I will discuss a novel topological portal between quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and a dark QCD-like sector. Such a portal is present only for a unique coset structure after QCD confinement and it connects three QCD to two dark pions. When gauged, it is the leading portal between the two sectors, providing an elegant self-consistent scenario of light thermal inelastic dark matter. The inherent antisymmetrization due to a Wess–Zumino–Witten-like effective interaction leads to diminished annihilations at later times and suppressed direct detection. However, novel collider signatures offer tremendous prospects for discovery at Belle II. The talk is based on https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.09528 with Joe Davighi and Admir Greljo.
https://indico.ijs.si/event/2247/