Cold Dark Matter Candidate Research Articles

Halo Substructure Boosts to the Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation

The presence of dark matter substructure will boost the signatures of dark matter annihilation. We review recent progress on estimates of this subhalo boost factor—a ratio of the luminosity from annihilation in the subhalos to that originating the smooth component—based on both numerical N-body simulations and semi-analytic modelings. Since subhalos of all the scales, ranging from the Earth mass (as expected, e.g., the supersymmetric neutralino, a prime candidate for cold dark matter) to galaxies or larger, give substantial contribution to the annihilation rate, it is essential to understand subhalo properties over a large dynamic range of more than twenty orders of magnitude in masses. Even though numerical simulations give the most accurate assessment in resolved regimes, extrapolating the subhalo properties down in sub-grid scales comes with great uncertainties—a straightforward extrapolation yields a very large amount of the subhalo boost factor of ≳100 for galaxy-size halos. Physically motivated theoretical models based on analytic prescriptions such as the extended Press-Schechter formalism and tidal stripping modeling, which are well tested against the simulation results, predict a more modest boost of order unity for the galaxy-size halos. Giving an accurate assessment of the boost factor is essential for indirect dark matter searches and thus, having models calibrated at large ranges of host masses and redshifts, is strongly urged upon.

Search for a Higgs boson decaying through Zd to 4 leptons

The Standard Model (SM) is known to be incomplete (it cannot explain dark matter, dark energy, gravitational waves, matter-antimatter asymmetry, etc). The introduction of a Dark Sector via an additional U(1)d gauge symmetry added to the SM Lagrangian could be the long-awaited solution. In this model there is a dark vector boson Zd which can mix with the SM hypercharge gauge boson. This opens the Hypercharge Portal which can mediate the fluctuation of a Z to a Zd, or the decay of the Zd to SM leptons. If a dark Higgs singlet also exists, then this breaks the U(1)d symmetry, allowing for Higgs mixing (parametrised by ) between the SM and dark sector Higgs bosons, and thereby opening the Higgs portal as a discovery channel. Including dark fermionic fields in the Lagrangian allows for long-lived cold Dark Matter candidates. The various connections between the Dark and SM sectors allow descriptions of many key astro-physical phenomena. This contribution discusses an ATLAS search for the dark force boson Zd using its production via the Higgs Portal and its decay back to SM leptons: . The biggest deviation from the Standard Model expectation is from a single event at , with a local significance of 3.2 σ in the 2e2µ channel, and the corresponding global significance is approximately 1.9 σ.

Evolution of dark matter velocity dispersion

Cosmological perturbation theory for the late Universe dominated by dark matter is extended beyond the perfect pressureless fluid approximation by taking the dark matter velocity dispersion tensor as an additional field into account. A proper tensor decomposition of the latter leads to two additional scalar fields, as well as a vector and a tensor field. Most importantly, the trace of the velocity dispersion tensor can have a spatially homogeneous expectation value. While it decays at early times, we show that a back-reaction effect quadratic in perturbations makes it grow strongly at late times. We compare sterile neutrinos as a candidate for comparatively warm dark matter to weakly interacting massive particles as a rather cold dark matter candidate and show that the late time growth of velocity dispersion is stronger for the latter. Another feature of a non-vanishing velocity dispersion tensor is that it can account for multiple streams within the fluid description and thereby allows to treat times and scales beyond shell-crossing.

Same-sign trilepton signal for stop quark in the presence of sneutrino dark matter

We have explored a minimal supersymmetric standard model scenario extended by one pair of gauge singlets per generation. In the model light neutrino masses and their mixings are generated via inverse seesaw mechanism. In such a scenario, a right-handed sneutrino can be the lightest supersymmetric particle and a cold Dark Matter (DM) candidate. If Casas-Ibarra parametrisation is imposed on the Dirac neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix ($Y_{\nu}$) to fit the neutrino oscillation data, the resulting $Y_{\nu}$ is highly constrained from the lepton flavor violating (LFV) decay constraints. The smallness of $Y_{\nu}$ requires the sneutrino DM to co-annihilate with other sparticle(s) in order to satisfy DM relic density constraint. We have studied sneutrino co-annihilation with wino and observed that this sneutrino-wino compressed parameter space gives rise to a novel same-sign trilepton signal for the stop quark, which is more effective than the conventional stop search channels in the present framework. We have shown that the choice of neutrino mass hierarchy strongly affects the signal event rate, making it easier to probe the scenario with inverted mass hierarchy.

