No Arabic abstract
We revisit thermal Majorana dark matter from the viewpoint of minimal effective field theory. In this framework, analytic results for dark matter annihilation into standard model particles are derived. The dark matter parameter space subject to the latest LUX, PandaX-II and Xenon-1T limits is presented in a model-independent way. Applications to singlet-doublet and MSSM are presented.
We present an effective field theory describing the relevant interactions of the Standard Model with an electrically neutral particle that can account for the dark matter in the Universe. The possible mediators of these interactions are assumed to be heavy. The dark matter candidates that we consider have spin 0, 1/2 or 1, belong to an electroweak multiplet with arbitrary isospin and hypercharge and their stability at cosmological scales is guaranteed by imposing a $mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry. We present the most general framework for describing the interaction of the dark matter with standard particles, and construct a general non-redundant basis of the gauge-invariant operators up to dimension six. The basis includes multiplets with non-vanishing hypercharge, which can also be viable DM candidates. We give two examples illustrating the phenomenological use of such a general effective framework. First, we consider the case of a scalar singlet, provide convenient semi-analytical expressions for the relevant dark matter observables, use present experimental data to set constraints on the Wilson coefficients of the operators, and show how the interplay of different operators can open new allowed windows in the parameter space of the model. Then we study the case of a lepton isodoublet, which involves co-annihilation processes, and we discuss the impact of the operators on the particle mass splitting and direct detection cross sections. These examples highlight the importance of the contribution of the various non-renormalizable operators, which can even dominate over the gauge interactions in certain cases.
Les Houches 2021 lectures on dark matter effective field theory (short course). The aim of these two lectures is to calculate the DM-nucleus cross section for a simple example, and then generalize to the treatment of general effective interactions of spin-1/2 DM. Relativistic local operators, the heavy-DM effective theory, the chiral effective Lagrangian, and nuclear effective operators are briefly discussed.
A general covariant local field theory of the holographic dark energy model is presented. It turns out the low energy effective theory of the holographic dark energy is the massive gravity theory whose graviton has 3 polarisations, including one scalar mode and two tensor modes. The Compton wavelength is the size of the future event horizon of the universe. The UV-IR correspondence in the holographic dark energy model stems from the scalar gravitons strong coupling at the energy scale that marks the breaking down of the effective field theory.
We develop an effective field theory of a generic massive particle of any spin and, as an example, apply this to study higher-spin dark matter (DM). Our formalism does not introduce unphysical degrees of freedom, thus avoiding the potential inconsistencies that may appear in other field-theoretical descriptions of higher spin. Being a useful reformulation of the Weinbergs original idea, the proposed effective field theory allows for consistent computations of physical observables for general-spin particles, although it does not admit a Lagrangian description. As a specific realization, we explore the phenomenology of a general-spin singlet with $mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetric Higgs portal couplings, a setup which automatically arises for high spin, and show that higher spin particles with masses above $O(10),mathrm{TeV}$ can be viable thermally-produced DM candidates. Most importantly, if the general-spin DM has purely parity-odd couplings, it naturally avoids all DM direct detection bounds, in which case its mass can lie below the electroweak scale. Our formalism reproduces the existing results for low-spin DM, and allows one to develop consistent higher-spin particle physics phenomenology for high- and low-energy experiments and cosmology.
We enumerate the set of simplified models which match onto the complete set of gauge invariant effective operators up to dimension six describing interactions of a singlet-like Majorana fermion dark matter with the standard model. Tree level matching conditions for each case are worked out in the large mediator mass limit, defining a one to one correspondence between the effective operator coefficients and the simplified model parameters for weakly interacting models. Utilizing such a mapping, we compute the dark matter annihilation rate in the early universe, as well as other low-energy observables like nuclear recoil rates using the effective operators, while the simplified models are used to compute the dark matter production rates at high energy colliders like LEP, LHC and future lepton colliders. Combining all relevant constraints with a profile likelihood analysis, we then discuss the currently allowed parameter regions and prospects for future searches in terms of the effective operator parameters, reducing the model dependence to a minimal level. In the parameter region where such a model-independent analysis is applicable, and leaving aside the special dark matter mass regions where the annihilation proceeds through an s-channel Z or Higgs boson pole, the current constraints allow effective operator suppression scales ($Lambda$) of the order of a few hundred GeV for dark matter masses $m_chi >$ 20 GeV at $95%$ C.L., while the maximum allowed scale is around $3$ TeV for $m_chi sim mathcal{O}(1,{rm TeV})$. An estimate of the future reach of ton-scale direct detection experiments and planned electron-positron colliders show that most of the remaining regions can be probed, apart from dark matter masses near half of the Z-boson mass (with $500,{rm GeV} < Lambda < 2,{rm TeV} $) and those beyond the kinematic reach of the future lepton colliders.