We show the existence of a nontrivial topological configuration of the Higgs field in the Standard Model with the Skyrme term. It is shown that the current upper bound of the mass of the topological object is about 34 TeV. We discuss the impact of the existence of the topological object on cosmology.
We propose a scenario that the Electroweak-Skyrmion, a solitonic object made of the Higgs field and the electroweak gauge fields, is identified as an asymmetric dark matter. In this scenario, the relic abundance of the dark matter is related to the b
aryon asymmetry of the Universe through a sphaleron-like process. We show that the observed ratio of dark matter abundance to the baryon asymmetry can be explained by this scenario with an appropriate choice of model parameters that is allowed by currently available experimental constraints.
We revisit the theory and phenomenology of scalar electroweak multiplet thermal dark matter. We derive the most general, renormalizable scalar potential, assuming the presence of the Standard Model Higgs doublet, $H$, and an electroweak multiplet $Ph
i$ of arbitrary SU(2$)_L$ rank and hypercharge, $Y$. We show that, in general, the $Phi$-$H$ Higgs portal interactions depend on three, rather than two independent couplings as has been previously considered in the literature. For the phenomenologically viable case of $Y=0$ multiplets, we focus on the septuplet and quintuplet cases, and consider the interplay of relic density and spin-independent direct detection cross section. We show that both the relic density and direct detection cross sections depend on a single linear combination of Higgs portal couplings, $lambda_{rm eff}$. For $lambda_{rm eff}sim mathcal{O}(1)$, present direct detection exclusion limits imply that the neutral component of a scalar electroweak multiplet would comprise a subdominant fraction of the observed DM relic density.
We discuss the properties of the topological soliton, or the Electroweak-Skyrmion, in the system of the Standard Model Higgs Lagrangian with addition of general O(p^4) terms. We show that the upper bound on the mass of the Electroweak-Skyrmion is abo
ut 10 TeV, which is obtained from currently available experimental constraints on coefficients of O(p^4) terms. The impact on the properties of the Electroweak-Skyrmion due to further modification of the Lagrangian is also discussed, and comments on possible mechanisms for the generation of the Electroweak-Skyrmion in the early Universe as a dark matter are given.
A conservative upper bound on the total dark matter (DM) annihilation rate can be obtained by constraining the appearance rate of the annihilation products which are hardest to detect. The production of neutrinos, via the process $chi chi to bar u u
$, has thus been used to set a strong general bound on the dark matter annihilation rate. However, Standard Model radiative corrections to this process will inevitably produce photons which may be easier to detect. We present an explicit calculation of the branching ratios for the electroweak bremsstrahlung processes $chi chi to bar u u Z$ and $chi chi to bar u e W$. These modes inevitably lead to electromagnetic showers and further constraints on the DM annihilation cross-section. In addition to annihilation, our calculations are also applicable to the case of dark matter decay.
We explore the scalar phenomenology of a model of electroweak scale neutrinos that incorporates the presence of a lepton number violating singlet scalar. An analysis of the pseudoscalar-Majoron field associated to this singlet field is carried out in
order to verify the viability of the model and to restrict its parameter space. In particular we study the Majoron decay $J to u u$ and use the bounds on the Majoron mass and width obtained in a modified Majoron Decaying Dark Matter scenario.