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Topological Portal to the Dark Matter
Dark matter is a mysterious component of the cosmos, fundamental to how structure formed and evolved across the Universe. Although dark matter has primarily revealed itself through gravitational effects, the possibility of additional “portals” linking the visible and dark sectors is an exciting—and perhaps essential—direction for exploration.
A recent article published in Physical Review Letters, co-authored by Dr. Joe Davighi (CERN) and Dr. Nudžeim Selimović (INFN Padova) together with Prof. Admir Greljo (Uni Basel), proposes the existence of a novel portal connecting ordinary matter and dark matter. The study reveals the possibility of a previously unexplored topological interaction connecting known particles called pions to their counterparts in the dark sector. The article explains how such interaction can naturally emerge within a well-motivated theoretical framework. This portal can account for the observed dark matter relic abundance by driving the freeze-out process in the early Universe. Its topological nature offers a compelling explanation for why it has so far evaded both direct and indirect dark matter detection. Importantly, the article proposes a concrete path to search for this novel portal by identifying promising experimental signatures at particle colliders, particularly at the Belle II experiment.