Anomalous U(1) gauge bosons as light dark matter in string theory

• Main Authors: Luis A. Anchordoqui, Ignatios Antoniadis, Karim Benakli, Dieter Lüst
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-11-01
• Series: Physics Letters B
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269320306419

Present experiments are sensitive to very weakly coupled extra gauge symmetries which motivates further investigation of their appearance in string theory compactifications and subsequent properties. We consider extensions of the standard model based on open strings ending on D-branes, with gauge bosons due to strings attached to stacks of D-branes and chiral matter due to strings stretching between intersecting D-branes. Assuming that the fundamental string mass scale saturates the current LHC limit and that the theory is weakly coupled, we show that (anomalous) U(1) gauge bosons which propagate into the bulk are compelling light dark matter candidates. We comment on the possible relevance of the U(1) gauge bosons, which are universal in intersecting D-brane models, to the observed 3σ excess in XENON1T.