Aaron Pierce

Wino dark matter under siege

A fermion triplet of SU(2)L — a wino — is a well-motivated dark matter candidate. This work shows that present-day wino annihilations are constrained by indirect detection experiments, with the strongest limits coming from H.E.S.S. and Fermi. The bounds on wino dark matter are presented as a function of mass for two scenarios: thermal (winos constitute a subdominant component of the dark matter for masses less than 3.1 TeV) and non-thermal (winos comprise all the dark matter). Assuming the NFW halo model, the H.E.S.S. search for gamma-ray lines excludes the 3.1 TeV thermal wino; the combined H.E.S.S. and Fermi results completely exclude the non-thermal scenario. Uncertainties in the exclusions are explored. Indirect detection may provide the only probe for models of anomaly plus gravity mediation where the wino is the lightest superpartner and scalars reside at the 100 TeV scale.

Asymmetric Dark Matter from a GeV Hidden Sector

Asymmetric Dark Matter (ADM) models relate the dark matter density to the baryon asymmetry, so that a natural mass scale for ADM is around a few GeV. In existing models of ADM, this mass scale is unexplained; here we generate this GeV scale for dark matter (DM) from the weak scale via gauge kinetic mixing with a new Abelian dark force. In addition, this dark sector provides an efficient mechanism for suppressing the symmetric abundance of DM through annihilations to the dark photon. We augment this sector with a higher dimensional operator responsible for communicating the baryon asymmetry to the dark sector. Our framework also provides DM candidate for gauge mediation models. It results in a direct detection cross section of interest for current experiments: sigma less than or similar to 10^{-42} cm^2 for DM masses in the range 1 - 15 GeV.

Momentum dependent dark matter scattering

It is usually assumed that WIMPs interact through spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions. Interactions which carry additional powers of the momentum transfer, q2, are assumed to be too small to be relevant. In theories with new particles at the ~ GeV scale, however, these q2-dependent interactions can be large, and, in some cases dominate over the standard interactions. This leads to new phenomenology in direct detection experiments. Recoil spectra peak at non-zero energies, and the relative strengths of different experiments can be significantly altered. We present a simple parameterization for models of this type which captures much of the interesting phenomenology and allows a comparison between experiments. As an application, we find that dark matter with momentum dependent interactions coupling to the spin of the proton can reconcile the DAMA annual modulation result with other experiments.

D-terms, unification, and the Higgs mass

We study gauge extensions of the MSSM that contain non-decoupling D-terms, which contribute to the Higgs boson mass. These models naturally maintain gauge coupling unification and raise the Higgs mass without fine-tuning. Unification constrains the structure of the gauge extensions, limiting the Higgs mass in these models to mh 150 GeV. The D-terms contribute to the Higgs mass only if the extended gauge symmetry is broken at energies of a few TeV, leading to new heavy gauge bosons in this mass range.

Atmospheric neutrinos can make beauty strange

The large observed mixing angle in atmospheric neutrinos, coupled with Grand Unification, motivates the search for a large mixing between right-handed strange and bottom squarks. Such mixing does not appear in the standard CKM phenomenology, but may induce significant b {yields} s transitions through gluino diagrams. Working in the mass eigenbasis, we show quantitatively that an order one effect on CP violation in B{sub d}{sup 0} {yields} {pi}K{sub S} is possible due to a large mixing between right-handed b and s squarks, while still satisfying constraints from b {yields} s {gamma}. We also include the effect of right- and left-handed bottom squark mixing proportional to m{sub b}{mu} tan{beta}. For small {mu}tan{beta} there may also be a large effect in B{sub s} mixing correlated with a large effect in B{sub d}{sup 0} {yields} {phi}K{sub S}, typically yielding an unambiguous signal of new physics at Tevatron Run II.

Is the PAMELA Positron Excess Winos

Recently the PAMELA satellite-based experiment reported an excess of galactic positrons that could be a signal of annihilating dark matter. The PAMELA data may admit an interpretation as a signal from a winolike lightest supersymmetric particle of mass about 200 GeV, normalized to the local relic density, and annihilating mainly into W bosons. This possibility requires the current conventional estimate for the energy loss rate of positrons to be too large by roughly a factor of 5. Data from antiprotons and gamma rays also provide tension with this interpretation, but there are significant astrophysical uncertainties associated with their propagation. It is not unreasonable to take this well-motivated candidate seriously, at present, in part because it can be tested in several ways soon. The forthcoming PAMELA data on higher energy positrons and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (formerly the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope) data should provide important clues as to whether this scenario is correct. If correct, the wino interpretation implies a cosmological history in which the dark matter does not originate in thermal equilibrium.

Natural Dark Matter from an unnatural Higgs boson and new colored particles at the TeV scale

The thermal relic abundance of Dark Matter motivates the existence of new electroweak scale particles, independent of naturalness considerations. However, most un- natural Dark Matter models do not ensure the presence of new particles charged under SU(3)C, resulting in challenging LHC phenomenology. Here, we present a class of models with scalar electroweak doublet Dark Matter that require a host of colored particles at the TeV scale. In these models, the Higgs boson is apparently fine-tuned, but the Dark Matter doublet is kept light without any additional fine-tuning.

Singlet-Doublet Dark Matter

In light of recent data from direct detection experiments and the Large Hadron Collider, we explore models of dark matter in which an SU(2){sub L} doublet is mixed with a Standard Model singlet. We impose a thermal history. If the new particles are fermions, this model is already constrained due to null results from XENON100. We comment on remaining regions of parameter space and assess prospects for future discovery. We do the same for the model where the new particles are scalars, which at present is less constrained. Much of the remaining parameter space for both models will be probed by the next generation of direct detection experiments. For the fermion model, DeepCore may also play an important role.

Dark matter in the finely tuned minimal supersymmetric standard model

We explore dark matter in the finely-tuned minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) recently proposed by Arkani-Hamed and Dimopoulos. Relative to the MSSM, there are fewer particles at freeze-out, so the calculation of the relic abundance simplifies. Similarly, the predictions for direct detection of the dark matter sharpen. There is a large region of mixed bino---higgsino dark matter where the lightest supersymmetric particle will be accessible at both the LHC and future direct detection experiments, allowing for a conclusive identification of the dark matter particle. Typical dark matter-nucleon cross sections are

Color-octet scalars at the CERN LHC

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