No Arabic abstract
In all scalar extensions of the standard model of particle interactions, the one Higgs boson responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking always mixes with other neutral scalars at tree level unless a symmetry prevents it. An unexplored important option is that the mixing may be radiative, and thus guaranteed to be small. Two first such examples are discussed. One is based on the soft breaking of the discrete symmetry $Z_3$. The other starts with the non-Abelian discrete symmetry $A_4$ which is then softly broken to $Z_3$, and results in the emergence of an interesting dark-matter candidate together with a light mediator for the dark matter to have its own long-range interaction.
We present a model of vector dark matter that interacts through a low-mass vector mediator based on the Higgsing of an SU(2) dark sector. The dark matter is charged under a U(1) gauge symmetry. Even though this symmetry is broken, the residual global symmetries of the theory prevent dark matter decay. We present the behavior of the model subject to the assumption that the dark matter abundance is due to thermal freeze out, including self-interaction targets for small scale structure anomalies and the possibility of interacting with the Standard Model through the vector mediator.
The discovery of a light Higgs boson at the LHC opens a broad program of studies and measurements to understand the role of this particle in connection with New Physics and Cosmology. Supersymmetry is the best motivated and most thoroughly formulated and investigated model of New Physics which predicts a light Higgs boson and can explain dark matter. This paper discusses how the study of the Higgs boson connects with the search for supersymmetry and for dark matter at the LHC and at a future $e^+e^-$ collider and with dedicated underground dark matter experiments.
The existence of dark matter particles that carry phenomenologically relevant self-interaction cross sections mediated by light dark sector states is considered to be severely constrained through a combination of experimental and observational data. The conclusion is based on the assumption of specific dark matter production mechanisms such as thermal freeze-out together with an extrapolation of a standard cosmological history beyond the epoch of primordial nucleosynthesis. In this work, we drop these assumptions and examine the scenario from the perspective of the current firm knowledge we have: results from direct and indirect dark matter searches and cosmological and astrophysical observations, without additional assumptions on dark matter genesis or the thermal state of the very early universe. We show that even in the minimal set-up, where dark matter particles self-interact via a kinetically mixed vector mediator, a significant amount of parameter space remains allowed. Interestingly, however, these parameter regions imply a meta-stable, light mediator, which in turn calls for modified search strategies.
Dark matter may self-interact through a continuum of low-mass states. This happens if dark matter couples to a strongly-coupled nearly-conformal hidden sector. This type of theory is holographically described by brane-localized dark matter interacting with bulk fields in a slice of 5D anti-de Sitter space. The long-range potential in this scenario depends on a non-integer power of the spatial separation, in contrast to the Yukawa potential generated by the exchange of a single 4D mediator. The resulting self-interaction cross section scales like a non-integer power of velocity. We identify the Born, classical and resonant regimes and investigate them using state-of-the-art numerical methods. We demonstrate the viability of our continuum-mediated framework to address the astrophysical small-scale structure anomalies. Investigating the continuum-mediated Sommerfeld enhancement, we demonstrate that a pattern of resonances can occur depending on the non-integer power. We conclude that continuum mediators introduce novel power-law scalings which open new possibilities for dark matter self-interaction phenomenology.
We present models of resonant self-interacting dark matter in a dark sector with QCD, based on analogies to the meson spectra in Standard Model QCD. For dark mesons made of two light quarks, we present a simple model that realizes resonant self-interaction (analogous to the $phi$-K-K system) and thermal freeze-out. We also consider asymmetric dark matter composed of heavy and light dark quarks to realize a resonant self-interaction (analogous to the $Upsilon(4S)$-B-B system) and discuss the experimental probes of both setups. Finally, we comment on the possible resonant self-interactions already built into SIMP and ELDER mechanisms while making use of lattice results to determine feasibility.