Abstract
We examine and point out the importance of a regime of dark matter pro- duction through the freeze-in mechanism that results from a large thermal correction to a decaying mediator particle mass from hot plasma in the early Universe. We show that mediator decays to dark matter that are kinematically forbidden at the usually considered ranges of low temperatures can be generically present at higher temperatures and actually dominate the overall dark matter production, thus leading to very distinct solutions from the standard case. We illustrate these features by considering a dark Higgs portal model where dark matter is produced via decays of a scalar field with a large thermal mass. We identify the resulting ranges of parameters that are consistent with the correct dark matter relic abundance and further apply current and expected future collider, cosmological, and astrophysical limits.
Highlights
JHEP11(2019)159 the SM, for instance a gravitino in scenarios based on local supersymmetry (SUSY) or an axino in SUSY models of axions; see e.g., [1] for a recent review
We examine and point out the importance of a regime of dark matter production through the freeze-in mechanism that results from a large thermal correction to a decaying mediator particle mass from hot plasma in the early Universe
We show that mediator decays to dark matter that are kinematically forbidden at the usually considered ranges of low temperatures can be generically present at higher temperatures and dominate the overall dark matter production, leading to very distinct solutions from the standard case
Summary
In this article we study the freeze-in production of DM via some mediator decays that are energetically allowed solely in a thermal bath. At high temperatures applicable to the early Universe the thermal mass of a particle is proportional to the temperature As this effect will be critical in realizing our forbidden freeze-in scenario, below we briefly review the case of a scalar mediator field S. Since the vacuum one-loop contribution is expected to be small compared to the tree-level one, we can neglect all T = 0 contributions and obtain an estimated form of the mass of S, mS,T 2 It is well known, though, that naive perturbation theory does not work well when finite temperature effects are included (for examples see [29,30,31]).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
