Search

In this work, signatures of quantum entanglement by computing entanglement negativity between two causally unrelated regions in 3 + 1 dimensional global de Sitter space are studied. A bipartite quantum field theoretic setup for this purpose, driven by an axionic Bell pair resulting from Type IIB string compactification on a Calabi‐Yau three fold is investigated. A spherical surface that divides the spatial slice of the global de Sitter space into exterior and interior causally unrelated sub regions is taken into account. For the computational purpose, the simplest possible initial choice of quantum vacuum, which is Bunch‐Davies state is used. The quantitative quantum information theoretic measure for entanglement negativity turns out be consistent with the results obtained for entanglement entropy, even it is better than that from quantum information theoretic point of view. The problem in a hyperbolic open chart where one of the causally unrelated observers remains constrained and the scale dependence enters to the corresponding quantum information theoretic entanglement measure for axionic Bell pair is designed. From the analysis it is found that in the large scales, initially maximally entangled Bunch‐Davies state turns out to be strongly entangled or weakly entangled depending on the axionic decay constant and the supersymmetry breaking scale. It is also found that at the small scales the initial entanglement can be perfectly recovered. The possibility of having a biverse picture, which is a mini version of the multiverse in the present theoretical set up is discussed. Last but not the least, the necessary criteria for generating non vanishing quantum entanglement measures within the framework of quantum field theory of global de Sitter space as well as well as in primordial cosmology due to the axion derived from string theory are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Features in the inflationary landscape can inject extra energies to inflation models and produce on-shell particles with masses much larger than the Hubble scale of inflation. This possibility extends the energy reach of the program of cosmological collider physics, in which signals associated with these particles are generically Boltzmann-suppressed. We study the mechanisms of this classical cosmological collider in two categories of primordial features. In the first category, the primordial feature is classical oscillation, which includes the case of coherent oscillation of a massive field and the case of oscillatory features in the inflationary potential. The second category includes any sharp feature in the inflation model. All these classical features can excite unsuppressed quantum modes of other heavy fields which leave observational signatures in primordial non-Gaussianities, including the information about the particle spectra of these heavy degrees of freedom.

Abstract : Rotations of an axion field in field space provide a natural origin for an era of kination domination, where the energy density is dominated by the kinetic term of the axion field, preceded by an early era of matter domination. Remarkably, no entropy is produced at the end of matter domination and hence these eras of matter and kination domination may occur even after Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We derive constraints on these eras from both the cosmic microwave background and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We investigate how this cosmological scenario affects the spectrum of possible primordial gravitational waves and find that the spectrum features a triangular peak. We discuss how future observations of gravitational waves can probe the viable parameter space, including regions that produce axion dark matter by the kinetic misalignment mechanism or the baryon asymmetry by axiogenesis. For QCD axion dark matter produced by the kinetic misalignment mechanism, a modification to the inflationary gravitational wave spectrum occurs above 0.01 Hz and, for high values of the energy scale of inflation, the prospects for discovery are good. We briefly comment on implications for structure formation of the universe.

In the framework where the strong coupling is dynamical, the QCD sector may confine at a much higher temperature than it would in the Standard Model, and the temperature-dependent mass of the QCD axion evolves in a non-trivial way. We find that, depending on the evolution of ΛQCD, the axion field may undergo multiple distinct phases of damping and oscillation leading generically to a suppression of its relic abundance. Such a suppression could therefore open up a wide range of parameter space, resurrecting in particular axion dark-matter models with a large Peccei-Quinn scale fa ≫ 1012 GeV, i.e., with a lighter mass than the standard QCD axion.

Heavy particles with masses much bigger than the inflationary Hubble scale H*, can get non-adiabatically pair produced during inflation through their couplings to the inflaton. If such couplings give rise to time-dependent masses for the heavy particles, then following their production, the heavy particles modify the curvature perturbation around their locations in a time-dependent and scale non-invariant manner. This results into a non-trivial spatial profile of the curvature perturbation that is preserved on superhorizon scales and eventually generates localized hot or cold spots on the CMB. We explore this phenomenon by studying the inflationary production of heavy scalars and derive the final temperature profile of the spots on the CMB by taking into account the subhorizon evolution, focusing in particular on the parameter space where pairwise hot spots (PHS) arise. When the heavy scalar has an O(1) coupling to the inflaton, we show that for an idealized situation where the dominant background to the PHS signal comes from the standard CMB fluctuations themselves, a simple position space search based on applying a temperature cut, can be sensitive to heavy particle masses M0/H* ∼ O(100). The corresponding PHS signal also modifies the CMB power spectra and bispectra, although the corrections are below (outside) the sensitivity of current measurements (searches).

The QCD axion or axion-like particles are candidates of dark matter of the universe. On the other hand, axion-like excitations exist in certain condensed matter systems, which implies that there can be interactions of dark matter particles with condensed matter axions. We discuss the relationship between the condensed matter axion and a collective spin-wave excitation in an anti-ferromagnetic insulator at the quantum level. The conversion rate of the light dark matter, such as the elementary particle axion or hidden photon, into the condensed matter axion is estimated for the discovery of the dark matter signals.

Abstract The general structure of Hybrid Inflation remains a very well-motivated mechanism for lower-scale cosmic inflation in the face of improving constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. However, as originally modeled, the “waterfall” field in this mechanism gives rise to a hierarchy problem (η−problem) for the inflaton after demanding standard effective field theory (EFT) control. We modify the hybrid mechanism and incorporate a discrete “twin” symmetry, thereby yielding a viable, natural and EFT-controlled model of non-supersymmetric low-scale inflation, “Twinflation”. Analogously to Twin Higgs models, the discrete exchange-symmetry with a “twin” sector reduces quadratic sensitivity in the inflationary potential to ultra-violet physics, at the root of the hierarchy problem. The observed phase of inflation takes place on a hilltop-like potential but without fine-tuning of the initial inflaton position in field-space. We also show that all parameters of the model can take natural values, below any associated EFT-cutoff mass scales and field values, thus ensuring straightforward theoretical control. We discuss the basic phenomenological considerations and constraints, as well as possible future directions.

