Simplest and Most Predictive Model of Muon g-2 and Thermal Dark Matter

Phys Rev Lett. 2022 Apr 8;128(14):141802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.141802.

Abstract

The long-standing 4.2σ muon g-2 anomaly may be the result of a new particle species which could also couple to dark matter and mediate its annihilations in the early Universe. In models where both muons and dark matter carry equal charges under a U(1)_{L_{μ}-L_{τ}} gauge symmetry, the corresponding Z^{'} can both resolve the observed g-2 anomaly and yield an acceptable dark matter relic abundance, relying on annihilations which take place through the Z^{'} resonance. Once the value of (g-2)_{μ} and the dark matter abundance are each fixed, there is very little remaining freedom in this model, making it highly predictive. We provide a comprehensive analysis of this scenario, identifying a viable range of dark matter masses between approximately 10 and 100 MeV, which falls entirely within the projected sensitivity of several accelerator-based experiments, including NA62, NA64μ, M^{3}, and DUNE. Furthermore, portions of this mass range predict contributions to ΔN_{eff} which could ameliorate the tension between early and late time measurements of the Hubble constant, and which could be tested by stage 4 CMB experiments.