Sensitivity of future linear $e^+e^-$ colliders to processes of dark matter production with light mediator exchange

Abstract: As any $e^+e^-$ scattering process can be accompanied by a hard photon emission from the initial state radiation, the analysis of the energy spectrum and angular distributions of those photons can be used to search for hard processes with an invisible final state. Thus high energy $e^+e^-$ colliders offer a unique possibility for the most general search of dark matter (DM) based on the mono-photon signature. We consider production of DM particles at the International Linear Collider (ILC) and Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) experiments via a light mediator exchange. Detector effects are taken into account within the DELPHES fast simulation framework. Limits on the light DM production in a simplified model are set as a function of the mediator mass and width based on the expected two-dimensional distributions of the reconstructed mono-photon events. The experimental sensitivity is extracted in terms of the DM production cross section. Limits on the mediator couplings are then presented for a wide range of mediator masses and widths. For light mediators, for masses up to the centre-of-mass energy of the collider, coupling limits derived from the mono-photon analysis are more stringent than those expected from direct resonance searches in decay channels to SM particles.