A dark QCD sector is a relatively minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM) that admits Dark Matter (DM) candidates, but requires no portal to the visible sector beyond gravitational interactions: a "nightmare scenario"for DM detection. We consider a secluded dark sector containing a single flavor of light, vector-like dark quark gauged under (N). In the large-N limit, this single-flavor theory becomes highly predictive, generating two DM candidates whose masses and dynamics are described by few parameters: a light quark-antiquark bound state, the dark analog of the η' meson, and a heavy bound state of N quarks, the dark analog of the Δ++ baryon. We show that the latter may freeze-in with an abundance independent of the confinement scale, forming DM-like relics for N ≲ 10, while the former may generate DM via cannibalization and freeze-out. We study the interplay of this two-component DM system, and determine the characteristic ranges of the confinement scale, dark-visible sector temperature ratio, and N that admit non-excluded DM, once effects of self-interaction constraints and bounds on effective degrees of freedom at the BBN and CMB epochs are included.

The vanishing of the Higgs quartic coupling at a high energy scale may be explained by Intermediate Scale Supersymmetry, where supersymmetry breaks at (109-1012) GeV. The possible range of supersymmetry breaking scales can be narrowed down by precise measurements of the top quark mass and the strong coupling constant. On the other hand, nuclear recoil experiments can probe Higgsino or sneutrino dark matter up to a mass of 1012 GeV. We derive the correlation between the dark matter mass and precision measurements of standard model parameters, including supersymmetric threshold corrections. The dark matter mass is bounded from above as a function of the top quark mass and the strong coupling constant. The top quark mass and the strong coupling constant are bounded from above and below respectively for a given dark matter mass. We also discuss how the observed dark matter abundance can be explained by freeze-out or freeze-in during a matter-dominated era after inflation, with the inflaton condensate being dissipated by thermal effects.

We propose a baryogenenesis mechanism that uses a rotating condensate of a Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking field and the dimension-five operator that gives Majorana neutrino masses. The rotation induces charge asymmetries for the Higgs boson and for lepton chirality through sphaleron processes and Yukawa interactions. The dimension-five interaction transfers these asymmetries to the lepton asymmetry, which in turn is transferred into the baryon asymmetry through the electroweak sphaleron process. QCD axion dark matter can be simultaneously produced by dynamics of the same PQ field via kinetic misalignment or parametric resonance, favoring an axion decay constant fa ≲ 1010 GeV, or by conventional misalignment and contributions from strings and domain walls with fa ∼ 1011 GeV. The size of the baryon asymmetry is tied to the mass of the PQ field. In simple supersymmetric theories, it is independent of UV parameters and predicts the supersymmtry breaking mass scale to be O(10 − 104) TeV, depending on the masses of the neutrinos and whether the condensate is thermalized during a radiation or matter dominated era. The high supersymmetry breaking mass scale may be free from cosmological and flavor/CP problems. We also construct a theory where TeV scale supersymmetry is possible. Parametric resonance may give warm axions, and the radial component of the PQ field may give signals in rare kaon decays from mixing with the Higgs and in dark radiation.

Abstract Non-analyticity in co-moving momenta within the non-Gaussian bispectrum is a distinctive sign of on-shell particle production during inflation, presenting a unique opportunity for the “direct detection” of particles with masses as large as the inflationary Hubble scale (H). However, the strength of such non-analyticity ordinarily drops exponentially by a Boltzmann-like factor as masses exceed H. In this paper, we study an exception provided by a dimension-5 derivative coupling of the inflaton to heavy-particle currents, applying it specifically to the case of two real scalars. The operator has a “chemical potential” form, which harnesses the large kinetic energy scale of the inflaton, $$ {\overset{\cdot }{\phi}}_0^{1/2}\approx 60H $$ ϕ ⋅ 0 1 / 2 ≈ 60 H , to act as an efficient source of scalar particle production. Derivative couplings of inflaton ensure radiative stability of the slow-roll potential, which in turn maintains (approximate) scale-invariance of the inflationary correlations. We show that a signal not suffering Boltzmann suppression can be obtained in the bispectrum with strength fNL ∼ $$ \mathcal{O} $$ O (0.01–10) for an extended range of scalar masses $$ \lesssim {\overset{\cdot }{\phi}}_0^{1/2} $$ ≲ ϕ ⋅ 0 1 / 2 , potentially as high as 1015 GeV, within the sensitivity of upcoming LSS and more futuristic 21-cm experiments. The mechanism does not invoke any particular fine-tuning of parameters or breakdown of perturbation-theoretic control. The leading contribution appears at tree-level, which makes the calculation analytically tractable and removes the loop-suppression as compared to earlier chemical potential studies of non-zero spins. The steady particle production allows us to infer the effective mass of the heavy particles and the chemical potential from the variation in bispectrum oscillations as a function of co-moving momenta. Our analysis sets the stage for generalization to heavy bosons with non-zero spin.

Abstract We study the cosmological transition of 5D warped compactifications, from the high-temperature black-brane phase to the low-temperature Randall-Sundrum I phase. The transition proceeds via percolation of bubbles of IR-brane nucleating from the black-brane horizon. The violent bubble dynamics can be a powerful source of observable stochastic gravitational waves. While bubble nucleation is non-perturbative in 5D gravity, it is amenable to semiclassical treatment in terms of a “bounce” configuration interpolating between the two phases. We demonstrate how such a bounce configuration can be smooth enough to maintain 5D effective field theory control, and how a simple ansatz for it places a rigorous lower-bound on the transition rate in the thin-wall regime, and gives plausible estimates more generally. When applied to the Hierarchy Problem, the minimal Goldberger-Wise stabilization of the warped throat leads to a slow transition with significant supercooling. We demonstrate that a simple generalization of the Goldberger-Wise potential modifies the IR-brane dynamics so that the transition completes more promptly. Supercooling determines the dilution of any (dark) matter abundances generated before the transition, potentially at odds with data, while the prompter transition resolves such tensions. We discuss the impact of the different possibilities on the strength of the gravitational wave signals. Via AdS/CFT duality the warped transition gives a theoretically tractable holographic description of the 4D Composite Higgs (de)confinement transition. Our generalization of the Goldberger-Wise mechanism is dual to, and concretely models, our earlier proposal in which the composite dynamics is governed by separate UV and IR RG fixed points. The smooth 5D bounce configuration we introduce complements the 4D dilaton/radion dominance derivation presented in our earlier work.

