Full Description
This thesis covers several theoretical aspects of WIMP (weakly interacting massive particles) dark matter searches, with a particular emphasis on colliders. It mainly focuses on the use of effective field theories as a tool for Large Hadron Collider (LHC) searches, discussing in detail the issue of their validity, and on simplified dark matter models, which are receiving a growing attention from the physics community. It highlights the theoretical consistency of simplified models, which is essential in order to correctly exploit their potential and for them to be a common reference when comparing results from different experiments. This thesis is of interest to researchers (both theorists and experimentalists) in the field of dark matter searches, and offers a comprehensive introduction to dark matter and to WIMP searches for students and non-experts.
Contents
Part I: Introduction.- Generalities about Dark Matter.- Part II: Direct and Indirect WIMP Searches.- Direct Detection of Wimps.- Indirect Detection.- Focus on AMS-02 Anti-protons Results.- Part III: LHC Searches.- Dark Matter Searches at the LHC.- The EFT Approach and its Validity.- Simplified Models.- Relic Density.- Part IV: Complementary Searches in the Simplified Model Framework.- A U(1)' Gauge Mediator.- A 750 Gev Pseudo-scalar Mediator.- Conclusions.
