Dark Matter Sector Research Articles

Asymmetric dark matter from semi-annihilation

We show that a general semi-annihilation scenario, in which a pair of dark matter (DM) particles annihilate to an anti-DM, and an unstable state that can mix with or decay to standard model states, can lead to particle anti-particle asymmetry in the DM sector. The present DM abundance, including the CP-violation in the DM sector and the resulting present asymmetry are determined entirely by a single semi-annihilation process at next-to-leading order. For large CP-violation in this process, we find that a nearly complete asymmetry can be obtained in the DM sector, with the observed DM density being dominated by the (anti-)DM particle. The presence of additional pair-annihilation processes can modify the ratio of DM and anti-DM number densities further, if the pair-annihilation is active subsequent to the decoupling of the semi-annihilation. For such a scenario, the required CP-violation for generating the same present asymmetry is generically much smaller, as compared to the scenario with only semi-annihilation present. We show that a minimal model with a complex scalar DM with cubic self-interactions can give rise to both semi- and pair-annihilations, with the required CP-violation generated at one-loop level. We also find that the upper bound on the DM mass from S-matrix unitarity in the purely asymmetric semi-annihilation scenario, with maximal CP-violation, is around 15 GeV, which is much stronger than in the WIMP and previously considered asymmetric DM cases, due to the required large non-zero chemical potential for such asymmetric DM.

Bounds on very weakly interacting ultra light scalar and pseudoscalar dark matter from quantum gravity

In this paper we consider very weakly interacting and ultra light scalar and pseudoscalar dark matter candidates. We show that quantum gravity has important implications for such models and that the masses of the singlet scalar and pseudoscalar fields must be heavier than 3times 10^{-3} eV. However, if they are gauged, their masses could be much lighter and as light as 10^{-22}, mathrm{eV}. The existence of new gauge forces in the dark matter sector can thus be probed by atomic clocks or quantum sensors experiments.

Unification for darkly charged dark matter

We provide a simple UV theory for a Dirac dark matter with a massless Abelian gauge boson. We introduce a single fermion transforming as the $\bf{16}$ representation in the SO(10)$'$ gauge group, which is assumed to be spontaneously broken to SU(5)$'\times$U(1)$'$. The SU(5)$'$ gauge interaction becomes strong at an intermediate scale and then we obtain a light composite Dirac fermion with U(1)$'$ gauge interaction at the low-energy scale. Its thermal relic can explain the observed amount of dark matter consistently with other cosmological and astrophysical constraints. We discuss that a nonzero kinetic mixing between the U(1)$'$ gauge boson and the Hypercharge gauge boson is allowed and the temperature of the visible sector and the dark matter sector can be equal to each other.

Connecting light dirac neutrinos to a multi-component dark matter scenario in gauged B-L model

We propose a new gauged B-L extension of the standard model where light neutrinos are of Dirac type, naturally acquiring sub-eV mass after electroweak symmetry breaking, without any additional global symmetries. This is realised by choosing a different B-L charge for right handed neutrinos than the usual -1 so that the Dirac Yukawa coupling involves an additional neutrinophilic scalar doublet instead of the usual Higgs doublet. The model can be made anomaly free by considering four additional chiral fermions which give rise to two massive Dirac fermions by appropriate choice of singlet scalars. The choice of scalars not only helps in achieving the desired particle mass spectra via spontaneous symmetry breaking, but also leaves a remnant Z_2 times Z'_2 symmetry to stabilise the two dark matter candidates. Apart from this interesting link between Dirac nature of light neutrinos and multi-component dark matter sector, we also find that the dark matter parameter space is constrained mostly by the cosmological upper limit on effective relativistic degrees of freedom Delta N_{mathrm{eff}} which gets enhanced in this model due to the thermalisation of the light right handed neutrinos by virtue of their sizeable B-L gauge interactions.

