When thermal rate equations are derived for the evolution of slow variables, it is often practical to parametrize the right-hand side with chemical potentials. To close the system, the chemical potentials are subsequently re-expressed in terms of the
slow variables, which involves the consideration of a susceptibility. Here we study a non-relativistic situation in which chemical potentials are large compared with the temperature, as is relevant for late-time pair annihilations in dark matter freeze-out. An order-of-magnitude estimate and a lattice simulation are presented for a susceptibility dominated by bound states of stop-like mediators. After this calibration, the formalism is applied to a model with Majorana singlet dark matter, confirming that masses up to the multi-TeV domain are viable in the presence of sufficient (though not beyond a limit) mass degeneracy in the dark sector.
The 3-D Z(3) Potts model is a model for finite temperature QCD with heavy quarks. The chemical potential in QCD becomes an external magnetic field in the Potts model. Following Alford et al.cite{Alford_et_al}, we revisit this mapping, and determine t
he phase diagram for an arbitrary chemical potential, real or imaginary. Analytic continuation of the phase transition line between real and imaginary chemical potential can be tested with precision. Our results show that the chemical potential weakens the heavy-quark deconfinement transition in QCD.
