|
|
Barenboim, G., & Rasero, J. (2014). Structure formation during an early period of matter domination. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 138–17pp.
Abstract: In this work we show that modifying the thermal history of the Universe by including an early period of matter domination can lead to the formation of astronomical objects. However, the survival of these objects can only be possible if the dominating matter decays to a daughter particle which is not only almost degenerate with the parent particle but also has an open annihilation channel. This requirement translates in an upper bound for the coupling of such a channel and makes the early structure formation viable.
|
|
|
|
De Romeri, V., Karamitros, D., Lebedev, O., & Toma, T. (2020). Neutrino dark matter and the Higgs portal: improved freeze-in analysis. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 137–41pp.
Abstract: Sterile neutrinos are one of the leading dark matter candidates. Their masses may originate from a vacuum expectation value of a scalar field. If the sterile neutrino couplings are very small and their direct coupling to the inflaton is forbidden by the lepton number symmetry, the leading dark matter production mechanism is the freeze-in scenario. We study this possibility in the neutrino mass range up to 1 GeV, taking into account relativistic production rates based on the Bose-Einstein statistics, thermal masses and phase transition effects. The specifics of the production mechanism and the dominant mode depend on the relation between the scalar and sterile neutrino masses as well as on whether or not the scalar is thermalized. We find that the observed dark matter abundance can be produced in all of the cases considered. We also revisit the freeze-in production of a Higgs portal scalar, pointing out the importance of a fusion mode, as well as the thermalization constraints.
|
|
|
|
Caron, S., Casas, J. A., Quilis, J., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2018). Anomaly-free dark matter with harmless direct detection constraints. J. High Energy Phys., 12(12), 126–24pp.
Abstract: Dark matter (DM) interacting with the SM fields via a Z-boson (Z-portal') remains one of the most attractive WIMP scenarios, both from the theoretical and the phenomenological points of view. In order to avoid the strong constraints from direct detection and dilepton production, it is highly convenient that the Z has axial coupling to DM and leptophobic couplings to the SM particles, respectively. The latter implies that the associated U(1) coincides with baryon number in the SM sector. In this paper we completely classify the possible anomaly-free leptophobic Z with minimal dark sector, including the cases where the coupling to DM is axial. The resulting scenario is very predictive and perfectly viable from the present constraints from DM detection, EW observables and LHC data (di-lepton, di-jet and mono-jet production). We analyze all these constraints, obtaining the allowed areas in the parameter space, which generically prefer mZ less than or similar to 500 GeV, apart from resonant regions. The best chances to test these viable areas come from future LHC measurements.
|
|
|
|
Escudero, M., Lopez-Pavon, J., Rius, N., & Sandner, S. (2020). Relaxing cosmological neutrino mass bounds with unstable neutrinos. J. High Energy Phys., 12(12), 119–44pp.
Abstract: At present, cosmological observations set the most stringent bound on the neutrino mass scale. Within the standard cosmological model (Lambda CDM), the Planck collaboration reports Sigma m(v)< 0.12 eV at 95 % CL. This bound, taken at face value, excludes many neutrino mass models. However, unstable neutrinos, with lifetimes shorter than the age of the universe <tau>(nu) less than or similar to t(U), represent a particle physics avenue to relax this constraint. Motivated by this fact, we present a taxonomy of neutrino decay modes, categorizing them in terms of particle content and final decay products. Taking into account the relevant phenomenological bounds, our analysis shows that 2-body decaying neutrinos into BSM particles are a promising option to relax cosmological neutrino mass bounds. We then build a simple extension of the type I seesaw scenario by adding one sterile state nu (4) and a Goldstone boson phi, in which nu (i)-> nu (4)phi decays can loosen the neutrino mass bounds up to Sigma m(v) similar to 1 eV, without spoiling the light neutrino mass generation mechanism. Remarkably, this is possible for a large range of the right-handed neutrino masses, from the electroweak up to the GUT scale. We successfully implement this idea in the context of minimal neutrino mass models based on a U(1)(mu-tau) flavor symmetry, which are otherwise in tension with the current bound on Sigma m(v).
|
|
|
|
Beneke, M., Hellmann, C., & Ruiz-Femenia, P. (2015). Non-relativistic pair annihilation of nearly mass degenerate neutralinos and charginos III. Computation of the Sommerfeld enhancements. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 115–57pp.
Abstract: This paper concludes the presentation of the non-relativistic effective field theory formalism designed to calculate the radiative corrections that enhance the pair-annihilation cross sections of slowly moving neutralinos and charginos within the general minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). While papers I and II focused on the computation of the tree-level annihilation rates that feed into the short-distance part, here we describe in detail the method to obtain the Sommerfeld factors that contain the enhanced long-distance corrections. This includes the computation of the potential interactions in the MSSM, which are provided in compact analytic form, and a novel solution of the multi-state Schrodinger equation that is free from the numerical instabilities generated by large mass splittings between the scattering states. Our results allow for a precise computation of the MSSM neutralino dark matter relic abundance and pair-annihilation rates in the present Universe, when Sommerfeld enhancements are important.
|
|
