Abstract
Even if Dark Matter (DM) is neutral under electromagnetism, it can still interact with the Standard Model (SM) via photon exchange from higher-dimensional operators. Here we classify the general effective operators coupling DM to photons, distinguishing between Dirac/Majorana fermion and complex/real scalar DM. We provide model-independent constraints on these operators from direct and indirect detection. We also constrain various DM-lepton operators, which induce DM-photon interactions via RG running or which typically arise in sensible UV-completions. This provides a simple way to quickly assess constraints on any DM model that interacts mainly via photon exchange or couples to SM leptons.
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Kavanagh, B.J., Panci, P. & Ziegler, R. Faint light from dark matter: classifying and constraining dark matter-photon effective operators. J. High Energ. Phys. 2019, 89 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2019)089
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2019)089