Na-based crystal scintillators for next-generation rare event searches

The growing interest in clarifying the controversial situation in the Dark Matter sector has driven the experimental efforts towards new ways to investigate the long-standing DAMA/LIBRA result. Among them, low-temperature calorimeters based on Na-containing scintillating crystals offer the possibility to clarify the nature of the measured signal via particle identification. Here we report the first preliminary measurement of Na-containing crystals, based on a material different from NaI, i.e. Na2Mo2O7 and Na2W2O7, pointing out their performance in terms of energy resolution, light yield, and particle identification.

Reaffirmation of cosmological oscillations in the scale factor from the Pantheon compilation of 1048 Type Ia supernovae

ABSTRACT We observe damped temporal oscillations in the scale factor at a dominant frequency of ∼7 cycles/Hubble-time in the Pantheon compilation of 1048 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). The residual oscillations observed in the Pantheon data closely match and reaffirm our initial observation of oscillations from earlier SNe data (primarily SNLS3 data of Conley 2011) at 2σ confidence. The nearly identical shapes in amplitude, frequency, phase, and damping constant makes it highly likely that the signal is real. Furthermore, two-thirds of the Pantheon SNe cover different portions of the sky compared with SNLS3 strengthening this conclusion. Our model describing the oscillation, presented in an earlier paper, is a simple scalar field harmonic oscillator coupled to the Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) Friedmann equation, but carried into the present epoch. The scalar field energy density plays the role of the dark matter energy density in ΛCDM cosmology, fits well as an average, and closely matches the present dark matter density parameter, suggesting the oscillation plays a role in the dark matter sector. Temporal oscillations in the scale factor and its derivative, as described in this work, would also induce temporal oscillations of the Hubble parameter.

Dark matter spin–spin interaction through the pseudo-scalar vacuum field

We suggest that the pseudo-scalar vacuum (PSV) field in the dark matter (DM) sector of the Universe may be as important as the electromagnetic vacuum field in the baryonic sector. In particular, the spin–spin interaction between the DM fermions, mediated by PSV, may represent the strongest interaction between the DM fermions due to the absence of the electric charge and the magnetic dipole moment. Based on this assumption, we consider the influence of the spin–spin interaction, mediated by PSV, on the spin precession of the DM fermions (e.g. neutralino). In the secular approximation, we obtain the exact expression describing the frequency of the precession and estimate the decoherence rate.

Discovery and Spectroscopy of Dark Matter and Dark Sectors with Microscopic Black Holes at Next Generation Colliders

If the length scale of possible extra dimensions is large enough, the effective Planck scale is lowered such that microscopic black holes could be produced in collisions of high-energy particles at colliders. These black holes evaporate through Hawking radiation of a handful of energetic particles drawn from the set of all kinematically and thermally allowed degrees of freedom, including dark matter. Here, we perform the first numerical black hole spectroscopic study of the dark sector. We find that if the next generation of colliders can produce microscopic black holes, then missing momentum signatures can reveal the existence of any new light (≲10 TeV) particle, regardless of the strength of its coupling to the standard model, even if there exists no such nongravitational coupling at all.

Cosmological dark matter in a conformal model

We study the collider, astrophysical and cosmological constraints on the dark matter sector of a conformal model within the framework of both the freeze out as well as the freeze in mechanism. The model has a dark sector with strong self interactions. This sector couples weakly with the Standard Model (SM) particles via a scalar messenger. The lightest dark sector particle is a pion-like fermion anti-fermion bound state. We find that the model successfully satisfies the constraints coming from the Higgs decay to the visible as well as the invisible sector. We have used the results of the dark matter direct detection experiments, such as, XENON1T in order to impose bounds on the parameters of the model. The model satisfies the indirect detection constraints of gamma ray from the galactic center and Dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We also determine the parameter range for which it satisfies the astrophysical constraints on the dark matter self coupling.

