Charting the flavor structure of dark matter

What flavor structure of t -channel thermal dark matter remains compatible with current flavor physics and direct detection bounds? We broadly chart the space of hypotheses using the framework of flavor symmetries and their breaking patterns. We then focus on scenarios in which the fermionic dark matter and its scalar mediator are flavor singlets, falling into the class of . For two representative benchmarks, quarkphilic ( q L ) and leptophilic ( e R ), we perform a comprehensive phenomenological analysis, fitting the relic abundance and examining the interplay among flavor observables, direct detection, and collider searches. Our results quantify the allowed deviations from flavor-symmetric limits and assess the discovery prospects in future flavor and direct detection experiments.