A search is presented for production of dark-matter particles recoiling against a leptonically decaying Z boson in 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with large missing transverse momentum and two oppositely charged electrons or muons consistent with the decay of a Z boson are analyzed. No excess above the Standard Model prediction is observed. Limits are set on the mass scale of the contact interaction as a function of the dark-matter particle mass using an effective field theory description of the interaction of dark matter with quarks or with Z bosons. Limits are also set on the coupling and mediator mass of a model in which the interaction is mediated by a scalar particle.

Aad, G., Abajyan, T., Abbott, B., Abdallah, J., Abdel Khalek, S., Abdinov, O., et al. (2014). Search for dark matter in events with a Z boson and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, PARTICLES, FIELDS, GRAVITATION, AND COSMOLOGY, 90(1), 1-21 [10.1103/PhysRevD.90.012004].

Search for dark matter in events with a Z boson and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

V. Bortolotto;F. Ceradini;B. Di Micco;R. Di Nardo;D. Orestano;