Overview and Muon Cut Efficiency of the Self-Interacting Dark Matter Analysis

Dark matter makes up a large portion of our universe, but is still largely a mystery. Prevailing models such as Lambda-CDM are successful on large scales but break down on smaller ones, exhibiting discrepancies like the core-cusp problem. A promising solution is to allow dark matter to interact with itself. This idea, known as Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM), relies on a dark force mediator, or a dark photon, capable of creating a dark matter bound state. If this were true, we would be producing these dark photon bound states constantly in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Our analysis is looking for the signature of these bound states, which decay into two dark photons that subsequently each decay into two displaced and collimated lepton jets, visible matter that we can detect. The LHC produces enormous amounts of data, of which only a small fraction is useful to our analysis. As such, we are employing a cut-based search. My talk will focus on how these cuts impact signal efficiency. In particular, I will discuss the impacts of our triggers and cuts on events with nearby muons. Knowledge of this efficiency enables us to determine whether our current cuts are sufficient or if we need to adjust our cutting strategy for the future.