LHC Bounds on UV-Complete Models of Dark Matter

We analyze the sensitivity of searches for dark matter in the jets and missing energy channel in the case where the particle mediating interactions between hadronic matter and DM is collider accessible. We consider all tree level UV completions of interactions between fermion DM and quarks which contribute to direct detection, and derive bounds which apply to elastic or inelastic scattering dark matter explanations of direct detection signals. We find that studies based on effective operators give robust bounds when the mediator is heavy enough to resonantly produce the final state in question.