Dark matter at the pseudoscalar Higgs resonance in the phenomenological MSSM and SUSY GUTs

Abstract

We study dark matter at the MSSM pseudoscalar Higgs resonance (A-funnel), which is one of the few remaining MSSM thermal dark matter candidates in the $100-1000$ GeV range safe from direct detection constraints. To illustrate the various factors at play, this study is performed in two contrasting set-ups: a bottom-up phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM) approach that allows significant freedom, and the top-down, highly constrained Yukawa unified $SO(10)$ GUT model. In the pMSSM, for $\mu > 0$, the entire parameter space lies above the coherent neutrino background and mostly within reach of XENON1T and LZ, while blind spots exist at $m_A\,> \, 800\,$GeV for $\mu < 0$; the strongest constraints come from $A/H \rightarrow \tau \tau$ searches at the LHC. For Yukawa unified models, the confluence of $B_s \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-$ constraints, fits to the bottom quark and Higgs masses, and gluino mass bounds from the LHC result in a prediction: realizing the pseudoscalar resonance $requires$ gaugino mass non-universality, with a mass ratio that is determined to within a small range.