Motivated by the recent XENON1T results, we explore various new physics models that can be discovered through searches for electron recoils in O(keV)-threshold direct-detection experiments. First, we consider the absorption of axion-like particles, dark photons, and scalars, either as dark matter relics or being produced directly in the Sun. In the latter case, we find that keV mass bosons produced in the Sun provide an adequate fit to the data but are excluded by stellar cooling constraints. We address this tension by introducing a novel Chameleon-like axion model, which can explain the excess while evading the stellar bounds. We find that absorption of bosonic dark matter provides a viable explanation for the excess only if the dark matter is a dark photon or an axion. In the latter case, photophobic axion couplings are necessary to avoid X-ray constraints. Second, we analyze models of dark matter-electron scattering to determine which models might explain the excess. Standard scattering of dark matter with electrons is generically in conflict with data from lower-threshold experiments. Momentum-dependent interactions with a heavy mediator can fit the data with dark matter mass heavier than a GeV but are generically in tension with collider constraints. Next, we consider dark matter consisting of two (or more) states that have a small mass splitting. The exothermic (down)scattering of the heavier state to the lighter state can fit the data for keV mass splittings. Finally, we consider a subcomponent of dark matter that is accelerated by scattering off cosmic rays, finding that dark matter interacting though an O(100 keV)-mass mediator can fit the data. The cross sections required in this scenario are, however, typically challenged by complementary probes of the light mediator. Throughout our study, we implement an unbinned Monte Carlo analysis and use an improved energy reconstruction of the XENON1T events.

Adding an axion-like particle (ALP) to the Standard Model, with a field velocity in the early universe, simultaneously explains the observed baryon and dark matter densities. This requires one or more couplings between the ALP and photons, nucleons, and/or electrons that are predicted as functions of the ALP mass. These predictions arise because the ratio of dark matter to baryon densities is independent of the ALP field velocity, allowing a correlation between the ALP mass, ma, and decay constant, fa. The predicted couplings are orders of magnitude larger than those for the QCD axion and for dark matter from the conventional ALP misalignment mechanism. As a result, this scheme, ALP cogenesis, is within reach of future experimental ALP searches from the lab and stellar objects, and for dark matter.

The standard model Higgs quartic coupling vanishes at (109 − 1013) GeV. We study SU(2)L× SU(2)R× U(1)B−L theories that incorporate the Higgs Parity mechanism, where this becomes the scale of Left-Right symmetry breaking, vR. Furthermore, these theories solve the strong CP problem and predict three right-handed neutrinos. We introduce cosmologies where SU(2)R× U(1)B−L gauge interactions produce right-handed neutrinos via the freeze-out or freeze-in mechanisms. In both cases, we find the parameter space where the lightest right-handed neutrino is dark matter and the decay of a heavier one creates the baryon asymmetry of the universe via leptogenesis. A theory of flavor is constructed that naturally accounts for the lightness and stability of the right-handed neutrino dark matter, while maintaining sufficient baryon asymmetry. The dark matter abundance and successful natural leptogenesis require vR to be in the range (1010− 1013) GeV for freeze-out, in remarkable agreement with the scale where the Higgs quartic coupling vanishes, whereas freeze-in requires vR ≳ 109 GeV. The allowed parameter space can be probed by the warmness of dark matter, precise determinations of the top quark mass and QCD coupling by future colliders and lattice computations, and measurement of the neutrino mass hierarchy.

We propose a novel explanation for the smallness of the observed cosmological constant (CC). Regions of space with a large CC are short lived and are dynamically driven to crunch soon after the end of inflation. Conversely, regions with a small CC are metastable and long lived and are the only ones to survive until late times. While the mechanism assumes many domains with different CC values, it does not result in eternal inflation nor does it require a long period of inflation to populate them. We present a concrete dynamical model, based on a super-cooled first order phase transition in a hidden conformal sector, that may successfully implement such a crunching mechanism. We find that the mechanism can only solve the CC problem up to the weak scale, above which new physics, such as supersymmetry, is needed to solve the CC problem all the way to the UV cutoff scale. The absence of experimental evidence for such new physics already implies a mild little hierarchy problem for the CC. Curiously, in this approach the weak scale arises as the geometric mean of the temperature in our universe today and the Planck scale, hinting at a new “CC miracle”, motivating new physics at the weak scale independent of electroweak physics. We further predict the presence of new relativistic degrees of freedom in the CFT that should be visible in the next round of CMB experiments. Our mechanism is therefore predictive and experimentally falsifiable.

Abstract Standard lore states that there is tension between the need to accommodate the relic density of a weakly interacting massive particle and direct searches for dark matter. However, the estimation of the relic density rests on an extrapolation of the cosmology of the early Universe to the time of freeze out, untethered by observations. We explore a nonstandard cosmology in which the strong coupling constant evolves in the early Universe, triggering an early period of QCD confinement at the time of freeze out. We find that depending on the nature of the interactions between the dark matter and the Standard Model, freeze out during an early period of confinement can lead to drastically different expectations for the relic density, allowing for regions of parameter space which realize the correct abundance but would otherwise be excluded by direct searches.

