Search results for " dark"
showing 10 items of 212 documents
Do we have any hope of detecting scattering between dark energy and baryons through cosmology?
2020
We consider the possibility that dark energy and baryons might scatter off each other. The type of interaction we consider leads to a pure momentum exchange, and does not affect the background evolution of the expansion history. We parametrize this interaction in an effective way at the level of Boltzmann equations. We compute the effect of dark energy-baryon scattering on cosmological observables, focusing on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy power spectrum and the matter power spectrum. Surprisingly, we find that even huge dark energy-baryon cross-sections $\sigma_{xb} \sim {\cal O}({\rm b})$, which are generically excluded by non-cosmological probes such as col…
Observational constraints on decoupled hidden sectors
2016
We consider an extension of the Standard Model with a singlet sector consisting of a real (pseudo)scalar and a Dirac fermion coupled with the Standard Model only via the scalar portal. We assume that the portal coupling is weak enough for the singlet sector not to thermalize with the Standard Model allowing the production of singlet particles via the freeze-in mechanism. If the singlet sector interacts with itself sufficiently strongly, it may thermalize within itself, resulting in dark matter abundance determined by the freeze-out mechanism operating within the singlet sector. We investigate this scenario in detail. In particular, we show that requiring the absence of inflationary isocurva…
New cosmological bounds on hot relics: Axions $\&$ Neutrinos
2020
Axions, if realized in nature, can be copiously produced in the early universe via thermal processes, contributing to the mass-energy density of thermal hot relics. In light of the most recent cosmological observations, we analyze two different thermal processes within a realistic mixed hot-dark-matter scenario which includes also massive neutrinos. Considering the axion-gluon thermalization channel we derive our most constraining bounds on the hot relic masses $m_a < 7.46$ eV and $\sum m_��< 0.114$ eV both at 95 per cent CL; while studying the axion-pion scattering, without assuming any specific model for the axion-pion interactions and remaining in the range of validity of the chira…
Axion cold dark matter: Status after Planck and BICEP2
2014
We investigate the axion dark matter scenario (ADM), in which axions account for all of the dark matter in the Universe, in light of the most recent cosmological data. In particular, we use the Planck temperature data, complemented by WMAP E-polarization measurements, as well as the recent BICEP2 observations of B-modes. Baryon Acoustic Oscillation data, including those from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, are also considered in the numerical analyses. We find that, in the minimal ADM scenario, the full dataset implies that the axion mass m_a = 82.2 pm 1.1 {\mu}eV (corresponding to the Peccei-Quinn symmetry being broken at a scale f_a = (7.54 pm 0.10)*10^10 GeV), or m_a = 76.6 …
Cosmological axion and neutrino mass constraints from Planck 2015 temperature and polarization data
2015
Axions currently provide the most compelling solution to the strong CP problem. These particles may be copiously produced in the early universe, including via thermal processes. Therefore, relic axions constitute a hot dark matter component and their masses are strongly degenerate with those of the three active neutrinos, as they leave identical signatures in the different cosmological observables. In addition, thermal axions, while still relativistic states, also contribute to the relativistic degrees of freedom, parameterised via $N_{eff}$. We present the cosmological bounds on the relic axion and neutrino masses, exploiting the full Planck mission data, which include polarization measure…
Observing Higgs boson production through its decay into gamma-rays: A messenger for Dark Matter candidates
2012
In this Letter, we study the gamma-ray signatures subsequent to the production of a Higgs boson in space by dark matter annihilations. We investigate the cases where the Higgs boson is produced at rest or slightly boosted and show that such configurations can produce characteristic bumps in the gamma-ray data. These results are relevant in the case of the Standard Model-like Higgs boson provided that the dark matter mass is about 63 GeV, 109 GeV or 126 GeV, but can be generalized to any other Higgs boson masses. Here, we point out that it may be worth looking for a 63 GeV line since it could be the signature of the decay of a Standard Model-like Higgs boson produced in space, as in the case…
Search for Production of Invisible Final States in Single-Photon Decays of Υ(1S)
2010
We search for single-photon decays of the Upsilon(1S) resonance, Upsilon->gamma+invisible, where the invisible state is either a particle of definite mass, such as a light Higgs boson A0, or a pair of dark matter particles, chi chi-bar. Both A0 and chi are assumed to have zero spin. We tag Upsilon(1S) decays with a dipion transition Upsilon(2S)->pi+pi-Upsilon(1S) and look for events with a single energetic photon and significant missing energy. We find no evidence for such processes in the mass range m_A0<=9.2 GeV and m_chi<=4.5 GeV in the sample of 98e6 Upsilon(2S) decays collected with the BaBar detector and set stringent limits on new physics models that contain light dark ma…
Proposal to Detect Dark Matter using Axionic Topological Antiferromagnets
2019
Antiferromagnetically doped topological insulators (A-TI) are among the candidates to host dynamical axion fields and axion-polaritons; weakly interacting quasiparticles that are analogous to the dark axion, a long sought after candidate dark matter particle. Here we demonstrate that using the axion quasiparticle antiferromagnetic resonance in A-TI's in conjunction with low-noise methods of detecting THz photons presents a viable route to detect axion dark matter with mass 0.7 to 3.5 meV, a range currently inaccessible to other dark matter detection experiments and proposals. The benefits of this method at high frequency are the tunability of the resonance with applied magnetic field, and t…
Phenomenology of scotogenic scalar dark matter
2020
We reexamine the minimal Singlet + Triplet Scotogenic Model, where dark matter is the mediator of neutrino mass generation. We assume it to be a scalar WIMP, whose stability follows from the same $\mathbb{Z} _{2}$ symmetry that leads to the radiative origin of neutrino masses. The scheme is the minimal one that allows for solar and atmospheric mass scales to be generated. We perform a full numerical analysis of the signatures expected at dark matter as well as collider experiments. We identify parameter regions where dark matter predictions agree with theoretical and experimental constraints, such as neutrino oscillations, Higgs data, dark matter relic abundance and direct detection searche…
Search for Dark Matter Annihilations in the Sun with the 79-String IceCube Detector
2012
We have performed a search for muon neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the center of the Sun with the 79-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, the DeepCore sub-array is included in the analysis, lowering the energy threshold and extending the search to the austral summer. The 317 days of data collected between June 2010 and May 2011 are consistent with the expected background from atmospheric muons and neutrinos. Upper limits are therefore set on the dark matter annihilation rate, with conversions to limits on spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-proton cross-sections for WIMP masses in the range 20 - 5000 GeV. These are the most stringent s…