No Arabic abstract
We analyze the prospects for light neutralino dark matter in the minimal supersymmetric model extended by a $U(1)$ gauge group. We allow the neutralino to be an arbitrary admixture of singlet and doublet higgsinos, as well as of the three gauginos, and we require agreement with the data from the direct and indirect dark matter detection experiments, while maintaining consistency of the model with the relic density and with the recent Higgs data from the LHC. The constraints have implications for the structure of the lightest neutralino as a dark matter candidate, indicating that it is largely singlino, and its mass can be as light as $sim 20 $ GeV.
We analyse supersymmetric models augmented by an extra $U(1)$ gauge group. To avoid anomalies in these models without introducing exotics, we allow for family-dependent $U(1)^prime$ charges, and choose a simple form for these, dependent on one $U(1)^prime$ charge parameter only. With this choice, $Z^prime$ decays into di-taus but not di-leptons, weakening considerably the constraints on its mass. In the supersymmetric sector, the effect is to lower the singlino mass, allowing it to be the dark matter candidate. We investigate the dark matter constraints and collider implications of such models, with mostly singlino, or mostly higgsinos, or a mixture of the two as lightest supersymmetric particles. In these scenarios, $Z^prime$ decays significantly into chargino or neutralino pairs, and thus indirectly into final state leptons. We devise benchmarks which, with adequate cuts, can yield signals visible at the high-luminosity LHC.
In spite of rapid experimental progress, windows for light superparticles remain. One possibility is a ~100 GeV tau slepton whose t-channel exchange can give the correct thermal relic abundance for a relatively light neutralino. We pedagogically review how this region arises and identify two distinct scenarios that will be tested soon on multiple fronts. In the first, the neutralino has a significant down-type higgsino fraction and relatively large rates at direct detection experiments are expected. In the second, there is large mixing between two relatively light staus, which could lead to a significant excess in the Higgs boson branching ratio to photons. In addition, electroweak superpartners are sufficiently light that direct searches should be effective.
We study a class of general U$(1)^prime$ models to explain the observed dark matter relic abundance and light neutrino masses. The model contains three right handed neutrinos and three gauge singlet Majorana fermions to generate the light neutrino mass via the inverse seesaw mechanism. We assign one pair of degenerate sterile neutrinos to be the dark matter candidate whose relic density is generated by the freeze-in mechanism. We consider different regimes of the masses of the dark matter particle and the ${Z^prime}$ gauge boson. The production of the dark matter can occur at different reheating temperatures in various scenarios depending on the masses of the ${Z^prime}$ boson and the dark matter candidate. We also note that if the mass of the sterile neutrino dark matter is $gtrsim 1 rm{MeV}$ and if the $Z^prime$ is heavier than the dark matter, the decay of the dark matter candidate into positrons can explain the long standing puzzle of the galactic $511rm{keV}$ line in the Milky Way center observed by the INTEGRAL satellite. We constrain the model parameters from the dark matter analysis, vacuum stability and the collider searches of heavy ${Z^prime}$ at the LHC. For the case with light $Z^prime$, we also compare how far the parameter space allowed from dark matter relic density can be probed by the future lifetime frontier experiments SHiP and FASERs in the special case of $U(1)_{B-L}$ model.
We investigate the current status of the light neutralino dark matter scenario within the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) taking into account latest results from the LHC. A discussion of the relevant constraints, in particular from the dark matter relic abundance, leads us to a manageable simplified model defined by a subset of MSSM parameters. Within this simplified model we reinterpret a recent search for electroweak supersymmetric particle production based on a signature including multi-taus plus missing transverse momentum performed by the ATLAS collaboration. In this way we derive stringent constraints on the light neutralino parameter space. In combination with further experimental information from the LHC, such as dark matter searches in the monojet channel and constraints on invisible Higgs decays, we obtain a lower bound on the lightest neutralino mass of about 24 GeV. This limit is stronger than any current limit set by underground direct dark matter searches or indirect detection experiments. With a mild improvement of the sensitivity of the multi-tau search, light neutralino dark matter can be fully tested up to about 30 GeV.
We consider supersymmetric (SUSY) models wherein the strong CP problem is solved by the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) mechanism with a concommitant axion/axino supermultiplet. We examine R-parity conserving models where the neutralino is the lightest SUSY particle, so that a mixture of neutralinos and axions serve as cold dark matter. The mixed axion/neutralino CDM scenario can match the measured dark matter abundance for SUSY models which typically give too low a value of the usual thermal neutralino abundance, such as models with wino-like or higgsino-like dark matter. The usual thermal neutralino abundance can be greatly enhanced by the decay of thermally-produced axinos to neutralinos, followed by neutralino re-annihilation at temperatures much lower than freeze-out. In this case, the relic density is usually neutralino dominated, and goes as sim (f_a/N)/m_{axino}^{3/2}. If axino decay occurs before neutralino freeze-out, then instead the neutralino abundance can be augmented by relic axions to match the measured abundance. Entropy production from late-time axino decays can diminish the axion abundance, but ultimately not the neutralino abundance. In mixed axion/neutralino CDM models, it may be possible to detect both a WIMP and an axion as dark matter relics. We also discuss possible modifications of our results due to production and decay of saxions. In the appendices, we present expressions for the Hubble expansion rate and the axion and neutralino relic densities in radiation, matter and decaying-particle dominated universes.