SU(2)L× SU(2)R gauge symmetry requires three right-handed neutrinos (Ni), one of which, N1, can be sufficiently stable to be dark matter. In the early universe, WR exchange with the Standard Model thermal bath keeps the right-handed neutrinos in thermal equilibrium at high temperatures. N1 can make up all of dark matter if they freeze-out while relativistic and are mildly diluted by subsequent decays of a long-lived and heavier right-handed neutrino, N2. We systematically study this parameter space, constraining the symmetry breaking scale of SU(2)R and the mass of N1 to a triangle in the (vR, M1) plane, with vR = (106− 3 × 1012) GeV and M1 = (2 keV–1 MeV). Much of this triangle can be probed by signals of warm dark matter, especially if leptogenesis from N2 decay yields the observed baryon asymmetry. The minimal value of vR is increased to 108 GeV for doublet breaking of SU(2)R, and further to 109 GeV if leptogenesis occurs via N2 decay, while the upper bound on M1 is reduced to 100 keV. In addition, there is a component of hot N1 dark matter resulting from the late decay of N2→ N1ℓ+ℓ− that can be probed by future cosmic microwave background observations. Interestingly, the range of vR allows both precision gauge coupling unification and the Higgs Parity understanding of the vanishing of the Standard Model Higgs quartic at scale vR. Finally, we study freeze-in production of N1 dark matter via the WR interaction, which allows a much wider range of (vR, M1).

© 2020, The Author(s). We present a very minimal model for baryogenesis by a dark first-order phase transition. It employs a new dark SU(2)D gauge group with two doublet Higgs bosons, two lepton doublets, and two singlets. The singlets act as a neutrino portal that transfer the generated asymmetry to the Standard Model. The model predicts ∆Neff = 0.09–0.13 detectable by future experiments as well as possible signals from exotic decays of the Higgs and Z bosons and stochastic gravitational waves.

© 2020, The Author(s). An exact parity replicates the Standard Model giving a Mirror Standard Model, SM ↔ SM′. This “Higgs Parity” and the mirror electroweak symmetry are spontaneously broken by the mirror Higgs, 〈H′〉 = v′ ≫ 〈H〉, yielding the Standard Model Higgs as a Pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Boson of an approximate SU (4) symmetry, with a quartic coupling λSM(v′) ∼ 10−3. Mirror electromagnetism is unbroken and dark matter is composed of e′ and e¯ ′. Direct detection may be possible via the kinetic mixing portal, and in unified theories this rate is correlated with the proton decay rate. With a high reheat temperature after inflation, the et dark matter abundance is determined by freeze-out followed by dilution from decays of mirror neutrinos, ν′→ ℓH. Remarkably, this requires v′∼ (108–1010) GeV, predicting a Higgs mass of 123 ± 3 GeV at 1σ and a Standard Model neutrino mass of (10−2–10−1) eV, consistent with observed neutrino masses. The mirror QCD sector exhibits a first order phase transition producing gravitational waves that may be detected by future observations. Mirror glueballs decay to mirror photons giving dark radiation with ∆Neff∼ 0.03–0.4. With a low reheat temperature after inflation, the e′ dark matter abundance is determined by freeze-in from the SM sector by either the Higgs or kinetic mixing portal.

Abstract Rotations of an axion field in field space provide a natural origin for an era of kination domination, where the energy density is dominated by the kinetic term of the axion field, preceded by an early era of matter domination. Remarkably, no entropy is produced at the end of matter domination and hence these eras of matter and kination domination may occur even after Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We derive constraints on these eras from both the cosmic microwave background and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We investigate how this cosmological scenario affects the spectrum of possible primordial gravitational waves and find that the spectrum features a triangular peak. We discuss how future observations of gravitational waves can probe the viable parameter space, including regions that produce axion dark matter by the kinetic misalignment mechanism or the baryon asymmetry by axiogenesis. For QCD axion dark matter produced by the kinetic misalignment mechanism, a modification to the inflationary gravitational wave spectrum occurs above 0.01 Hz and, for high values of the energy scale of inflation, the prospects for discovery are good. We briefly comment on implications for structure formation of the universe.

Abstract We study fermions derivatively coupled to axion-like or pseudoscalar fields, and show that the axial vector current of the fermions is not conserved in the limit where the fermion is massless. This apparent violation of the classical chiral symmetry is due to the background axion field. We compute the contributions to this anomalous Ward identity due to the pseudoscalar field alone, which arise in Minkowski space, as well as the effects due to an interaction with an external gravitational field. For the case of massless fermions, these interactions induce terms in the axion effective action that can be removed by the addition of local counterterms. We demonstrate that these counterterms are generated by the transformation of the path integral measure when transforming the theory from a form where the chiral symmetry is manifest to one where the symmetry is only apparent after using the classical equations of motion. We work perturbatively in Minkowski space and include the effects of interactions with a linearized gravitational field. Using the heat kernel method, we study the transformation properties of the path integral measure, and include the effects of non-linear gravity as well as interactions with gauge fields. Finally, we verify our relation by considering derivatively coupled fermions during pseudoscalar-driven inflation and computing the divergence of the axial current in de Sitter spacetime.

Abstract The dark axion portal is a coupling of an axion-like particle to a dark photon kinetically mixed with the visible photon. We show how this portal, when applied to the relaxion, can lead to cosmological relaxation of the weak scale using dark photon production. The key backreaction mechanism involves the Schwinger effect: as long as electroweak symmetry is unbroken, Schwinger production of massless Standard Model fermions, which carry dark millicharges, suppresses the dark photon production. Once the electroweak symmetry is broken, the fermions acquire mass and the suppression is lifted. An enhanced dark photon dissipation then traps the relaxion at a naturally small weak scale. Our model thus provides a novel link between the phenomenological dark axion portal, dark photons, and the hierarchy problem of the Higgs mass.

Abstract Non-minimal simplified extensions of the Standard Model have gained considerable currency in the context of dark matter searches at the LHC, since they predict enhanced mono-Higgs and mono-W/Z signatures over large parts of the parameter space. However, these non-minimal models obviously lack the simplicity and directness of the original simplified models, and are more heavily dependent on the model assumptions. We propose to classify these models generically on the basis of additional mediator(s) and dark matter particles. As an example, we take up a scenario involving multiple pseudoscalar mediators, and a single Dirac dark matter particle, the latter being a popular introduction to ensure ultraviolet completion of theories with multiple pseudoscalar fields. In the chosen scenario, we discuss the viable channels and signatures of relevance at the future runs of the LHC. These are then compared with the minimal simplified scenarios and distinguishing features are pinpointed.