Supersymmetric R -parity violating Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky axion model

We propose a complete R-parity violating supersymmetric model with baryon triality that contains a Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky axion chiral superfield. We parametrize supersymmetry breaking with soft terms, and determine under which conditions the model is cosmologically viable. As expected we always find a region of parameter space in which the axion is a cold dark matter candidate. The mass of the axino, the fermionic partner of the axion, is controlled by a Yukawa coupling. When heavy [${\mathcal O}$(TeV)], the axino decays early and poses no cosmological problems. When light [$\mathcal{O}$(keV)] it can be long lived and a warm dark matter candidate. We concentrate on the latter case and study in detail the decay modes of the axino. We find that constraints from astrophysical X- and gamma rays on the decay into photon and neutrino can set new bounds on some trilinear supersymmetric R-parity violating Yukawa couplings. In some corners of the parameter space the decays of a relic axino can also explain a putative 3.5 keV line.

Strongly interacting massive particles through the axion portal

Dark matter could be a thermal relic comprised of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs), where $3 \rightarrow 2$ interactions set the relic abundance. Such interactions generically arise in theories of chiral symmetry breaking via the Wess-Zumino-Witten term. In this work, we show that an axion-like particle can successfully maintain kinetic equilibrium between the dark matter and the visible sector, allowing the requisite entropy transfer that is crucial for SIMPs to be a cold dark matter candidate. Constraints on this scenario arise from beam dump and collider experiments, from the cosmic microwave background, and from supernovae. We find a viable parameter space when the axion-like particle is close in mass to the SIMP dark matter, with strong-scale masses of order a few hundred MeV. Many planned experiments are set to probe the parameter space in the near future.

Dark matter for b \u2192 s\u03bc+\u03bc\u2212 anomaly in a gauged U(1)X model

We propose a new physics model which has a cold dark matter candidate and can explain the b → sμ+μ− anomaly at the same time. Our model includes a scalar quark tilde{q} and a scalar lepton tilde{ell} which are SU(2)L-doublet as well as a Dirac fermion N which is SU(2)L-singlet. The new particles are charged under a gauged U(1)X group which is spontaneously broken to a discrete Z2 symmetry by a dark scalar S. The remnant Z2 symmetry stabilizes the dark matter. Box diagrams with tilde{q} , tilde{ell} , and N running inside the loop can generate the correct Wilson coefficients C9μ = − C10μ to accommodate the b → sμ+μ− anomaly while avoiding constraints such as {B}_s-{overline{B}}_s mixing. The dark matter annihilation into a second generation lepton pair via t-channel tilde{ell} -exchanging process plays an important role in producing the current dark matter relic abundance of the universe, showing a strong interplay between the flavor and dark matter physics. We also discuss dark-gauge-interaction-dominated and Higgs-portal-dominated scenarios for dark matter physics.

Search for dark matter in the form of hidden photons and axion-like particles in the XMASS detector

Hidden photons and axion-like particles are candidates for cold dark matter if they were produced non-thermally in the early universe. We conducted a search for both of these bosons using 800 live-days of data from the XMASS detector with 327 kg of liquid xenon in the fiducial volume. No significant signal was observed, and thus we set constraints on the α′/α parameter related to kinetic mixing of hidden photons and the coupling constant gAe of axion-like particles in the mass range from 40 to 120 keV/c2, resulting in α′/α<6×10−26 and gAe<4×10−13. These limits are the most stringent over this mass range derived from both direct and indirect searches to date.

Axion isocurvature perturbations in low-scale models of hybrid inflation

The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion solves the strong $CP$ problem and represents an attractive particle candidate for cold dark matter (CDM). However, quantum fluctuations of the axion field during inflation easily result in large CDM isocurvature perturbations that are in conflict with observations of the cosmic microwave background. In this paper, we demonstrate how this problem can be solved in low-scale models of hybrid inflation that may emerge from supersymmetric grand unified theories. We consider both F-term hybrid inflation and D-term hybrid inflation in supergravity, explicitly taking into account the effect of hidden-sector supersymmetry breaking. We discuss the production of cosmic strings and show how the soft terms in the scalar potential readily allow us to achieve the correct scalar spectral index. In both cases, we are able to identify large regions in parameter space that are consistent with all constraints. In particular, we find that evading the CDM isocurvature constraint always requires a small Yukawa or gauge coupling of $\mathcal{O}({10}^{\ensuremath{-}3})$ or smaller. This translates into upper bounds on the gravitino mass of $\mathcal{O}({10}^{5})\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ in F-term hybrid inflation and $\mathcal{O}({10}^{9})\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ in D-term hybrid inflation. Our results point to interesting scenarios in well-motivated parameter regions that will be tested in future axion and cosmic microwave background experiments.

