Heavy right-handed neutrino dark matter in left–right models

Abstract

We show that in a class of non-supersymmetric left–right extensions of the Standard Model (SM), the lightest right-handed neutrino (RHN) can play the role of thermal Dark Matter (DM) in the Universe for a wide mass range from TeV to PeV. Our model is based on the gauge group [Formula: see text] in which a heavy copy of the SM fermions is introduced and the stability of the RHN DM is guaranteed by an automatic [Formula: see text] symmetry present in the leptonic sector. In such models, the active neutrino masses are obtained via the type-II seesaw mechanism. We find a lower bound on the RHN DM mass of order TeV from relic density constraints, as well as a unitarity upper bound in the multi-TeV to PeV scale, depending on the entropy dilution factor. The RHN DM could be made long-lived by soft-breaking of the [Formula: see text] symmetry and provides a concrete example of decaying DM interpretation of the PeV neutrinos observed at IceCube.