Abstract Dark matter (DM) freeze-in through a light mediator is an appealing model with excellent detection prospects at current and future experiments. Light mediator freeze-in is UV-insensitive insofar as most DM is produced at late times, and thus the DM abundance does not depend on the unknown early evolution of our universe. However the final DM yield retains a dependence on the initial DM population, which is usually assumed to be exactly zero. We point out that in models with light mediators, the final DM yield will also depend on the initial conditions assumed for the light mediator population. We describe a class of scenarios we call “glaciation” where DM freezing in from the SM encounters a pre-existing thermal bath of mediators, and study the dependence of the final DM yield on the initial temperature of this dark radiation bath. To compute DM scattering rates in this cosmology, we derive for the first time an exact integral expression for the Boltzmann collision term describing interactions between two species at different temperatures. We quantify the dependence of the DM yield on the initial dark temperature and find that it can be sizeable in regions near the traditional (zero initial abundance) freeze-in curve. We generalize the freeze-in curve to a glaciation band, which can extend as much as an order of magnitude below the traditional freeze-in direct detection target, and point out that the DM phase space distribution as well as the yield can be strongly dependent on initial conditions.

Abstract Dark Matter could be a composite state of a confining sector with an approximate scale symmetry. We consider the case where the associated pseudo-Goldstone boson, the dilaton, mediates its interactions with the Standard Model. When the confining phase transition in the early universe is supercooled, its dynamics allows for Dark Matter masses up to 106 TeV. We derive the precise parameter space compatible with all experimental constraints, finding that this scenario can be tested partly by telescopes and entirely by gravitational waves.

Abstract An interesting class of models posits that the dark matter is a Majorana fermion which interacts with a quark together with a colored scalar mediator. Such a theory can be tested in direct detection experiments, through dark matter scattering with heavy nuclei, and at the LHC, via jets and missing energy signatures. Motivated by the fact that such theories have spin-independent interactions that vanish at tree level, we examine them at one loop (along with RGE improvement to resum large logs), and find that despite its occurrence at a higher order of perturbation theory, the spin-independent scattering searches typically impose the strongest constraints on the model parameter space. We further analyze the corresponding LHC constraints at one loop and find that it is important to take them into account when interpreting the implications of searches for jets plus missing momentum on this class of models, thus providing the corresponding complementary information for this class of models.

Abstract We explore a new mechanism for reproducing the Dark Matter (DM) abundance: scatterings of one DM particle on light Standard Model particles. Strong bounds on its decays can be satisfied if DM undergoes freeze-in and has a mass around or below the pion mass. This happens, for example, in theories with a right-handed neutrino interacting with charged fermions through a leptoquark exchange. These leptoquarks can be linked to the ones motivated by the B-physics anomalies if assumptions about the flavour structure are made. DM signals are unusual, with interesting possibilities for direct and indirect detection. Achieving thermal freeze-out instead requires models with more than one DM flavour, and couplings parametrically smaller than what needed by the usual pair annihilations.

Abstract Light dark sectors in thermal contact with the Standard Model can naturally produce the observed relic dark matter abundance and are the targets of a broad experimental search program. A key light dark sector model is the pseudo-Dirac fermion with a dark photon mediator. The dynamics of the fermionic excited states are often neglected. We consider scenarios in which a nontrivial abundance of excited states is produced and their subsequent de-excitation yields interesting electromagnetic signals in direct detection experiments. We study three mechanisms of populating the excited state: a primordial excited fraction, a component up-scattered in the Sun, and a component up-scattered in the Earth. We find that the fractional abundance of primordial excited states is generically depleted to exponentially small fractions in the early universe. Nonetheless, this abundance can produce observable signals in current dark matter searches. MeV-scale dark matter with thermal cross sections and higher can be probed by down-scattering following excitation in the Sun. Up-scatters of GeV-scale dark matter in the Earth can give rise to signals in current and upcoming terrestrial experiments and X-ray observations. We comment on the possible relevance of these scenarios to the recent excess in XENON1T.

Abstract Time dependent magnetic fields can be sourced by spinning neutron stars, orbiting binaries and merging neutron stars. We consider electromagnetic radiation from axion condensates in the background of an alternating magnetic field. We find that a resonant peak in radiation can occur when the frequency of the alternating magnetic field is comparable with the axion mass scale. More interestingly, in situations where the frequency of the alternating magnetic field itself changes with time, as can be the case in binary mergers due to a steady increase in orbital frequency, the resonant peak in radiation may occur for a range of axion mass scales scanned by the time-varying magnetic field frequency.

Abstract An analysis is given of the Belle II sensitivities and NA64 constraints on the sub-GeV Dirac dark matter that interacts with charged leptons. We consider two different types of interactions between sub-GeV Dirac dark matter and the charged leptons: the EFT operators and the light vector mediators. We compute the Belle II mono-photon sensitivities on sub-GeV dark matter with 50 ab −1 data which are expected to be accumulated in the full Belle II runs. Although the Belle II mono-photon sensitivities on the EFT operators are of similar size as the LEP constraints, Belle II can probe new parameter space of the light vector mediator models that are unexplored by LEP. For both the EFT operators and the light vector mediator models, the Belle II mono-photon sensitivities can be several orders of magnitude stronger than the current dark matter direct detection limits, as well as the white dwarf limits. The light vector mediator can also be directly searched for by reconstructing the invariant mass of its di-lepton decay final states at Belle II, which is found to be complementary to the mono-photon channel. We compute the NA64 constraints on the sub-GeV Dirac dark matter and provide analytic expressions of the dark matter cross section in the Weizsäcker-Williams approximation, for the EFT operators, and for the light vector mediator models. We find that the current NA64 data (with 2.84 × 1011 electron-on-target events) provide strong constraints on sub-GeV dark matter. Although the NA64 constraints are found to be about one order of magnitude smaller than the Belle II sensitivities for the EFT operators, NA64 can probe some regions of the parameter space in the light vector mediator models that are beyond the reach of Belle II. We also find that Belle II and NA64 can probe the canonical dark matter annihilation cross section in thermal freeze-out in a significant portion of the parameter space of the models considered.