Dark matter as ultralight axion-like particle in E6 × U(1)X GUT with QCD axion

Axion-like fields are naturally generated by a mechanism of anomaly cancellation of one or more anomalous gauge abelian symmetries at the Planck scale, emerging as duals of a two-form from the massless bosonic sector of string theory. This suggests an analogy of the Green–Schwarz mechanism of anomaly cancellation, at field theory level, which results in one or more Stueckelberg pseudoscalars. In the case of a single Stueckelberg pseudoscalar b, vacuum misalignments at phase transitions in the early Universe at the GUT scale provide a small mass – due to instanton suppression of the periodic potential – for a component of b, denoted as χ and termed the “axi-Higgs”, which is a physical axion-like particle. The coupling of the axi-Higgs to the gauge sector via Wess–Zumino terms is suppressed by the Planck mass, which guarantees its decoupling, while its angle of misalignment is related to MGUT. We build a gauged E6×U(1) model with anomalous U(1). It contains both an automatic invisible QCD axion and an ultra-light axi-Higgs. The invisible axion present in the model solves the strong CP problem and has mass in the conventional range while the axi-Higgs, which can act as dark matter, is sufficiently light (10−22 eV<mχ<10−20 eV) to solve short-distance problems which confront other cold dark matter candidates.

Detecting dark-matter waves with a network of precision-measurement tools

Virialized Ultra-Light Fields (VULFs) are viable cold dark matter candidates and include scalar and pseudo-scalar bosonic fields, such as axions and dilatons. Direct searches for VULFs rely on low-energy precision measurement tools. While the previous proposals have focused on detecting coherent oscillations of the VULF signals at the VULF Compton frequencies at individual devices, here I consider a network of such devices. VULFs are essentially dark matter {\em waves} and as such they carry both temporal and spatial phase information. Thereby, the discovery reach can be improved by using networks of precision measurement tools. To formalize this idea, I derive a spatio-temporal two-point correlation function for the ultralight dark matter fields in the framework of the standard halo model. Due to VULFs being Gaussian random fields, the derived two-point correlation function fully determines $N$-point correlation functions. For a network of $N_{d}$ devices within the coherence length of the field, the sensitivity compared to a single device can be improved by a factor of $\sqrt{N_{d}}$. Further, I derive a VULF dark matter signal profile for an individual device. The resulting line shape is strongly asymmetric due to the parabolic dispersion relation for massive non-relativistic bosons. I discuss the aliasing effect that extends the discovery reach to VULF frequencies higher than the experimental sampling rate. I present sensitivity estimates and develop a stochastic field SNR statistic. Finally, I consider an application of the developed formalism to atomic clocks and their networks.

Extragalactic diffuse γ-rays from dark matter annihilation: revised prediction and full modelling uncertainties

Recent high-energy data from Fermi-LAT on the diffuse γ-ray background have been used to set among the best constraints on annihilating TeV cold dark matter candidates. In order to assess the robustness of these limits, we revisit and update the calculation of the isotropic extragalactic γ-ray intensity from dark matter annihilation. The emission from halos with masses ⩾ 1010 M⊙ provides a robust lower bound on the predicted intensity. The intensity including smaller halos whose properties are extrapolated from their higher mass counterparts is typically 5 times higher, and boost from subhalos yields an additional factor ∼ 1.5. We also rank the uncertainties from all ingredients and provide a detailed error budget for them. Overall, our fiducial intensity is a factor 5 lower than the one derived by the Fermi-LAT collaboration in their latest analysis. This indicates that the limits set on extragalactic dark matter annihilations could be relaxed by the same factor. We also calculate the expected intensity for self-interacting dark matter in massive halos and find the emission reduced by a factor 3 compared to the collisionless counterpart. The next release of the CLUMPY code will provide all the tools necessary to reproduce and ease future improvements of this prediction.

Phenomenology of the gauge symmetry for right-handed fermions

In this paper we investigate the phenomenology of the U(1) gauge symmetry for right-handed fermions, where three right-handed neutrinos are introduced for anomalies cancellations. Constraints on the new gauge boson Z_{mathbf {R}} from Z-Z^prime mixing as well as the upper bound of Z^prime production cross section in di-lepton channel at the LHC are presented. We further study the neutrino mass and the phenomenology of Z_{mathbf {R}}-portal dark matter in this model. The lightest right-handed neutrino can be the cold dark matter candidate stabilized by a Z_2 flavor symmetry. Our study shows that active neutrino masses can be generated via the modified type-II seesaw mechanism; right-handed neutrino is available dark matter candidate for its mass being very heavy, or for its mass at near the resonant regime of the SM Higgs and(or) the new bosons; constraint from the dilepton search at the LHC is stronger than that from the Z-Z^prime mixing only for g_mathbf {R}<0.121, where g_mathbf {R} is the new gauge coupling.