Beam impact tests of a prototype target for the beam dump facility at CERN: Experimental setup and preliminary analysis of the online results

The Beam Dump Facility (BDF) is a project for a new facility at CERN dedicated to high intensity beam dump and fixed target experiments. Currently in its design phase, the first aim of the facility is to search for Light Dark Matter and Hidden Sector models with the Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) experiment. At the core of the facility sits a dense target/dump, whose function is to absorb safely the 400 GeV/c Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) beam and to maximize the production of charm and beauty mesons. An average power of 300 kW will be deposited on the target, which will be subjected to unprecedented conditions in terms of temperature, structural loads and irradiation. In order to provide a representative validation of the target design, a prototype target has been designed, manufactured and tested under the SPS fixed-target proton beam during 2018, up to an average beam power of 50 kW, corresponding to 350 kJ per pulse. The present contribution details the target prototype design and experimental setup, as well as a first evaluation of the measurements performed during beam irradiation. The analysis of the collected data suggests that a representative reproduction of the operational conditions of the Beam Dump Facility target was achieved during the prototype tests, which will be complemented by a Post Irradiation Examination campaign during 2020.

Correlating the anomalous results in b→s decays with inert Higgs doublet dark matter and the muon g−2

In this article, we have considered an extension of the inert Higgs doublet model with $SU(2)_L$ singlet vector like fermions. Our model is capable of addressing some interesting anomalous results in $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ decays (like $R(K^{(*)})$) and in muon $(g-2)$. Apart from explaining these anomalies, and being consistent with other flavour data, the model satisfies relevant constraints in the dark matter sector, while remaining within the reach of ongoing direct detection experiments. The model also produces signatures at the large hadron collider (LHC) with final states comprised of dilepton, dijet and missing energy, providing signals to be probed at higher luminosity.

Unmatter Plasma Discovered

Unmmatter Plasma is a novel form of plasma, exclusively made of matter and its antimatter counterpart. It was first generated in the 2015 experiment [1, 2] based on the 2004 considerations [3]. There are four fundamental states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Plasma consists of positive ions and free electrons (negative particles), typically at low pressures, and it is overall almost neutral. Plasma is an ionized gas (as in fluorescent neon, in lightning, in stars, in nuclear reactors). An ion is a positive or negative charged particle. A positive ion is called cation, while a negative ion is called anion. If the ion is an atom, then it may contain less electrons than needed for being neutrally charged (hence one has a cation), or more electrons than needed for being neutrally charged (hence one has an anion). Similarly if the ion is a molecule or a group (of atoms or molecules). The process of forming ions is called ionization. The degree of ionization depends on the proportion of atoms that have lost or gained electrons. By applying a strong electromagnetic field to a gas, or by heating a gas, one obtains plasma. Unmatter as theoretically predicted in the framework of the neutrosophic logic and statistics [4–6] is considered as a combination of matter and antimatter that bound together, or a long-range mixture of matter and antimatter forming a weakly-coupled phase. For example, the electron-positron pair is a type of unmatter. We coined the word unmatter that means neither matter nor antimatter, but something in between. Besides matter and antimatter there may exist unmatter (as a new form of matter) in accordance with the neutrosophy theory that between an entity and its opposite there exist intermediate entities. The 2015 experiment [1, 2] on matter-antimatter plasma (unmatter plasma, in terms of the neutrosophic logic and statistics) was recently successful in the Astra Gemini laser facility of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford, United Kingdom. The 2015 experiment has produced electronpositron plasma. The positron is the antimatter of the electron, having an opposite charge of the electron, but the other properties are the same. Also, the meson is a clear example of unmatter whose configuration includes a pair quark-antiquark. Unmatter is mostly expected to emerge in exotic states outside the boundaries of the Standard Model for particle physics (for example in the Dark Matter sector) and in the regime of high-energy astrophysical objects [7]. “It is definitely a jet of unmatter, because a plasma consisting of the electrons and the positrons is neither matter nor antimatter in the same time. This experiment is the truly verification of unmatter as the theoretical achievements of neutrosophic logic and statistics. This experiment is a milestone of both experimental physics and pure mathematics” [8].