Abstract In the absence of any hints of new physics in LHC, TeV dark matter candidates interacting through electroweak force (EWDM) are still highly motivated. We extend the Standard Model by adding an arbitrary SU(2) DM multiplet in non-chiral representation. In addition to the well-known real representation which has no coupling to the nuclei at tree level, the complex representation can lead to a new DM candidate providing that one includes a higher dimensional mass-splitting operator, which survives the current direct detection bounds. Since the masses of gauge mediators are light compared to the dark particles, Sommerfeld effect is dominant and affects the value of annihilation cross-section in both the early universe and current time. We computed the relic abundance through freeze-out mechanism in order to determine DM mass. Gamma ray fluxes in our galaxy and dwarf satellites provide a promising tool to probe EWDM theory. We confronted the four fermionic representations of the model with the latest astrophysical observations. It can be concluded that the model passes the current experimental constraints successfully, and it is accessible to future observations.

Abstract Transforming canonical scalars to the Einstein frame can give a multi-field generalization of pole inflation (namely, a scalar with a divergent kinetic term) at vanishing field-dependent Planck mass. However, to obtain an attractor, the scalar potential must obey certain non-generic conditions. These are automatically satisfied in Quantum Field Theories with dimension-less couplings. The resulting models of pole inflation have special inflationary predictions determined by the full RG running of couplings. Acceptable predictions for the tensor/scalar ratio arise for perturbative but moderately large couplings, so we explore the possible QFT runnings: to confinement, to an IR fixed point, and to a UV fixed point.

Abstract The mirror twin Higgs model (MTH) is a solution to the Higgs hierarchy problem that provides well-predicted cosmological signatures with only three extra parameters: the temperature of the twin sector, the abundance of twin baryons, and the vacuum expectation value (VEV) of twin electroweak symmetry breaking. These parameters specify the behavior of twin radiation and the acoustic oscillations of twin baryons, which lead to testable effects on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large-scale structure (LSS). While collider searches can only probe the twin VEV, through a fit to cosmological data we show that the existing CMB (Planck18 TTTEEE+lowE+lowT+lensing) and LSS (KV450) data already provide useful constraints on the remaining MTH parameters. Additionally, we show that the presence of twin radiation in this model can raise the Hubble constant H 0 while the scattering twin baryons can reduce the matter fluctuations S 8, which helps to relax the observed H 0 and S 8 tensions simultaneously. This scenario is different from the typical ΛCDM + ∆N eff model, in which extra radiation helps with the Hubble tension but worsens the S 8 tension. For instance, when including the SH0ES and 2013 Planck SZ data in the fit, we find that a universe with ≳ 20% of the dark matter comprised of twin baryons is preferred over ΛCDM by ∼ 4σ. If the twin sector is indeed responsible for resolving the H 0 and S 8 tensions, future measurements from the Euclid satellite and CMB Stage 4 experiment will further measure the twin parameters to O(1 − 10%)-level precision. Our study demonstrates how models with hidden naturalness can potentially be probed using precision cosmological data.

Abstract We study a simplified model of flavoured Majorana dark matter in the Dark Minimal Flavour Violation framework. The model extends the Standard Model by a dark matter flavour triplet and a scalar mediator, through which the new dark fermions couple to right-handed up-type quarks. This interaction is governed by a new coupling matrix λ which is assumed to constitute the only new source of flavour and CP violation. We analyse the parameter space of this model by using constraints from collider searches, D 0 − D ¯ $$ \overline{D} $$ 0 mixing, cosmology and direct dark matter searches. Throughout our study, we point out crucial differences between the Majorana and Dirac dark matter cases. After performing a combined analysis within the context of all the experimental constraints mentioned above, we analyse which flavour for the dark matter particle is preferred by experimental data. We further investigate if this model is capable of explaining the large measured value of the direct CP asymmetry ∆ A CP dir $$ \Delta {A}_{\mathrm{CP}}^{\mathrm{dir}} $$ in charm decays. We find that significant enhancements with respect to the Standard Model expectation are compatible with all constraints, and even the central value of the measurement can be reached. We also advertise the flavour-violating final state with two same-sign top quarks produced in association with missing transverse energy as a smoking-gun signature for flavoured Majorana dark matter at the LHC.

Abstract Gravitational interferometers and cosmological observations of the cosmic microwave background offer us the prospect to probe the laws of gravity in the primordial universe. To study and interpret these datasets we need to know the possible graviton non-Gaussianities. To this end, we derive the most general tree-level three-point functions (bispectra) for a massless graviton to all orders in derivatives, assuming scale invariance. Instead of working with explicit Lagrangians, we take a bootstrap approach and obtain our results using the recently derived constraints from unitarity, locality and the choice of vacuum. Since we make no assumptions about de Sitter boosts, our results capture the phenomenology of large classes of models such as the effective field theory of inflation and solid inflation. We present formulae for the infinite number of parity-even bispectra. Remarkably, for parity-odd bispectra, we show that unitarity allows for only a handful of possible shapes: three for graviton-graviton-graviton, three for scalar-graviton-graviton and one for scalar-scalar-graviton, which we bootstrap explicitly. These parity-odd non-Gaussianities can be large, for example in solid inflation, and therefore constitute a concrete and well-motivated target for future observations.