Gravitational waves from dark first order phase transitions and dark photons**Supported by the Shanghai Municipality (KBH1512299) and Fudan University (JJH1512105)

Cold Dark Matter particles may interact with ordinary particles through a dark photon, which acquires a mass thanks to a spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism. We discuss a dark photon model in which the scalar singlet associated to the spontaneous symmetry breaking has an effective potential that induces a first order phase transition in the early Universe. Such a scenario provides a rich phenomenology for electron-positron colliders and gravitational waves interferometers, and may be tested in several different channels. The hidden first order phase transition implies the emission of gravitational waves signals, which may constrain the dark photon’s space of parameters. Compared limits from electron-positron colliders, astrophysics, cosmology and future gravitational waves interferometers such as eLISA, U-DECIGO and BBO are discussed. This highly motivates a cross-checking strategy of data arising from experiments dedicated to gravitational waves, meson factories, the International Linear Collider (ILC), the Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) and other underground direct detection experiments of cold dark matter candidates.

The gamma-ray spectral feature from Kaluza–Klein dark matter annihilation and its observability

The theory of universal extra dimensions involves Kaluza–Klein (KK) particles. The lightest KK particle (LKP) is one of the good candidates for cold dark matter. Annihilation of LKP dark matter in the Galactic halo produces high-energy gamma-rays. The gamma-ray spectrum shows a characteristic peak structure around the LKP mass. This paper investigates the observability of this peak structure by near-future detectors taking account of their energy resolution and calculates the expected energy spectrum of the gamma-ray signal. Then, by using the High-Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) data, we set some constraints on the boost factor, which is a product of the annihilation cross-section relative to the thermal one and an uncertain factor dependent on the substructure of the LKP distribution in the Galactic halo, for each LKP mass. The resulting upper limit on the boost factor is in the range from 1 to 30. The constraints can be regarded as comparable with the results of previous work for gamma-ray and electron–positron observation. However, the observational data for the TeV or higher energy region are still limited, and the possible LKP signal is not conclusive. Thus, we expect near-future missions with better sensitivity will clarify whether the LKP dark matter should exist or not.

Light sterile neutrinos, dark matter, and new resonances in a U(1) extension of the MSSM

We present $\psi'$MSSM, a model based on a $U(1)_{\psi'}$ extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The gauge symmetry $U(1)_{\psi'}$, also known as $U(1)_N$, is a linear combination of the $U(1)_\chi$ and $U(1)_\psi$ subgroups of $E_6$. The model predicts the existence of three sterile neutrinos with masses $\lesssim 0.1~{\rm eV}$, if the $U(1)_{\psi'}$ breaking scale is of order 10 TeV. Their contribution to the effective number of neutrinos at nucleosynthesis is $\Delta N_{\nu}\simeq 0.29$. The model can provide a variety of possible cold dark matter candidates including the lightest sterile sneutrino. If the $U(1)_{\psi'}$ breaking scale is increased to $10^3~{\rm TeV}$, the sterile neutrinos, which are stable on account of a $Z_2$ symmetry, become viable warm dark matter candidates. The observed value of the standard model Higgs boson mass can be obtained with relatively light stop quarks thanks to the D-term contribution from $U(1)_{\psi'}$. The model predicts diquark and diphoton resonances which may be found at an updated LHC. The well-known $\mu$ problem is resolved and the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe can be generated via leptogenesis. The breaking of $U(1)_{\psi'}$ produces superconducting strings that may be present in our galaxy. A $U(1)$ R symmetry plays a key role in keeping the proton stable and providing the light sterile neutrinos.

Bose-Einstein-condensed scalar field dark matter and the gravitational wave background from inflation: New cosmological constraints and its detectability by LIGO

