Abstract
We consider the long-range effect of the Higgs on the density of thermal-relic dark matter. While the electroweak gauge boson and gluon exchange have been previously studied, the Higgs is typically thought to mediate only contact interactions. We show that the Sommerfeld enhancement due to a 125 GeV Higgs can deplete TeV-scale dark matter significantly, and describe how the interplay between the Higgs and other mediators influences this effect. We discuss the importance of the Higgs enhancement in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, and its implications for experiments.
Highlights
The dark matter (DM) density has been determined to an unprecedented precision by the Planck satellite [1]: ΩDMh2 1⁄4 0.1199 Æ 0.0022: ð1ÞThis measurement provides a powerful constraint on DM theories
We describe the effect of the Higgs enhancement on the annihilation cross section before demonstrating its impact on the DM abundance
We assume that DM is a Majorana fermion χ of mass mχ, that coannihilates with a complex scalar X of mass mX. χ and X are the lightest and next-to-lightest particles (LP and NLP) odd under a Z2 symmetry that prevents the LP from decaying
Summary
The dark matter (DM) density has been determined to an unprecedented precision by the Planck satellite [1]: ΩDMh2 1⁄4 0.1199 Æ 0.0022: ð1Þ. It is well known that the density of thermal-relic DM is determined by the strength of the DM annihilation processes These include the DM self-annihilations, as well as the coannihilations of DM with particles of similar mass. Formation of unstable bound states [13]—become important It has been shown, in particular, that the electroweak gauge boson exchange, as well as the gluon exchange in the case of DM coannihilating with colored particles, can affect significantly the density of WIMP DM with mass as low as ∼500 GeV Related DM studies in the MSSM have been conducted recently [10,22,23] This setup allows us to directly compare the effect of the Higgs exchange with that of other mediators, in particular the gluons. Conclude with a discussion of the Higgs enhancement in the MSSM and its experimental implications
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