Antisymmetric tensor portals to dark matter
Antisymmetric tensor portals to dark matter
Antisymmetric Tensor Portals to Dark Matter represent a compelling avenue in the ongoing search for physics beyond the Standard Model. While traditional dark matter models often rely on scalar or vector mediators to connect the Standard Model with the hidden sector, antisymmetric tensor fields introduce a novel and less-explored mechanism for interaction. These fields, characterized by their unique Lorentz transformation properties and gauge structures, offer rich theoretical landscapes for mediating interactions between visible and dark sectors.
In such frameworks, the portal is typically modeled through couplings between Standard Model currents (such as electromagnetic or baryon currents) and rank-2 antisymmetric tensors, such as the Kalb-Ramond field. This interaction naturally arises in several string-theory-inspired models and is a promising candidate for capturing non-minimal dark matter dynamics. Importantly, antisymmetric tensor fields can mediate spin-dependent or non-conserved current interactions—opening pathways to signatures that evade conventional detection methods.
One of the central motivations for studying antisymmetric tensor portals is their potential to explain elusive observational phenomena like the small-scale structure problem, self-interacting dark matter signatures, or the unexplained excesses in indirect detection experiments. These fields can also serve as mediators in thermal freeze-out or freeze-in scenarios, giving rise to viable relic abundances while remaining compatible with cosmological and astrophysical constraints.
From a phenomenological perspective, antisymmetric tensor portals bring distinctive collider and astrophysical signatures. At the LHC, deviations from expected decay channels or the presence of missing energy events with anomalous angular distributions could point toward tensor-mediated interactions. In astrophysical settings, modifications to the dark matter self-interaction cross-section or the formation of bound states in the dark sector could leave imprints in galactic halos or gravitational lensing patterns.
Current research continues to refine the consistency of these models under renormalization, unitarity, and causality constraints while exploring UV completions that make these portals theoretically robust. As experimental sensitivities improve and theoretical models mature, antisymmetric tensor portals to dark matter could provide critical insights into one of the universe’s most enduring mysteries.
Global Particle Physics Excellence Awards
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