Exposing the dark sector with future Z factories

We investigate the prospects of searching dark sector models via exotic Z-boson decay at future e⁺e^- colliders with Giga Z and Tera Z options. Four general categories of dark sector models, Higgs portal dark matter, vector-portal dark matter, inelastic dark matter, and axionlike particles, are considered. Focusing on channels motivated by the dark sector models, we carry out a model-independent study of the sensitivities of Z factories in probing exotic decays. The limits on branching ratios of the exotic Z decay are typically O(10^-6-10^-8.5) for the Giga Z and O(10^-7.5-10^-11) for the Tera Z, and they are compared with the projection for the high luminosity LHC. We demonstrate that future Z factories can provide its unique and leading sensitivity and highlight the complementarity with other experiments, including the indirect and direct dark matter search limits and the existing collider limits. Future Z factories will play a leading role in uncovering the hidden sector of the Universe in the future.