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 paper.