We consider an alternative cold dark matter candidate, ultralight bosons ($m>10^{-22}$eV) described by a complex scalar field (SFDM) with global U(1) symmetry, with comoving particle number density conserved after particle production during standard reheating. We allow for repulsive self-interaction. In a Lambda-SFDM universe, SFDM starts relativistic, evolving from stiff (w=1) to radiation-like (w=1/3), becoming nonrelativistic (w=0) at late times. Thus, a stiff-SFDM-dominated era precedes the familiar radiation-dominated era. SFDM particle mass $m$ and quartic self-interaction strength \lambda, are therefore constrained by cosmological observables, N_{eff}, the effective number of neutrino species during BBN, and z_{eq}, the matter-radiation equality redshift. Since the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) from inflation is amplified during the stiff-SFDM-dominated era, it can also contribute a radiationlike component large enough to affect these observables. Remarkably, this amplification makes this SGWB detectable by current GW experiments, e.g., aLIGO/Virgo and LISA, for Lambda-SFDM models satisfying cosmological constraints, for a range of reheat temperatures T_{re} and currently allowed values of tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. For given r and $\lambda/(mc^2)^2$, the marginally-allowed Lambda-SFDM model for each T_{re} has the smallest m that satisfies cosmological constraints. For example, for marginally-allowed models with r=0.01 and $\lambda/(mc^2)^2=10^{-18}$eV$^{-1}$cm$^3$, null detection by the aLIGO O1 run excludes 8.75*10^3<T_{re} (GeV)<1.7*10^5 at 95% confidence, demonstrating that GW experiments already place a new kind of cosmological constraint on SFDM. A wider parameter range should be accessible to aLIGO/Virgo O5, with potential to detect this signature of Lambda-SFDM. For this same illustrative family, 3-sigma detection is predicted for 600<T_{re} (GeV)<10^7.

Axion as a Cold Dark Matter Candidate: Proof to Fully Nonlinear Order

Abstract We present proof of the axion as a cold dark matter (CDM) candidate to the fully nonlinear order perturbations based on Einstein’s gravity. We consider the axion as a coherently oscillating massive classical scalar field without interaction. We present the fully nonlinear and exact, except for ignoring the transverse-tracefree tensor-type perturbation, hydrodynamic equations for an axion fluid in Einstein’s gravity. We show that the axion has the characteristic pressure and anisotropic stress; the latter starts to appear from the second-order perturbation. But these terms do not directly affect the hydrodynamic equations in our axion treatment. Instead, what behaves as the effective pressure term in relativistic hydrodynamic equations is the perturbed lapse function and the relativistic result coincides exactly with the one known in the previous non-relativistic studies. The effective pressure term leads to a Jeans scale that is of the solar-system scale for conventional axion mass. As the fully nonlinear and relativistic hydrodynamic equations for an axion fluid coincide exactly with the ones of a zero-pressure fluid in the super-Jeans scale, we have proved the CDM nature of such an axion in that scale.

A Radio Astronomy Search for Cold Dark Matter Axions

Abstract The search for axions has gained ground in recent years, with laboratory searches for cold dark matter (CDM) axions, relativistic solar axions, and ultra-light axions as the subject of extensive literature. In particular, the interest in axions as CDM candidates has been motivated by their potential to account for all of the inferred values of in the standard model. Indeed, the value of could be provided by a light axion. We investigate the possibility of complementing existing axion search experiments with radio telescope observations in an attempt to detect axion conversion in astrophysical magnetic fields. Searching for a CDM axion signal from a large-scale astrophysical environment provides new challenges, with the magnetic field structure playing a crucial role in both the rate of interaction and the properties of the observed photon. However, with a predicted frequency in the radio band (200 MHz–200 GHz) and a distinguishable spectral profile, next-generation radio telescopes may offer new opportunities for detection. The SKA-mid telescope has a planned frequency range of 0.4–13.8 GHz with optimal sensitivity in the range of ∼2–7 GHz. Considering observations at ∼500 MHz, the limiting sensitivity is expected to be ∼0.04 mK based on a 24 hr integration time. This compares with a predicted CDM axion all-sky signal temperature of ∼0.04 mK using SKA Phase 1 telescopes and up to ∼1.17 mK using a collecting area of (1 km)2 as planned for Phase 2.

Light axion-like dark matter must be present during inflation

Axion-like particles (ALPs) might constitute the totality of the cold dark matter (CDM) observed. The parameter space of ALPs depends on the mass of the particle $m$ and on the energy scale of inflation $H_I$ , the latter being bound by the non-detection of primordial gravitational waves. We show that the bound on HI implies the existence of a mass scale $m_\chi = 10 {\rm \,neV} {\div} 0.5 {\rm \,peV}$, depending on the ALP susceptibility $\chi$, such that the energy density of ALPs of mass smaller than $m_\chi$ is too low to explain the present CDM budget, if the ALP field has originated after the end of inflation. This bound affects Ultra-Light Axions (ULAs), which have recently regained popularity as CDM candidates. Light ($m < m_\chi$) ALPs can then be CDM candidates only if the ALP field has already originated during the inflationary period, in which case the parameter space is constrained by the non-detection of axion isocurvature fluctuations. We comment on the effects on these bounds from additional physics beyond the Standard Model, besides ALPs.