Abstract String theory has been claimed to give rise to natural fuzzy dark matter candidates in the form of ultralight axions. In this paper we revisit this claim by a detailed study of how moduli stabilisation affects the masses and decay constants of different axion fields which arise in type IIB flux compactifications. We find that obtaining a considerable contribution to the observed dark matter abundance without tuning the axion initial misalignment angle is not a generic feature of 4D string models since it requires a mild violation of the Sf ≲ M P bound, where S is the instanton action and f the axion decay constant. Our analysis singles out C 4-axions, C 2-axions and thraxions as the best candidates to realise fuzzy dark matter in string theory. For all these ultralight axions we provide predictions which can be confronted with present and forthcoming observations.

Abstract In this paper, we analyze the cosmological evolution, allowed parameter space, and observational prospects for a dark sector consisting of thermally produced pseudo-Dirac fermions with a small mass splitting, coupled to the Standard Model through a dark photon. This scenario is particularly notable in the context of sub-GeV dark matter, where the mass-off-diagonal leading interaction limits applicability of both CMB energy injection constraints and standard direct detection searches. We present the first general study of the thermal history of pseudo-Dirac DM with splittings from 100 eV to MeV, focusing on the depletion of the heavier “excited” state abundance via scatterings and decays, and on the distinctive signals arising from its small surviving abundance. We analyze CMB energy injection bounds on both DM annihilation and decay, accelerator-based probes, and new line-like direct-detection signals from the excited DM down-scattering on either nuclei or electrons, as well as future search prospects in each channel. We also comment on the relevance of this signal to the few-keV Xenon1T electron excess and on possible diurnal modulation of this signal, and introduce a signal-strength parametrization to facilitate the comparison of future experimental results to theoretical expectations.

Abstract Axion or axion-like particle (ALP) has been usually considered as a CP-odd Nambu-Goldstone boson (NGB) from the spontaneous breakdown of a global U(1) symmetry. In this paper, we point out that the NGB behaves as a CP-even particle coupled to the SM particles in a large class of simple (or perhaps the simplest) renormalizable models. We provide a first study of the collider phenomenology and cosmology of the CP-even ALP. In a natural parameter region, the CP-even ALP can be produced from the Higgs boson decay in colliders. When the mass is not very light, the signals will be Higgs exotic decays, Higgs decay to displaced vertex ×2, Higgs decay to displaced vertex + missing energy. The signal can be discriminated from other models, e.g. hidden photon, by measuring the decay length and the decay products of the light new particle. In addition, when m a ≲ MeV, in which case the Higgs boson invisible decay may be probed in the colliders, the CP-even ALP is a nice Dark matter (DM) candidate. The DM can be probed by 21cm line measurement, the future measurement of the Milky way mass halo function in the Vera Rubin Observatory, as well as X- or γ-ray observations. The DM production mechanisms are discussed.

Abstract We study the lepto-axiogenesis scenario in the minimal supersymmetric KSVZ axion model. Only one Peccei-Quinn (PQ) field and vector-like fields are introduced besides the MSSM with the type-I see-saw mechanism. The PQ field is stabilized by the radiative correction induced by the Yukawa couplings with the vector-like fields introduced in the KSVZ model. We develop a way to follow the dynamics of the PQ field, in particular we found a semi-analytical solution which describes the rotational motion under the log-arithmic potential with including the thermalization effect via the gluon scattering which preserves the PQ symmetry. Based on the solution, we studied the baryon asymmetry, the effective number of neutrino, and the dark matter density composed of the axion and the neutralino. We found that the baryon asymmetry is successfully explained when the mass of PQ field is O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (106 GeV) ( O $$ \mathcal{O} $$ (105 GeV)) with the power of the PQ breaking term being 10 (8).

Abstract Cosmological colliders can preserve information from interactions at very high energy scale, and imprint them on cosmological observables. Taking the squeezed limit of cosmological perturbation bispectrum, information of the intermediate particle can be directly extracted from observations such as cosmological microwave background (CMB). Thus cosmological colliders can be powerful and promising tools to test theoretical models. In this paper, we study extremely light axions (including QCD axions and axion-like-particles), and consider them constituting cold dark matter (CDM) at late times. We are interested in inflationary isocurvature modes by such axions, and try to figure out how axion perturbations can behave as isocurvature colliders. We work out an example where the intermediate particle is a boson, and show that, in the squeezed limit, it is possible to provide a clock signal of significant amplitudes, with a characteristic angular dependence. This provides a channel to contribute and analyze clock signals of isocurvature bispectrum, which we may hopefully see in future experiments.

Abstract As experimental searches for WIMP dark matter continue to yield null results, models beyond the WIMP paradigm have proliferated in order to elude ever improving observational constraints, among them that of sub-GeV dark matter mediated by a massive vector portal (a dark photon) associated with a new dark U(1) gauge symmetry. It has been previously noted that for a significant range of the parameter space of this class of models, the annihilation of dark matter particles into a pair of dark photons can dominate the freeze-out process even when this process is kinematically forbidden for dark matter at rest — this is known as the “forbidden dark matter” (FDM) regime. Prior studies of this regime, however, assume that any “dark Higgs” associated with breaking the dark U(1) and imparting mass to the dark photon is decoupled from the dark matter and as such plays no role in the freeze-out process. In this paper, we explore the effects of a dark Higgs on sub-GeV dark matter phenomenology in this FDM regime by considering the simplest possible construction in which there exist non-trivial dark matter-dark Higgs couplings: a model with a single complex scalar DM candidate coupled directly to the dark Higgs field. We find that for a wide range of parameter space, the dark Higgs can alter the resulting relic abundance by many orders of magnitude, and that this effect can remain significant even for a small dark matter-dark Higgs coupling constant. Considering measurements from direct detection and measurements of the CMB, we further find that points in this model’s parameter space which recreate the appropriate dark matter relic abundance suffer only mild constraints from other sources at present, but may become accessible in near-future direct detection experiments.

