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Arbelaez, C., Cottin, G., Helo, J. C., Hirsch, M., & de Melo, T. B. (2025). Long-lived particle phenomenology in one-loop neutrino mass models with dark matter. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 049–22pp.
Abstract: Neutrino masses and dark matter (DM) might have a common origin. The scotogenic model can be considered the proto-type model realizing this idea, but many other variants exist. In this paper we explore the phenomemology of a particular DM neutrino mass model, containing a triplet scalar. We calculate the relic density and check for constraints from direct detection experiments. The parameter space of the model, allowed by these constraints, contains typically a long-lived or quasi-stable doubly charged scalar, that can be searched for at the LHC. We reinterpret existing searches to derive limits on the masses of the scalars of the model and estimate future sensitivities in the high-luminosity phase of the LHC. The searches we discuss can serve to constrain also many other 1-loop neutrino mass models.
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Arifeen, S., Ouimet, P. P., Pinfold, J., & Staelens, M. (2026). Searching for dark pions with the MoEDAL-MAPP detector at the LHC. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 253–28pp.
Abstract: We investigate the potential for detecting pion-like dark matter within the framework of a Strongly Interacting Massive Particle (SIMP) model using the MoEDAL Apparatus for Penetrating Particles (MAPP) at the LHC. The model, motivated by Chiral Perturbation Theory, features milli-charged dark pions that couple to Standard Model particles via kinetic mixing with a dark photon. Production channels considered include Drell-Yan pair production and photon fusion via the Wess-Zumino-Witten term, the latter providing a distinctive three-body final state signature. Cross-sections are computed using MadGraph and WHIZARD for a range of dark pion masses, decay constants, and dark Z boson masses. Sensitivity projections for MAPP-1 during the High-Luminosity LHC phase are presented under a background-free assumption, showing competitive reach into previously unexplored parameter space for milli-charged dark pseudoscalars. These results highlight the complementary role of MoEDAL-MAPP in probing dark sector models and motivate further detector-level simulations to refine exclusion limits.
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Carrasco, J., & Zurita, J. (2024). Emerging jet probes of strongly interacting dark sectors. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 034–23pp.
Abstract: A strongly interacting dark sector can give rise to a class of signatures dubbed dark showers, where in analogy to the strong sector in the Standard Model, the dark sector undergoes its own showering and hadronization, before decaying into Standard Model final states. When the typical decay lengths of the dark sector mesons are larger than a few centimeters (and no larger than a few meters) they give rise to the striking signature of emerging jets, characterized by a large multiplicity of displaced vertices.In this article we consider the general reinterpretation of the CMS search for emerging jets plus prompt jets into arbitrary new physics scenarios giving rise to emerging jets. More concretely, we consider the cases where the SM Higgs mediates between the dark sector and the SM, for several benchmark decay scenarios. Our procedure is validated employing the same model than the CMS emerging jet search. We find that emerging jets can be the leading probe in regions of parameter space, in particular when considering the so-called gluon portal and dark photon portal decay benchmarks. With the current 16.1 fb-1 of luminosity this search can exclude down to O\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ \mathcal{O} $$\end{document}(20)% exotic branching ratio of the SM Higgs, but a naive extrapolation to the 139 fb-1 luminosity employed in the current model-independent, indirect bound of 16 % would probe exotic branching ratios into dark quarks down to below 10 %. Further extrapolating these results to the HL-LHC, we find that one can pin down exotic branching ratio values of 1%, which is below the HL-LHC expectations of 2.5-4 %. We make our recasting code publicly available, as part of the LLP Recasting Repository.
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Carrasco, J., Kulkarni, S., Liu, W., Lockyer, J., & Zurita, J. (2026). Semi-visible emerging jets. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 219–29pp.
Abstract: We propose a new class of dark-shower signatures in Standard Model extensions featuring Hidden Valleys or dark sectors coupled through an s-channel mediator. In this framework, unstable dark pions appear as long-lived particles (LLPs), with their lifetimes treated as free parameters. The resulting signatures, which we term semi-visible emerging jets (SVEJ), continuously interpolate between the established semi-visible and emerging jet regimes. We outline an analysis strategy optimized for dark pion lifetimes of order O10 mm, and reinterpret existing LLP searches targeting lifetimes of O100 – O1000 mm. Our proposed SVEJ search, exploiting the current ATLAS emerging-jet trigger, achieves sensitivity to cross sections of O0.1 fb for lifetimes around O10 mm. Finally, we advocate a more detailed study, including hadronisation uncertainties and detector-level effects.
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Cepedello, R., Esser, F., Hirsch, M., & Sanz, V. (2023). SMEFT goes dark: Dark Matter models for four-fermion operators. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 081–47pp.
Abstract: We study ultra-violet completions for d = 6 four-fermion operators in the standard model effective field theory (SMEFT), focusing on models that contain cold dark matter candidates. Via a diagrammatic method, we generate systematically lists of possible UV completions, with the aim of providing sets of models, which are complete under certain, well specified assumptions. Within these lists of models we rediscover many known DM models, as diverse as R-parity conserving supersymmetry or the scotogenic neutrino mass model. Our lists, however, also contain many new constructions, which have not been studied in the literature so far. We also briefly discuss how our DM models could be constrained by reinterpretations of LHC searches and the prospects for HL-LHC and future lepton colliders.
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