baryon number minus Lepton number) symmetry in the Standard Model (SM) is well-motivated since anomaly cancellations require the introduction of three right-handed neutrinos (RHNs) which play an essential role in…