  The quest to discover the nature of dark matter continues to drive many of
the experimental and observational frontiers in particle physics, astronomy,
and cosmology. While there are no definitive signatures to date, there exists a
rich ecosystem of experiments searching for signals for a broad class of dark
matter models, at different epochs of cosmic history, and through a variety of
processes with different characteristic energy scales. Given the multitude of
candidates and search strategies, effective field theory has been an important
tool for parametrizing the possible interactions between dark matter and
Standard Model probes, for quantifying and improving model-independent
uncertainties, and for robust estimation of detection rates in the presence of
large perturbative corrections. This white paper summarizes a wide range of
effective field theory applications for connecting dark matter theories to
experiments.
