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Register a new userDark Matter Production Mechanisms with a Non-Thermal Cosmological History - A Classification
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We perform a comprehensive study of models of dark matter (DM) in a Universe with a non-thermal cosmological history, i.e with a phase of pressure-less matter domination before the onset of big-bang nucleosynethesis (BBN). Such cosmological histories are generically predicted by UV completions that contain gravitationally coupled scalar fields (moduli). We classify the different production mechanisms for DM in this framework, generalizing previous works by considering a wide range of DM masses/couplings and allowing for DM to be in equilibrium with a dark sector. We identify four distinct parametric regimes for the production of relic DM, and derive accurate semi-analytic approximations for the DM relic abundance. Our results are particularly relevant for supersymmetric theories, in which the standard non-thermally produced DM candidates are disfavored by indirect detection constraints. We also comment on experimental signals in this framework, focusing on novel effects involving the power spectrum of DM density perturbations. In particular, we identify a class of models where the spectrum of DM density perturbations is sensitive to the pressure-less matter dominated era before BBN, giving rise to interesting astrophysical signatures to be looked for in the future. A worthwhile future direction would be to study well-motivated theoretical models within this framework and carry out detailed studies of the pattern of expected experimental signals.
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We compare dark matter production from the thermal bath in the early universe with its direct production through the decay of the inflaton. We show that even if dark matter does not possess a direct coupling with the inflaton, Standard Model loop processes may be sufficient to generate the correct relic abundance.
The discovery of dark matter (DM) at XENONnT or LZ would place constraints on DM particle mass and coupling constants. It is interesting to ask when these constraints can be compatible with the DM thermal production mechanism. We address this question within the most general set of renormalisable models that preserve Lorentz and gauge symmetry, and that extend the Standard Model by one DM candidate of mass $m_{rm DM}$ and one particle of mass $M_{med}$ mediating DM-quark interactions. Our analysis divides into two parts. First, we postulate that XENONnT/LZ has detected $mu_Ssimmathcal{O}(100)$ signal events, and use this input to calculate the DM relic density, $Omega_{DM} h^2$. Then, we identify the regions in the $M_{med} - Omega_{DM} h^2$ plane which are compatible with the observed signal and with current CMB data. We find that for most of the models considered here, $mathcal{O}(100)$ signal events at XENONnT/LZ and the DM thermal production are only compatible for resonant DM annihilations, i.e. for $M_{med}simeq2 m_{DM}$. In this case, XENONnT/LZ would be able to simultaneously measure $m_{DM}$ and $M_{med}$. We also discuss the dependence of our results on $m_{DM}$, $mu_S$ and the DM spin, and provide analytic expressions for annihilation cross-sections and mediator decay widths for all models considered in this study.
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Using the upper bound on the inelastic reaction cross-section implied by S-matrix unitarity, we derive the thermally averaged maximum dark matter (DM) annihilation rate for general $k rightarrow 2$ number-changing reactions, with $k geq 2$, taking place either entirely within the dark sector, or involving standard model fields. This translates to a maximum mass of the particle saturating the observed DM abundance, which, for dominantly $s$-wave annihilations, is obtained to be around $130$ TeV, $1$ GeV, $7$ MeV and $110$ keV, for $k=2,3,4$ and $5$, respectively, in a radiation dominated Universe, for a real or complex scalar DM stabilized by a minimal symmetry. For modified thermal histories in the pre-big bang nucleosynthesis era, with an intermediate period of matter domination, values of reheating temperature higher than $mathcal{O}(200)$ GeV for $k geq 4$, $mathcal{O}(1)$ TeV for $k=3$ and $mathcal{O}(50)$ TeV for $k=2$ are strongly disfavoured by the combined requirements of unitarity and DM relic abundance, for DM freeze-out before reheating.
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