Fu-Sin Ling

Scalar multiplet dark matter

We perform a systematic study of the phenomenology associated to models where the dark matter consists in the neutral component of a scalar SU(2)L n-uplet, up to n = 7. If one includes only the pure gauge induced annihilation cross-sections it is known that such particles provide good dark matter candidates, leading to the observed dark matter relic abundance for a particular value of their mass around the TeV scale. We show that these values actually become ranges of values - which we determine - if one takes into account the annihilations induced by the various scalar couplings appearing in these models. This leads to predictions for both direct and indirect detection signatures as a function of the dark matter mass within these ranges. Both can be largely enhanced by the quartic coupling contributions. We also explain how, if one adds right-handed neutrinos to the scalar doublet case, the results of this analysis allow to have altogether a viable dark matter candidate, successful generation of neutrino masses, and leptogenesis in a particularly minimal way with all new physics at the TeV scale.

Light scalar WIMP through the Higgs portal and CoGeNT

If dark matter (DM) simply consists in a scalar particle interacting dominantly with the Higgs boson, the ratio of its annihilation cross section---which is relevant both for the relic abundance and indirect detection---and its spin-independent scattering cross section on nuclei depends only on the DM mass. It is an intriguing result that, fixing the mass and direct detection rate to fit the annual modulation observed by the DAMA experiment, one obtains a relic density in perfect agreement with its observed value. In this article we update this result and confront the model to the recent CoGeNT data, tentatively interpreting the excess of events in the recoil energy spectrum as being due to DM. CoGeNT, as DAMA, points toward a light DM candidate, with somewhat different (but not necessarily incompatible) masses and cross sections. For the CoGeNT region too, we find an intriguing agreement between the scalar DM relic density and direct detection constraints. We give the

Dark matter direct detection signals inferred from a cosmological N-body simulation with baryons

1\ensuremath{\sigma}

IDM & iDM or the inert doublet model and inelastic dark matter

region favored by the CDMS-II events, and our exclusion limits for the Xenon10 (2009) and Xenon100 data, which, depending on the scintillation efficiency, may exclude CoGeNT and DAMA. Assuming CoGeNT and/or DAMA to be due to scalar singlet DM leads to definite predictions regarding indirect detection and at colliders. We specifically emphasize the limit on the model that might be set by the current Fermi-LAT data on dwarf galaxies, and the implications for the search for the Higgs at the LHC.

Bound on the dark matter density in the Solar System from planetary motions

We extract at redshift z = 0 a Milky Way sized object including gas, stars and dark matter (DM) from a recent, high-resolution cosmological N-body simulation with baryons. Its resolution is sufficient to witness the formation of a rotating disk and bulge at the center of the halo potential, therefore providing a realistic description of the birth and the evolution of galactic structures in the ΛCDM cosmology paradigm. The phase-space structure of the central galaxy reveals that, throughout a thick region, the dark halo is co-rotating on average with the stellar disk. At the Earths location, the rotating component, sometimes called dark disk in the literature, is characterized by a minimum lag velocity vlag 75 km/s, in which case it contributes to around 25% of the total DM local density, whose value is ρDM 0.37GeV/cm3. The velocity distributions also show strong deviations from pure Gaussian and Maxwellian distributions, with a sharper drop of the high velocity tail. We give a detailed study of the impact of these features on the predictions for DM signals in direct detection experiments. In particular, the question of whether the modulation signal observed by DAMA is or is not excluded by limits set by other experiments (CDMS, XENON and CRESST...) is re-analyzed and compared to the case of a standard Maxwellian halo. We consider spin-independent interactions for both the elastic and the inelastic scattering scenarios. For the first time, we calculate the allowed regions for DAMA and the exclusion limits of other null experiments directly from the velocity distributions found in the simulation. We then compare these results with the predictions of various analytical distributions. We find that the compatibility between DAMA and the other experiments is improved. In the elastic scenario, the DAMA modulation signal is slightly enhanced in the so-called channeling region, as a result of several effects that include a departure from a Maxwellian distribution and anisotropies in the velocity dispersions due to the dark disk. For the inelastic scenario, the improvement of the fit is mainly attributable to the departure from a Maxwellian distribution at high velocity. It is correctly modeled by a generalized Maxwellian distribution with a parameter α 1.95, or by a Tsallis distribution with q 0.75.

Is the dark disc contribution to dark matter signals important

The annual modulation observed by DAMA/NaI and DAMA/Libra may be interpreted in terms of elastic or inelastic scattering of dark matter particles. In this paper we confront these two scenarios within the framework of a very simple extension of the Standard Model, the Inert Doublet Model (IDM). In this model the dark matter candidate is a scalar, the lightest component of an extra Higgs doublet. We first revisit the case for the elastic scattering of a light scalar WIMP, MDM ~ 10 GeV, a scenario which requires that a fraction of events in DAMA are channelled. Second we consider the possibility of inelastic Dark Matter (iDM). This option is technically natural in the IDM, in the sense that the mass splitting between the lightest and next-to-lightest neutral scalars may be protected by a Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry. We show that candidates with a mass MDM between ~ 535 GeV and ~ 50 TeV may reproduce the DAMA data and have a cosmic abundance in agreement with WMAP. This range may be extended to candidates as light as ~ 50 GeV if we exploit the possibility that the approximate PQ symmetry is effectively conserved and that a primordial asymmetry in the dark sector may survive until freeze-out.

MeV right-handed neutrinos and dark matter

High precision planet orbital data extracted from direct observation, spacecraft explorations, and laser ranging techniques enable to constrain the maximal dark matter density of a spherical halo centered around the Sun. If we assume a halo profile with a power-law dependence in the heliocentric distance, the maximal density at Earths location is of the order 10{sup 5} GeV/cm{sup 3}. Moreover, this value shows only a mild dependence on the slope of the halo profile, taken between 0 and -2. This bound competes with that obtained from the perihelion precession limits.

Gauge dilution and leptogenesis

Recent N-body simulations indicate that a thick disc of dark matter, corotating with the stellar disc, forms in a galactic halo after a merger at a redshift

See-saw neutrino masses and large mixing angles in the vortex background on a sphere

zl2

Family hierarchy from symmetry breaking

. The existence of such a dark disc component in the Milky Way could affect dramatically dark matter signals in direct and indirect detection. In this letter, we discuss the possible signal enhancement in connection with the characteristics of the local velocity distributions. We argue that the enhancement is rather mild, but some subtle effects may arise. In particular, the annual modulation observed by DAMA becomes less constrained by other direct detection experiments.