Dark Matter Phenomenology Research Articles

Profile likelihood maps of a 15-dimensional MSSM

We present statistically convergent profile likelihood maps obtained via global fits of a phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with 15 free parameters (the MSSM-15), based on over 250M points. We derive constraints on the model parameters from direct detection limits on dark matter, the Planck relic density measurement and data from accelerator searches. We provide a detailed analysis of the rich phenomenology of this model, and determine the SUSY mass spectrum and dark matter properties that are preferred by current experimental constraints. We evaluate the impact of the measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (g − 2) on our results, and provide an analysis of scenarios in which the lightest neutralino is a subdominant component of the dark matter. The MSSM-15 parameters are relatively weakly constrained by current data sets, with the exception of the parameters related to dark matter phenomenology (M 1, M 2, μ), which are restricted to the sub-TeV regime, mainly due to the relic density constraint. The mass of the lightest neutralino is found to be < 1.5 TeV at 99% C.L., but can extend up to 3 TeV when excluding the g − 2 constraint from the analysis. Low-mass bino-like neutralinos are strongly favoured, with spin-independent scattering cross-sections extending to very small values, ~ 10−20 pb. ATLAS SUSY null searches strongly impact on this mass range, and thus rule out a region of parameter space that is outside the reach of any current or future direct detection experiment. The best-fit point obtained after inclusion of all data corresponds to a squark mass of 2.3 TeV, a gluino mass of 2.1 TeV and a 130 GeV neutralino with a spin-independent cross-section of 2.4 × 10−10 pb, which is within the reach of future multi-ton scale direct detection experiments and of the upcoming LHC run at increased centre-of-mass energy.

Dark matter versus h → γγ and h → γZ with supersymmetric triplets

The Triplet extension of the MSSM (TMSSM) alleviates the little hierarchy problem and provides a significant enhancement of the loop-induced diphoton rate of the lightest CP-even Higgs h. In this paper we pursue the analysis of the TMSSM Higgs phenomenology by computing for the first time the h into Z + gamma decay. Interestingly we find that the rates of loop-induced decays are correlated and their signal strengths can rise up to 40% - 60% depending on the channel. We furthermore study the dark matter phenomenology of the TMSSM. The lightest neutralino is a good dark matter candidate in two regions. The first one is related to the Higgs and Z resonances and the LSP is mostly Bino. The second one is achieved for a mass larger than 90 GeV and the LSP behaves as the well-tempered neutralino. An advantage of the triplet contribution is that the well-tempered neutralino can be a Bino-Triplino mixture, relieving the problem of achieving M_2 ~ M_1 in unified scenarios. The dark matter constraints strongly affect the Higgs phenomenology, reducing the potential enhancements of the diphoton and of the Z + photon channels by 20% at most. These enhancements are however larger than the MSSM ones. In the near future, complementarity of dark matter direct searches and collider experiments will be crucial to probe most of the parameter space where the neutralino is the dark matter candidate.

Higgs partner searches and dark matter phenomenology in a classically scale invariant Higgs boson sector

In a previous work, a classically scale invariant extension of the standard model was proposed, as a potential candidate for resolving the hierarchy problem, by minimally introducing a complex gauge singlet scalar, and generating radiative electroweak symmetry breaking by means of the Coleman- Weinberg Mechanism. Postulating the singlet sector to respect the CP-symmetry, the existence of a stable pseudoscalar dark matter candidate with a mass in the TeV range was demonstrated. More- over, the model predicted the presence of another physical CP-even Higgs boson (with suppressed tree-level couplings), in addition to the 125 GeV scalar discovered by the LHC. The viable region of the parameter space was determined by various theoretical and experimental considerations. In this work, we continue to examine the phenomenological implications of the proposed minimal sce- nario by considering the constraints from the dark matter relic density, as determined by the Planck collaboration, as well as the direct detection bounds from the LUX experiment. Furthermore, we investigate the implications of the collider Higgs searches for the additional Higgs boson. Our results are comprehensively demonstrated in unified exclusion plots, which analyze the viable region of the parameter space from all relevant angles, demonstrating the testability of the proposed scenario.

Implications of the Little Higgs Dark Matter and T-odd fermions

We study the phenomenology of dark matter in the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity after the discovery of Higgs boson. We analyze the relic abundance of dark matter, focusing on the effects of coannihilaitons with T-odd fermions. After determining the parameter space that predicts the correct relic abundance measured by WMAP and Planck collaborations, we evaluate the elastic scattering cross section between dark matter and nucleon. In comparison with experimental results, we find that the lower mass of dark matter is constrained mildly by LUX 2013 while the future XENON experiment has potential to explore most of the parameter space for both T-odd lepton and T-odd quark coannihilation scenarios. We also study the collider signatures of T-odd fermion pair production at the LHC. Even though the production cross sections are large, it turns out very challenging to search for these T-odd fermions directly at the collider because the visible charged leptons or jets are very soft. Furthermore, we show that, with an extra hard jet radiated out from the initial state, the T-odd quark pair production can contribute significantly to mono-jet plus missing energy search at the LHC.

