Abstract: We show how current LIGO data is able to probe interesting theories beyond the Standard Model, particularly dark sectors where a dark Higgs boson triggers symmetry breaking via a first-order phase transition. We use publicly available LIGO O2 data to illustrate how these sectors, even if disconnected from the Standard Model, can be probed by gravitational wave detectors. We link the LIGO measurements with the model content and mass scale of the dark sector, finding that current O2 data are testing a broad set of scenarios that can be mapped into many different types of dark-sector models where the breaking of SU(N) theories with Nf fermions is triggered by a dark Higgs boson at scales ? similar or equal to 108-109 GeV with reasonable parameters for the scalar potential.

Abstract: We search for single-photon events in 53 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) collision data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-Factory. We look for events with a single high-energy photon and a large missing momentum and energy, consistent with production of a spin-1 particle A' through the process e(+)e(-) -> gamma A'; A' -> invisible. Such particles, referred to as “dark photons,” are motivated by theories applying a U(1) gauge symmetry to dark matter. We find no evidence for such processes and set 90% confidence level upper limits on the coupling strength of A' to e(+)e(-) in the mass range m(A') <= 8 GeV. In particular, our limits exclude the values of the A' coupling suggested by the dark-photon interpretation of the muon (g – 2)(mu) anomaly, as well as a broad range of parameters for the dark-sector models.

Abstract: We revisit the topic of invisible neutrino decay in the precision cosmological context, via a first-principles approach to understanding the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure phenomenology of such a non-standard physics scenario. Assuming an effective Lagrangian in which a heavier standard-model neutrino nu(H) couples to a lighter one nu(l) and a massless scalar particle phi via a Yukawa interaction, we derive from first principles the complete set of Boltzmann equations, at both the spatially homogeneous and the firstorder inhomogeneous levels, for the phase space densities of nu(H), nu(l), and phi in the presence of the relevant decay and inverse decay processes. With this set of equations in hand, we perform a critical survey of recent works on cosmological invisible neutrino decay in both limits of decay while nu(H) is ultra-relativistic and non-relativistic. Our two main findings are: (i) in the non-relativistic limit, the effective equations of motion used to describe perturbations in the neutrino-scalar system in the existing literature formally violate momentum conservation and gauge invariance, and (ii) in the ultra-relativistic limit, exponential damping of the anisotropic stress does not occur at the commonly-used rate Gamma(T) = (1/tau(0))( m(nu H)/E-nu H)(3), but at a rate similar to (1/ tau(0))(m(nu H)/E-nu H)(5). Both results are model-independent. The impact of the former finding on the cosmology of invisible neutrino decay is likely small. The latter, however, implies a significant revision of the cosmological limit on the neutrino lifetime tau(0) from tau(old)(0) greater than or similar to 1.2 x 10(9) s (m(nu H)/50 meV)(3) to tau(0) greater than or similar to (4 x 10(5) -> 4 x 10(6)) s (m(nu H)/50 meV)(5).