Orateur
Description
The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics remains an incomplete theory, with the nature of dark matter (DM) among its major open questions. Guided by symmetry and simplicity, a new dark sector can communicate with the SM through three renormalizable portals: vector, scalar and neutrino. In particular, the vector portal is among the minimal realizations, with the standard dark photon as its benchmark for intensity-frontier and DM searches. To extract the full potential of light vector-mediated DM, in this talk we explore how we can relax the assumptions of the standard case in three directions: beyond the dark photon, by allowing for generic vector mediators, beyond the U(1), by considering non-abelian gauge structures, and beyond dark matter, by addressing other SM open problems, such as the origin of neutrino masses and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. This approach highlights the potential of light vector-mediated DM models to serve as a rich and predictive window into physics beyond the Standard Model.