Dark matter from dark photons: A taxonomy of dark matter production

We analyse how dark matter (DM) can be produced in the early universe, working in the framework of a hidden sector charged under a U(1)' gauge symmetry and interacting with the Standard Model through kinetic mixing. Depending on the masses of the dark matter particle and of the dark photon, as well as on the hidden U(1)' gauge coupling and the kinetic mixing parameter, we classify all the distinct regimes along which the observed dark matter relic density can be accounted for. We find that 9 regimes are potentially operative to produce the DM particles and this along 5 distinct dynamical mechanisms. Among these, 4 regimes are new and correspond to regimes in which the DM particles are produced by on-shell dark photons. One of them proceeds along a new dynamical mechanism, which we dub sequential freeze-in. We argue that such regimes and the associated dynamical mechanisms are characteristic of DM models for which, on top of the Standard Model and the dark sector, there are other massive, but relatively light particles -- akin to the dark photon -- that interact both with the SM and the DM sectors.

Standard model Higgs field and hidden sector cosmology

We consider scenarios where the inflaton field decays dominantly to a hidden dark matter (DM) sector. By studying the typical behavior of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs field during inflation, we derive a relation between the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and amplitude of the residual DM isocurvature perturbations $\beta$ which is typically generated if the DM is thermally decoupled from the SM sector. We consider different expansion histories and find that if the Universe was radiation- or matter-dominated after inflation, a future discovery of primordial DM isocurvature will rule out all simple scenarios of this type because generating observable $\beta$ from the Higgs is not possible without violating the bounds on $r$. Seen another way, the Higgs field is generically not a threat to models where both the inflaton and DM reside in a decoupled sector. However, this is not necessarily the case for an early kination-dominated epoch, as then the Higgs can source sizeable $\beta$. We also discuss why the Higgs cannot source the observed curvature perturbation at large scales in any of the above cases but how the field can still be the dominant source of curvature perturbations at small scales.

Planck scale origin of nonzero θ13 and super-WIMP dark matter

We study a discrete flavour symmetric scenario for neutrino mass and dark matter under the circumstances where such global discrete symmetries can be explicitly broken at Planck scale, possibly by gravitational effects. Such explicit breaking of discrete symmetries mimic as Planck suppressed operators in the model which can have non-trivial consequences for neutrino and dark matter sectors. In particular, we study a flavour symmetric model which, at renormalisable level, gives rise to tri-bimaximal type neutrino mixing with vanishing reactor mixing angle $\theta_{13}=0$, a stable inert scalar doublet behaving like a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) and a stable singlet inert fermion which does not interact with any other particles. The introduction of Planck suppressed operators which explicitly break the discrete symmetries, can give rise to the generation of non-zero $\theta_{13}$ in agreement with neutrino data and also open up decay channels of inert scalar doublet into singlet neutral inert fermion leading to the realisation of the super-WIMP dark matter scenario. We show that the correct neutrino phenomenology can be obtained in this model while discussing three distinct realisation of the super-WIMP dark matter scenario.

Relaxion dark matter

We highlight a new connection between the Standard Model hierarchy problem and the dark matter sector. The key piece is the relaxion field, which besides scanning the Higgs mass and setting the electroweak scale, also constitutes the observed dark matter abundance of the universe. The relaxation mechanism is realized during inflation, and the necessary friction is provided by particle production. Using this framework we show that the relaxion is a phenomenologically viable dark matter candidate in the keV mass range.

Ultra-compact spherically symmetric dark matter charged star objects

We study the properties of ultra-compact spherically symmetric dark matter sector star objects, being the solution of Einstein equations with two U(1)-gauge fields. One of them is the ordinary Maxwell field, while the auxiliary gauge field pertains to the hidden sector, and mimics the properties of dark matter. The visible and hidden sectors are coupled by a kinetic mixing term with a coupling constant α. We also investigate the possibility of condensation of charged scalar field around the reflecting dark matter star object. It happens that dark matter sector, both dark matter charge and coupling constant, cause shrinking of the star radius for which the condensation may occur.

