Search for nonresonant production of strongly coupled dark matter in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV
Abstract
A search is presented for semivisible jets produced in nonresonant processes, using proton-proton collision data at √s = 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. These jets, containing both visible and invisible particles, would indicate the presence of dark matter arising from a strongly coupled hidden sector. The signal model includes a bifundamental scalar that couples simultaneously to standard model quarks and dark-sector quarks, the latter forming semivisible jets. The final state therefore includes missing transverse momentum aligned with a jet, rather than recoiling against standard model particles as typically required by conventional collider dark-matter searches. Two separate machine-learning strategies are employed to identify semivisible jets: a supervised graph neural network and an unsupervised autoencoder. No significant excess corresponding to dark-sector signal hypotheses is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level on the signal production cross section are determined for each strategy and interpreted as exclusions in the signal model parameter space. The supervised search excludes mediator masses between 0.5 and 2.4 TeV, depending on the other signal model parameters. For signal models with semivisible jets containing higher fractions of stable dark-matter particles, the unsupervised search demonstrates increased sensitivity with 5 (11)% higher expected (observed) mediator mass exclusions than the supervised search.
Related
- Search for the nonresonant production of a pair of additional Higgs bosons in the type-X two-Higgs-doublet model in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV
- Search for nonresonant triple Higgs boson production in the final state with six bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV
- Search for resonant and nonresonant production of pairs of dijet resonances with b jets in the final state in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV
- Combination of searches for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in proton–proton collisions at s = 13 TeV
- Search for anomalous couplings in WW and WZ production with single-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV
BibTeX
@misc{collaboration2026search,
title = {{Search for nonresonant production of strongly coupled dark matter in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrts$ = 13 TeV}},
author = {CMS Collaboration},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.33140},
eprint = {2610.33140},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33140},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Search for nonresonant production of strongly coupled dark matter in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV
AU - CMS Collaboration
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.33140
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33140
AB - A search is presented for semivisible jets produced in nonresonant processes, using proton-proton collision data at √s = 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb^−1. These jets, containing both visible and invisible particles, would indicate the presence of dark matter arising from a strongly coupled hidden sector. The signal model includes a bifundamental scalar that couples simultaneously to standard model quarks and dark-sector quarks, the latter forming semivisible jets. The final state therefore includes missing transverse momentum aligned with a jet, rather than recoiling against standard model particles as typically required by conventional collider dark-matter searches. Two separate machine-learning strategies are employed to identify semivisible jets: a supervised graph neural network and an unsupervised autoencoder. No significant excess corresponding to dark-sector signal hypotheses is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level on the signal production cross section are determined for each strategy and interpreted as exclusions in the signal model parameter space. The supervised search excludes mediator masses between 0.5 and 2.4 TeV, depending on the other signal model parameters. For signal models with semivisible jets containing higher fractions of stable dark-matter particles, the unsupervised search demonstrates increased sensitivity with 5 (11)% higher expected (observed) mediator mass exclusions than the supervised search.
ER -