Probing MeV dark matter at low-energy e+e- colliders

Area of Science:

• Particle Physics
• Astrophysics
• Cosmology

Background:

• An excess of 511 keV photons from the Galactic Center, detected by the INTEGRAL satellite, suggests potential dark matter annihilation.
• Dark matter particles (χ) with masses between 0.5–20 MeV annihilating into electron-positron pairs (e+e-) are a proposed explanation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the implications of introducing a new vector boson (U) for dark matter annihilation models.
• To determine the potential for detecting such a model at current and future particle physics experiments.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical modeling of dark matter annihilation via a new vector boson (U).
• Analysis of the decay channels of the vector boson U (e+e-, invisible channels like neutrinos or dark matter particles).
• Assessment of experimental signatures at B-factory and DAPhiNE (Phi factory) experiments.

Main Results:

• The simplest model requires a new vector boson U with a mass below a few hundred MeV.
• The process e+e− → U(γ) followed by U decay is predicted to yield detectable signals at B-factories.
• A significant parameter space can be probed at DAPhiNE.

Conclusions:

• The proposed dark matter model with a light vector boson U is testable with current experimental capabilities.
• Detection of U boson signals would provide evidence for specific dark matter annihilation mechanisms.
• This research opens new avenues for exploring dark matter properties through particle physics experiments.