Unification of the standard model and dark matter sectors in [SU(5) \xd7 U(1)

A simple model of dark matter contains a light Dirac field charged under a hidden U(1) gauge symmetry. When a chiral matter content in a strong dynamics satisfies the t’Hooft anomaly matching condition, a massless baryon is a natural candidate of the light Dirac field. One realization is the same matter content as the standard SU(5) × U(1)(B−L) grand unified theory. We propose a chiral [SU(5) × U(1)]4 gauge theory as a unified model of the SM and DM sectors. The low-energy dynamics, which was recently studied, is governed by the hidden U(1)4 gauge interaction and the third-family mathrm{U}{(1)}_{{left(B-Lright)}_3} gauge interaction. This model can realize self-interacting dark matter and alleviate the small-scale crisis of collisionless cold dark matter in the cosmological structure formation. The model can also address the semi-leptonic B-decay anomaly reported by the LHCb experiment.

Kinetic mixing and portal matter phenomenology

Dark photons (DP) are interesting as potential mediators between the dark matter (DM) sector and the fields of the Standard Model (SM). The interaction of the DP, described by a broken $U(1)_D$ gauge symmetry, with the SM is usually generated at the one-loop level via kinetic mixing through the existence of portal matter (PM), here assumed to be fermionic, which carries both a dark charge as well as a SM $U(1)_Y$ hypercharge. For theoretical consistency, as well as for many phenomenological reasons, this PM must be vector-like with respect to the SM and dark gauge groups and, in particular, is shown to be allowed only to transform as vector-like copies of the usual SM fields. The dark Higgs that is responsible for the breaking of $U(1)_D$ can then generate a mixing between the PM and SM fields with the same electric charge thus altering the DP interactions with (at least some of) the SM fields and also providing a path for the PM fields to decay. In this paper we briefly explore the phenomenology of some specific simple models of this PM including, for the case where the PM is leptonic in nature, their potential impact on experiments probing low energy parity-violation and the g-2 of the muon. In the case of color-triplet, bottom quark-like PM, their direct pair- and single-production at the LHC is shown to be observable in final states that include missing $E_T$ and/or very highly boosted lepton-jets together with pairs of high $p_T$ b-jets that can be used to trigger on such events. These signatures are quite distinct from those usually employed in the search for vector-like quarks at the LHC and, furthermore, we demonstrate that the conventional signal channels for vector-like quarks involving the SM Higgs and gauge fields are essentially closed in the case of PM.

Singlet-doublet fermion and triplet scalar dark matter with radiative neutrino masses

We present a detailed study of a combined singlet-doublet fermion and triplet scalar model for dark matter. These models have only been studied separately in the past. Together, they form a simple extension of the Standard Model that can account for dark matter and explain the existence of neutrino masses, which are generated radiatively. This holds even if singlet-doublet fermions and triplet scalars never contribute simultaneously to the dark matter abundance. However, this also implies the existence of lepton flavour violating processes. In addition, this particular model allows for gauge coupling unification. The new fields are odd under a new ℤ2 symmetry to stabilise the dark matter candidate. We analyse the dark matter, neutrino mass and lepton flavour violation aspects both separately and in conjunction, exploring the viable parameter space of the model. This is done using a numerical random scan imposing successively the neutrino mass and mixing, relic density, Higgs mass, direct detection, collider and lepton flavour violation constraints. We find that dark matter in this model is fermionic for masses below about 1 TeV and scalar above. The narrow mass regions found previously for the two separate models are enlarged by their coupling. While coannihilations of the weak isospin partners are sizeable, this is not the case for fermions and scalars despite their often similar masses due to the relatively small coupling of the two sectors, imposed by the small neutrino masses. We observe a high degree of complementarity between direct detection and lepton flavour violation experiments, which should soon allow to fully probe the fermionic dark matter sector and at least partially the scalar dark matter sector.