Abstract We propose a strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theory that can accommodate both the inflation (in the form of generalized hybrid inflation) and dark matter (DM). In this set-up, we identify the DM as the Goldstones associated with the breaking of a global symmetry (SU(4) × SU(4) → SU(4)) after inflation ends. Due to the non-abelian nature of this symmetry, the scenario provides with multiple DMs. We then construct a low energy theory which generates a Higgs portal like coupling of the DMs with Standard Model (SM), thus allowing them to thermally freeze out. While the scales involved in the inflation either have a dynamical origin or related to UV interpretation in terms of a heavy quark field in the supersymmetric QCD (SQCD) sector, the DM masses however are generated from explicit breaking of the chiral symmetry of the SQCD sector. We discuss DM phenomenology for both degenerate and non-degenerate cases, poised with DM-DM interactions and find allowed region of parameter space in terms of relic density and direct search constraints.

Inspired by the Contino-Pomarol-Rattazzi mechanism we explore scenarios with a very light (1 keV to 10 GeV) radion which could be associated with the suppression of the electroweak contribution to vacuum energy. We construct explicit, realistic models that realize this mechanism and explore the phenomenological constraints on this class of models. Compared with axion-like particles in this mass range, the bounds from SN 1987a and from cosmology can be much weaker, depending on the mass of the radion and its coupling to other particles. With couplings suppressed by a scale lower than 100 TeV, much of the mass window from 100 keV to 10 GeV is still open.

Abstract Matrix theory is a proposed non-perturbative definition of superstring theory in which space is emergent. We begin a study of cosmology in the context of matrix theory. Specifically, we show that matrix theory can lead to an emergent non-singular cosmology which, at late times, can be described by an expanding phase of Standard Big Bang cosmology. The horizon problem of Standard Big Bang cosmology is automatically solved. We show that thermal fluctuations in the emergent phase source an approximately scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological perturbations and a scale-invariant spectrum of gravitational waves. Hence, it appears that matrix theory can lead to a successful scenario for the origin of perturbations responsible for the currently observed structure in the universe while providing a consistent UV-complete description.

Abstract Global cosmic strings are predicted in many motivated extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics, with close connections to axion dark matter physics. Recent studies suggest that, although subdominant relative to Goldstone emission, gravitational wave (GW) signals from global strings can be detectable with current and planned GW detectors such as LIGO, LISA, DECIGO/BBO, ET/CE and AEDGE/AION, as well as pulsar timing arrays such as PPTA, NANOGrav and SKA. This work is an extensive, updated study on GWs from a global cosmic string network, taking into account of the most recent developments related to the subject. The main analysis is based on the analytical Velocity-dependent One-Scale (VOS) model calibrated with recent simulation results, which provides a generic protocol for such calculations with details given. We also demonstrate how the GW signal can be influenced with variations to the baseline model: this includes considering the uncertainties of model parameters and the potential deviation from the conventional VOS model prediction (i.e. the scaling behavior) as suggested by some of the recent simulation results. Furthermore, we investigated in detail the effect of a non-standard cosmology (e.g. early matter domination or kination) or new particle species on the GW signals from global strings. We demonstrate that the frequency spectrum of GW background from global cosmic strings can be used to probe the cosmic history prior to the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) (i.e. the primordial dark age) up to a temperature of T ∼ 108 GeV.

Abstract Dark sectors with Abelian gauge symmetries can interact with ordinary matter via kinetic mixing. In such scenarios, magnetic monopoles of a broken dark U(1) will appear in our sector as confined milli-magnetically charged objects under ordinary electromagnetism. Halo ellipticity constraints are shown to significantly bound the strength of dark magnetic Coulomb monopole interactions. The bound magnetic monopole ground state, which in vacuum is stable and has no magnetic charge or moment, is shown to become quantum mechanically unstable in the presence of an external, ordinary magnetic field. If these states contribute sizably to the local dark matter density, they extract significant energy from the galactic magnetic field. We revise and extend this “Parker Bound” on galactic magnetic energy loss to milli-magnetic monopoles which leads to the strongest existing constraints on these states, satisfying our halo ellipticity bounds, over a wide range of magnetic monopole masses.

Abstract We consider single graviton loop corrections to the effective field equation of a massless, minimally coupled scalar on de Sitter background in the simplest gauge. We find a large temporal logarithm in the approach to freeze-in at late times, but no correction to the feeze-in amplitude. We also find a large spatial logarithm (at large distances) in the scalar potential generated by a point source, which can be explained using the renormalization group with one of the higher derivative counterterms regarded as a curvature-dependent field strength renormalization. We discuss how these results set the stage for a project to purge gauge dependence by including quantum gravitational corrections to the source which disturbs the effective field and to the observer who measures it.

Abstract We present current direct and astrophysical limits on the cosmological abundance of black holes with extremal magnetic charge. Such black holes do not Hawking radiate, allowing those normally too light to survive to the present to do so. The dominant constraints come from white dwarf destruction for low and intermediate masses (2 × 10 −5 g – 4 × 1012 g) and Galactic gas cloud heating for heavier masses (> 4 × 1012 g). Extremal magnetic black holes may catalyze proton decay. We derive robust limits — independent of the catalysis cross section — from the effect this has on white dwarfs. We discuss other bounds from neutron star heating, solar neutrino production, binary formation and annihilation into gamma-rays, and magnetic field destruction. Stable magnetically charged black holes can assist in the formation of neutron star mass black holes.

Abstract We investigate an extension of the Standard Model (SM) with two candidates for dark matter (DM). One of them is a real scalar field and the other is an Abelian gauge field. Except for these two, there is another beyond SM field which has unit charge under a dark U D (1) gauge symmetry. The model is classically scale invariant and the electroweak symmetry breaks because of the loop effects. Although SM is extended with a new dark symmetry and three fields, because of scale invariance, the parameter space is strictly restricted compared to other two-component DM models. We study both DM phenomenology and electroweak phase transition and show that there are some points in the parameter space of the model consistent with DM relic density and direct detection constraints, while at the same time can lead to first order electroweak phase transition. The gravitational waves produced during the phase transition could be probed by future space-based interferometers such as Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Big Bang Observer (BBO).