Scalar representations in the light of electroweak phase transition and cold dark matter phenomenology

The extension of the standard model's minimal Higgs sector with aninert SU(2)L scalar doublet can provide light dark matter candidateand simultaneously induce a strong phase transition for explainingBaryogenesis. There is however no symmetry reasons to prevent theextension using scalars with higher SU(2)L representations. Bymaking random scans over the models' parameters, we showthat in the light of electroweak physics constraints, strong firstorder electroweak phase transition and the possibility of havingsub-TeV cold dark matter candidate thehigher representations are rather disfavored compared to the inertdoublet. This is done by computing generic perturbativitybehavior and impact on electroweak phase transitions of higherrepresentations in comparison with the inert doublet model. Explicitphase transition and cold dark matter phenomenology within the contextof the inert triplet and quartet representations are used for detailedillustrations.

Mono-Higgs-boson: A new collider probe of dark matter

We explore the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) phenomenology of dark matter (DM) pair production in association with a 125-GeV Higgs boson. This signature, dubbed ``mono-Higgs,'' appears as a single Higgs boson plus missing energy from DM particles escaping the detector. We perform an LHC background study for mono-Higgs signals at $\sqrt{s}=8$ and 14 TeV for four Higgs boson decay channels: $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}$, $b\overline{b}$, $Z{Z}^{*}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4\ensuremath{\ell}$, and $\ensuremath{\ell}\ensuremath{\ell}jj$. We estimate the LHC sensitivities to a variety of new physics scenarios within the frameworks of both effective operators and simplified models. For all of these scenarios, the $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ channel provides the best sensitivity, whereas the $b\overline{b}$ channel suffers from a large $t\overline{t}$ background. Mono-Higgs is unlike other mono-$X$ searches ($X=\text{jet}$, photon, etc.) since the Higgs boson is unlikely to be radiated as initial state radiation and therefore probes the underlying DM vertex directly.

SUSY dark matter in nonuniversal gaugino mass models

We discuss the SUSY dark matter phenomenology in some simple and predictive models of nonuniversal gaugino masses at the GUT scale. Assuming the gaugino masses to transform as a sum of singlet and a nonsinglet representation of the GUT group SU(5), one can evade the LEP constraints to access the bulk annihilation region of the bino dark matter relic density. Besides, with this assumption one can also have a mixed gaugino–higgsino dark matter, giving the right relic density over large parts of the parameter space. We consider the model predictions for LHC and dark matter experiments in both the cases. Finally we consider the AMSB model prediction of wino dark matter giving the right relic density for TeV scale wino mass. Assuming this wino dark matter mass to be at the first Sommerfeld resonance of ~ 4 TeV one can simultaneously reproduce the right relic density as well as the hard positron spectrum observed by the PAMELA experiment. -

IceCube, DeepCore, PINGU and the indirect search for supersymmetric dark matter

The discovery of a particle that could be the lightest CP-even Higgs of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) and the lack of evidence so far for supersymmetry at the LHC have many profound implications, including for the phenomenology of supersymmetric dark matter. In this study, we re-evaluate and give an update on the prospects for detecting supersymmetric neutralinos with neutrino telescopes, focussing in particular on the IceCube/DeepCore Telescope as well as on its proposed extension, PINGU. Searches for high-energy neutrinos from the Sun with IceCube probe MSSM neutralino dark matter models with the correct Higgs mass in a significant way. This is especially the case for neutralino dark matter models producing hard neutrino spectra, across a wide range of masses, while PINGU is anticipated to improve the detector sensitivity especially for models in the low neutralino mass range.

Erratum 2: Phenomenology of light sneutrino dark matter in cMSSM/mSUGRA with inverse seesaw

Erratum 2: Phenomenology of light sneutrino dark matter in cMSSM/mSUGRA with inverse seesaw

