Determine dark matter’s non-gravitational interactions

Determine the detailed properties of dark matter and characterize its interactions beyond gravity, establishing what non-gravitational couplings dark matter has to Standard Model particles or dark-sector mediators and how these interactions manifest in cosmology and experiments.

Background

The paper motivates resonant dark matter models in extra-dimensional frameworks precisely because, despite extensive evidence for dark matter, its properties—especially interactions beyond gravity—are not established. Identifying non-gravitational interactions is essential for connecting dark matter to laboratory experiments, such as direct detection and accelerator searches, and for understanding thermal histories and resonance effects.

Within the work, the authors develop models on orbifolded extra dimensions that naturally produce resonant annihilation and self-interaction structures, exploring how kinetic mixing with dark photons could yield detectable signatures. This program is driven by the broader open question of what interactions dark matter possesses beyond gravity, which frames the scientific context of their study.

References

Despite overwhelming observational evidence for dark matter (DM) and its profound impact on particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, the detailed properties of DM remain unknown. More specifically, its interactions beyond gravity are yet to be discovered.

— Naturally Resonant Dark Matter from Extra Dimensions  (2504.00076 - Lee et al., 31 Mar 2025) in Section 1 (Introduction)

To our knowledge, the detailed statistics of $\v{B}V$ have not been worked out.

— Ultralight Axial Dark Matter  (2609.10671 - Hook et al., 9 Sep 2026) in Section 2.2, paragraph “Dark Magnetic Dipole Moment”

Closer to the Higgs resonance and the SM thresholds, the velocity expansion of $\langle\sigma v\rangle$ breaks down, and a dedicated treatment is required , which we leave for future work.

— WIMP Freeze-Out in Diffusive Unimodular Gravity  (2608.19482 - Bonilla et al., 19 Aug 2026) in Section 5, Subsection 5.2, Real singlet DM parameter space

No analysis has yet been performed for the impact of the dark photon coupling g_{\phi\gamma\gamma_D}.

— Displaced Signals from Long-lived Particles in Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay  (2609.05352 - Bolton et al., 4 Sep 2026) in Section 2, paragraph “Cosmology and Astrophysics”