On the validity of the effective field theory for dark matter searches at the LHC, part II: Complete analysis for the s-channel

Abstract

We generalize in several directions our recent analysis of the limitations to the use of the effective field theory approach to study dark matter at the LHC. Firstly, we study the full list of operators connecting fermion DM to quarks and gluons, corresponding to integrating out a heavy mediator in the s-channel; secondly, we provide analytical results for the validity of the EFT description for both s = 8 TeV and 14 TeV; thirdly, we make use of a MonteCarlo event generator approach to assess the validity of our analytical conclusions. We apply our results to revisit the current collider bounds on the ultraviolet cut-off scale of the effective field theory and show that these bounds are weakened once the validity conditions of the effective field theory are imposed.