Phenomenology of Dirac neutralino dark matter

In supersymmetric models with an unbroken R-symmetry (rather than only R-parity), the neutralinos are Dirac fermions rather than Majorana. In this article, we discuss the phenomenology of neutralino dark matter in such models, including the calculation of the thermal relic abundance, and constraints and prospects for direct and indirect searches. Due to the large elastic scattering cross sections with nuclei predicted in R-symmetric models, we are forced to consider a neutralino that is predominantly bino, with very little higgsino mixing. We find a large region of parameter space in which bino-like Dirac neutralinos with masses between 10 and 380 GeV can annihilate through slepton exchange to provide a thermal relic abundance in agreement with the observed cosmological density, without relying on coannihilations or resonant annihilations. The signatures for the indirect detection of Dirac neutralinos are very different than predicted in the Majorana case, with annihilations proceeding dominately to $\tau^+ \tau^-$, $\mu^+ \mu^-$ and $e^+ e^-$ final states, without the standard chirality suppression. And unlike Majorana dark matter candidates, Dirac neutralinos experience spin-independent scattering with nuclei through vector couplings (via $Z$ and squark exchange), leading to potentially large rates at direct detection experiments. These and other characteristics make Dirac neutralinos potentially interesting within the context of recent direct and indirect detection anomalies. We also discuss the case in which the introduction of a small Majorana mass term breaks the $R$-symmetry, splitting the Dirac neutralino into a pair of nearly degenerate Majorana states.

Non-Gaussianity in the cosmic microwave background induced by dipolar dark matter

In previous work [L. Blanchet and A. Le Tiec, Phys. Rev. D 80 (2009) 023524], motivated by the phenomenology of dark matter at galactic scales, a model of dipolar dark matter (DDM) was introduced. At linear order in cosmological perturbations, the dynamics of the DDM was shown to be identical to that of standard cold dark matter (CDM). In this paper, the DDM model is investigated at second order in cosmological perturbation theory. We find that the internal energy of the DDM fluid modifies the curvature perturbation generated by CDM with a term quadratic in the dipole field. This correction induces a new type of non-Gaussianity in the bispectrum of the curvature perturbation with respect to standard CDM. Leaving unspecified the primordial amplitude of the dipole field, which could in principle be determined by a more fundamental description of DDM, we find that, in contrast with usual models of primordial non-Gaussianities, the non-Gaussianity induced by DDM increases with time after the radiation-matter equality on super-Hubble scales. This distinctive feature of the DDM model, as compared with standard CDM, could thus provide a specific signature in the CMB and large-scale structure probes of non-Gaussianity.

Scalar septuplet dark matter and enhanced h → γγ decay rate

Inspired by recent results on the Higgs search from ATLAS and CMS, we extend the SM with complex septuplet scalars. The lightest neutral component of the septuplets is a natural cold dark Matter candidate and the charged components can contribute to the $h\to \gamma \gamma $ decay rate, providing a significant enhancement factor. The dark matter phenomenology and possible collider signatures of the model are investigated. We find a dark matter candidate with mass around 70 GeV consistent with astrophysical and direct detection constraints. In the meanwhile, the enhancement factor of $h\to \gamma \gamma $ decay rate can be in the range 1.5\sim 2.

Erratum: phenomenology of light sneutrino dark matter in cMSSM/mSUGRA with inverse seesaw

Erratum: phenomenology of light sneutrino dark matter in cMSSM/mSUGRA with inverse seesaw

Sneutrino dark matter in low-scale seesaw scenarios

We consider supersymmetric models in which sneutrinos are viable dark matter candidates. These are either simple extensions of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with additional singlet superfields, such as the inverse or linear seesaw, or a model with an additional U(1) group. All of these models can accomodate the observed small neutrino masses and large mixings. We investigate the properties of sneutrinos as dark matter candidates in these scenarios. We check for phenomenological bounds, such as correct relic abundance, consistency with direct detection cross section limits and laboratory constraints, among others lepton flavour violating (LFV) charged lepton decays. While inverse and linear seesaw lead to different results for LFV, both models have very similar dark matter phenomenology, consistent with all experimental bounds. The extended gauge model shows some additional and peculiar features due to the presence of an extra gauge boson Z ′ and an additional light Higgs. Specifically, we point out that for sneutrino LSPs there is a strong constraint on the mass of the Z ′ due to the experimental bounds on the direct detection scattering cross section.

Predictive discrete dark matter model and neutrino oscillations

Dark Matter stability can be achieved through a partial breaking of a flavor symmetry. In this framework we propose a type-II seesaw model where left-handed matter transforms nontrivially under the flavor group Delta(54), providing correlations between neutrino oscillation parameters, consistent with the recent Daya-Bay and RENO reactor angle measurements, as well as lower bounds for neutrinoless double beta decay. The dark matter phenomenology is provided by a Higgs-portal.

