Search results for " dark"
showing 10 items of 212 documents
Physics beyond colliders at CERN: beyond the Standard Model working group report
2019
The Physics Beyond Colliders initiative is an exploratory study aimed at exploiting the full scientific potential of the CERN's accelerator complex and scientific infrastructures through projects complementary to the LHC and other possible future colliders. These projects will target fundamental physics questions in modern particle physics. This document presents the status of the proposals presented in the framework of the Beyond Standard Model physics working group, and explore their physics reach and the impact that CERN could have in the next 10–20 years on the international landscape.
Search for gamma-ray spectral lines with the DArk Matter Particle Explorer
2021
The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is well suitable for searching for monochromatic and sharp $\gamma$-ray structures in the GeV$-$TeV range thanks to its unprecedented high energy resolution. In this work, we search for $\gamma$-ray line structures using five years of DAMPE data. To improve the sensitivity, we develop two types of dedicated data sets (including the BgoOnly data which is the first time to be used in the data analysis for the calorimeter-based gamma-ray observatories) and adopt the signal-to-noise ratio optimized regions of interest (ROIs) for different DM density profiles. No line signals or candidates are found between 10 and 300 GeV in the Galaxy. The constraints o…
Dark gamma-ray bursts
2016
Many theories of dark matter (DM) predict that DM particles can be captured by stars via scattering on ordinary matter. They subsequently condense into a DM core close to the center of the star and eventually annihilate. In this work, we trace DM capture and annihilation rates throughout the life of a massive star and show that this evolution culminates in an intense annihilation burst coincident with the death of the star in a core collapse supernova. The reason is that, along with the stellar interior, also its DM core heats up and contracts, so that the DM density increases rapidly during the final stages of stellar evolution. We argue that, counterintuitively, the annihilation burst is …
Impeded Dark Matter
2016
We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario "Impeded Dark Matter". We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario al…
Unifying leptogenesis, dark matter and high-energy neutrinos with right-handed neutrino mixing via Higgs portal
2016
We revisit a model in which neutrino masses and mixing are described by a two right-handed (RH) neutrino seesaw scenario, implying a strictly hierarchical light neutrino spectrum. A third decoupled RH neutrino, $N_{\rm DM}$ with mass $M_{\rm DM}$, plays the role of cold dark matter (DM) and is produced by the mixing with a source RH neutrino, $N_{\rm S}$ with mass $M_{\rm S}$, induced by Higgs portal interactions. The same interactions are also responsible for $N_{\rm DM}$ decays. We discuss in detail the constraints coming from DM abundance and stability conditions, showing that in the hierarchical case ($M_{\rm DM} \gg M_{\rm S}$) there is an allowed window on $M_{\rm DM}$, which necessar…
Axionic and nonaxionic electrodynamics in plane and circular geometry
2023
Various aspects of axion electrodynamics in the presence of a homogeneous and isotropic dielectric medium are discussed. 1. We consider first the "antenna-like" property of a planar dielectric surface in axion electrodynamics, elaborating on the treatment given earlier on this topic by Millar {\it et al.} (2017). We calculate the electromagnetic energy transmission coefficient for a dielectric plate, and compare with the conventional expression in ordinary electrodynamics. 2. We consider the situation where the medium exterior to the plate, assumed elastic, is "bent back" and glued together, so that we obtain a circular dielectric string in which the waves can propagate clockwise or counter…
Implications for dark matter direct detection in the presence of LIGO-motivated primordial black holes
2019
We discuss formation of dark matter (DM) mini-halos around primordial black holes (PBHs) and its implication on DM direct detection experiments, including axion searches. Motivated by LIGO observations, we consider $f_{\textrm{DM}} \simeq 0.01$ as the fraction of DM in PBHs with masses $10 M_{\odot} - 70 M_{\odot}$. In this case, we expect the presence of dressed PBHs after Milky Way halo formation with mini-halo masses peaked around $M_{\textrm{halo}} \sim (50-55) M_{\textrm{PBH}}$. We analyze the effect of tidal forces acting on dressed PBHs within the Milky Way galaxy. In the solar neighborhood, the mini-halos are resistant against tidal disruption from the mean-field potential of the ga…
Einstein, Planck and Vera Rubin: Relevant Encounters Between the Cosmological and the Quantum Worlds
2021
In Cosmology and in Fundamental Physics there is a crucial question like: where the elusive substance that we call Dark Matter is hidden in the Universe and what is it made of? that, even after 40 years from the Vera Rubin seminal discovery [1] does not have a proper answer. Actually, the more we have investigated, the more this issue has become strongly entangled with aspects that go beyond the established Quantum Physics, the Standard Model of Elementary particles and the General Relativity and related to processes like the Inflation, the accelerated expansion of the Universe and High Energy Phenomena around compact objects. Even Quantum Gravity and very exotic Dark Matter particle candid…
Planck-scale effects on WIMP dark matter
2014
There exists a widely known conjecture that gravitational effects violate global symmetries. We study the effect of global-symmetry violating higher-dimension operators induced by Planck-scale physics on the properties of WIMP dark matter. Using an effective description, we show that the lifetime of the WIMP dark matter candidate can satisfy cosmological bounds under reasonable assumptions regarding the strength of the dimension-five operators. On the other hand, the indirect WIMP dark matter detection signal is significantly enhanced due to new decay channels.
Limits on the parameters of the equation of state for interacting dark energy
2010
Under the assumption that cold dark matter and dark energy interact with each other through a small coupling term, $Q$, we constrain the parameter space of the equation of state $w$ of those dark energy fields whose variation of the field since last scattering do not exceed Planck's mass. We use three parameterizations of $w$ and two different expressions for $Q$. Our work extends previous ones.