Abstract
We study the strength of a first-order electroweak phase transition in the Inert Doublet Model (IDM), where particle dark matter (DM) is comprised of the lightest neutral inert Higgs boson. We improve over previous studies in the description and treatment of the finite-temperature effective potential and of the electroweak phase transition. We focus on a set of benchmark models inspired by the key mechanisms in the IDM leading to a viable dark matter particle candidate, and illustrate how to enhance the strength of the electroweak phase transition by adjusting the masses of the yet undiscovered IDM Higgs states. We argue that across a variety of DM masses, obtaining a strong enough first-order phase transition is a generic possibility in the IDM. We find that due to direct dark matter searches and collider constraints, a sufficiently strong transition and a thermal relic density matching the universal DM abundance is possible only in the Higgs funnel regime.
Highlights
In the present study we are concerned with the nature of the electroweak phase transition (EWPT) in the Inert Doublet Model (IDM), and, with determining which physical parameters drive the strength of the phase transition, making it more or less strongly first-order, or second-order
This is important in the context of dark matter (DM) phenomenology since DM particle production in the early Universe often relies on resonance and threshold effects [13]
In the following discussion we mostly focus on the interplay between the dark matter phenomenology and the strengths of the EWPT
Summary
The IDM is a particular realization of the general type I Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) (see, e.g.,, Ref. [22] for a review) which features an additional Z2 symmetry. The leading order temperature-dependent corrections to the effective potential in the Landau gauge take the form [25]. For the longitudinally polarized W boson, the result is m2WL = m2W + 2g2T 2 This includes contributions from gauge boson self-interactions, two Higgs doublets and all three fermion families. O( ) contributions to the potential are as important as the tree-level terms, so the expansion fails This is why an all-orders ring diagram resummation discussed in Sec. 2.2 is needed. We will be interested in studying tunneling and nucleation temperatures, which require the evaluation of the potential away from the minima For this reason, below we employ the standard BNPC of Eq (2.23) and use the full one-loop effective potential to study IDM phases. We evaluate the nucleation temperature for a given model with a first-order phase transition using the CosmoTransitions package [34]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 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.