Yukawa unification and the superpartner mass scale

Naturalness in supersymmetry (SUSY) is under siege by increasingly stringent LHC constraints, but natural electroweak symmetry breaking still remains the most powerful motivation for superpartner masses within experimental reach. If naturalness is the wrong criterion then what determines the mass scale of the superpartners? We motivate supersymmetry by (1) gauge coupling unification, (2) dark matter, and (3) precision b-tau Yukawa unification. We show that for an LSP that is a bino-Higgsino admixture, these three requirements lead to an upper-bound on the stop and sbottom masses in the several TeV regime because the threshold correction to the bottom mass at the superpartner scale is required to have a particular size. For tan beta about 50, which is needed for t-b-tau unification, the stops must be lighter than 2.8 TeV when A_t has the opposite sign of the gluino mass, as is favored by renormalization group scaling. For lower values of tan beta, the top and bottom squarks must be even lighter. Yukawa unification plus dark matter implies that superpartners are likely in reach of the LHC, after the upgrade to 14 (or 13) TeV, independent of any considerations of naturalness. We present a model-independent, bottom-up analysis of the SUSY parameter space that is simultaneously consistent with Yukawa unification and the hint for m_h = 125 GeV. We study the flavor and dark matter phenomenology that accompanies this Yukawa unification. A large portion of the parameter space predicts that the branching fraction for B_s to mu^+ mu^- will be observed to be significantly lower than the SM value.

Phenomenology of light sneutrino dark matter in cMSSM/mSUGRA with inverse seesaw

We study the possibility of a light Dark Matter (DM) within a constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (cMSSM) framework augmented by a SM singlet-pair sector to account for the non-zero neutrino masses by inverse seesaw mechanism. Working within a 'hybrid' scenario with the MSSM sector fixed at high scale and the singlet neutrino sector at low scale, we find that, contrary to the case of the usual cMSSM where the neutralino DM cannot be very light, we can have a light sneutrino DM with mass below 100 GeV satisfying all the current experimental constraints from cosmology, collider as well as low-energy experiments. We also note that the supersymmetric inverse seesaw mechanism with sneutrino as the lightest supersymmetric partner can have enhanced same-sign dilepton final states with large missing transverse energy (mET) coming from the gluino- and squark-pair as well as the squark-gluino associated productions and their cascade decay through charginos. We present a collider study for the same-sign dilepton+jets+mET signal in this scenario and propose some distinctions with the usual cMSSM. We also comment on the implications of such a light DM scenario on the invisible decay width of an 125 GeV Higgs boson.

Directional Detection of Dark Matter with MIMAC

Directional detection is a promising search strategy to discover galactic Dark Matter. We present a Bayesian analysis framework dedicated to Dark Matter phenomenology using directional detection. The interest of directional detection as a powerful tool to set exclusion limits, to authentify a Dark Matter detection or to constrain the Dark Matter properties, both from particle physics and galactic halo physics, will be demonstrated. However, such results need highly accurate track reconstruction which should be reachable by the MIMAC detector using a dedicated readout combined with a likelihood analysis of recoiling nuclei.

Dark matter in the classically conformalB−Lmodel

When the classically conformal invariance is imposed on the minimal gauged $B\ensuremath{-}L$ extended standard model, the $B\ensuremath{-}L$ gauge symmetry is broken by the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism naturally at the TeV scale. Introducing a new ${Z}_{2}$ parity in the model, we investigate phenomenology of a right-handed neutrino dark matter whose stability is ensured by the parity. We find that the relic abundance of the dark matter particle can be consistent with the observations through annihilation processes enhanced by resonances of either the standard model Higgs boson, the $B\ensuremath{-}L$ Higgs boson, or the $B\ensuremath{-}L$ gauge boson (${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ boson). Therefore, the dark matter mass is close to half of one of these boson masses. Because of the classically conformal invariance and the $B\ensuremath{-}L$ gauge symmetry breaking via the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism, Higgs boson masses, ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ boson mass, and the dark matter mass are all related, and we identify the mass region to be consistent with experimental results. We also calculate the spin-independent cross section of the dark matter particle off with nucleon and discuss implications for future direct dark matter search experiments.

Impact of semi-annihilations on dark matter phenomenology. An example of ZN symmetric scalar dark matter

We study the impact of semi-annihilations xixj↔xkX and dark matter conversion xixj↔xkxl, where xi is any dark matter and X is any standard model particle, on dark matter phenomenology. We formulate minimal scalar dark matter models with an extra doublet and a complex singlet that predict non-trivial dark matter phenomenology with semi-annihilation processes for different discrete Abelian symmetries ZN, N > 2. We implement two such example models with Z3 and Z4 symmetry in micrOMEGAs and work out their phenomenology. We show that both semi-annihilations and dark matter conversion significantly modify the dark matter relic abundance in this type of models. In the Z4 model, there are two stable neutral particles and therefore multi-component dark matter. We also study the possibility of dark matter direct detection in XENON100 in those models.