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Liem, S., Bertone, G., Calore, F., Ruiz de Austri, R., Tait, T. M. P., Trotta, R., et al. (2016). Effective field theory of dark matter: a global analysis. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 077–22pp.
Abstract: We present global fits of an effective field theory description of real, and complex scalar dark matter candidates. We simultaneously take into account all possible dimension 6 operators consisting of dark matter bilinears and gauge invariant combinations of quark and gluon fields. We derive constraints on the free model parameters for both the real (five parameters) and complex (seven) scalar dark matter models obtained by combining Planck data on the cosmic microwave background, direct detection limits from LUX, and indirect detection limits from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We find that for real scalars indirect dark matter searches disfavour a dark matter particle mass below 100 GeV. For the complex scalar dark matter particle current data have a limited impact due to the presence of operators that lead to p-wave annihilation, and also do not contribute to the spin-independent scattering cross-section. Although current data are not informative enough to strongly constrain the theory parameter space, we demonstrate the power of our formalism to reconstruct the theoretical parameters compatible with an actual dark matter detection, by assuming that the excess of gamma rays observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope towards the Galactic centre is entirely due to dark matter annihilations. Please note that the excess can very well be due to astrophysical sources such as millisecond pulsars. We find that scalar dark matter interacting via effective field theory operators can in principle explain the Galactic centre excess, but that such interpretation is in strong tension with the non-detection of gamma rays from dwarf galaxies in the real scalar case. In the complex scalar case there is enough freedom to relieve the tension.
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Lazaries, G., & Pallis, C. (2015). Shift symmetry and Higgs inflation in supergravity with observable gravitational waves. J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 114–28pp.
Abstract: We demonstrate how to realize within supergravity a novel chaotic-type inflationary scenario driven by the radial parts of a conjugate pair of Higgs superfields causing the spontaneous breaking of a grand unified gauge symmetry at a scale assuming the value of the supersymmetric grand unification scale. The superpotential is uniquely determined at the renormalizable level by the gauge symmetry and a continuous R symmetry. We select two types of Kahler potentials, which respect these symmetries as well as an approximate shift symmetry. In particular, they include in a logarithm a dominant shift-symmetric term proportional to a parameter c together with a small term violating this symmetry and characterized by a parameter c(+). In both cases, imposing a lower bound on c, inflation can be attained with subplanckian values of the original inflaton, while the corresponding effective theory respects perturbative unitarity for r +/- = c(+)/c_ <= 1. These inflationary models do not lead to overproduction of cosmic defects, are largely independent of the one-loop radiative corrections and accommodate, for natural values of r +/-, observable gravitational waves consistently with all the current observational data. The inflaton mass is mostly confined in the range (3.7 – 8.1) x 10(10) GeV.
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Lattanzi, M., Gerbino, M., Freese, K., Kane, G., & Valle, J. W. F. (2020). Cornering (quasi) degenerate neutrinos with cosmology. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 213–24pp.
Abstract: In light of the improved sensitivities of cosmological observations, we examine the status of quasi-degenerate neutrino mass scenarios. Within the simplest extension of the standard cosmological model with massive neutrinos, we find that quasi-degenerate neutrinos are severely constrained by present cosmological data and neutrino oscillation experiments. We find that Planck 2018 observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies disfavour quasi-degenerate neutrino masses at 2.4 Gaussian sigma 's, while adding baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data brings the rejection to 5.9 sigma 's. The highest statistical significance with which one would be able to rule out quasi-degeneracy would arise if the sum of neutrino masses is Sigma m(v) = 60 meV (the minimum allowed by neutrino oscillation experiments); indeed a sensitivity of 15 meV, as expected from a combination of future cosmological probes, would further improve the rejection level up to 17 sigma. We discuss the robustness of these projections with respect to assumptions on the underlying cosmological model, and also compare them with bounds from beta decay endpoint and neutrinoless double beta decay studies.
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Jackson, C. B., Servant, G., Shaughnessy, G., Tait, T. M. P., & Taoso, M. (2010). Higgs in space! J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 04(4), 004–29pp.
Abstract: We consider the possibility that the Higgs can be produced in dark matter annihilations, appearing as a line in the spectrum of gamma rays at an energy determined by the masses of the WIMP and the Higgs itself. We argue that this phenomenon occurs generally in models in which the the dark sector has large couplings to the most massive states of the SM and provide a simple example inspired by the Randall-Sundrum vision of dark matter, whose 4d dual corresponds to electroweak symmetry-breaking by strong dynamics which respect global symmetries that guarantee a stable WIMP. The dark matter is a Dirac fermion that couples to a Z' acting as a portal to the Standard Model through its strong coupling to top quarks. Annihilation into light standard model degrees of freedom is suppressed and generates a feeble continuum spectrum of gamma rays. Loops of top quarks mediate annihilation into gamma Z, gamma h, and gamma Z', providing a forest of lines in the spectrum. Such models can be probed by the Fermi/GLAST satellite and ground-based Air Cherenkov telescopes.
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Huang, J. W., Madden, A., Racco, D., & Reig, M. (2020). Maximal axion misalignment from a minimal model. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 143–39pp.
Abstract: The QCD axion is one of the best motivated dark matter candidates. The misalignment mechanism is well known to produce an abundance of the QCD axion consistent with dark matter for an axion decay constant of order 10(12) GeV. For a smaller decay constant, the QCD axion, with Peccei-Quinn symmetry broken during inflation, makes up only a fraction of dark matter unless the axion field starts oscillating very close to the top of its potential, in a scenario called “large-misalignment”. In this scenario, QCD axion dark matter with a small axion decay constant is partially comprised of very dense structures. We present a simple dynamical model realising the large-misalignment mechanism. During inflation, the axion classically rolls down its potential approaching its minimum. After inflation, the Universe reheats to a high temperature and a modulus (real scalar field) changes the sign of its minimum dynamically, which changes the sign of the mass of a vector-like fermion charged under QCD. As a result, the minimum of the axion potential during inflation becomes the maximum of the potential after the Universe has cooled through the QCD phase transition and the axion starts oscillating. In this model, we can produce QCD axion dark matter with a decay constant as low as 6 x 10(9) GeV and an axion mass up to 1 meV. We also summarise the phenomenological implications of this mechanism for dark matter experiments and colliders.
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