Fumihiro Takayama

Superweakly Interacting Massive Particles

We investigate a new class of dark matter: superweakly interacting massive particles (super-WIMPs). As with conventional WIMPs, super-WIMPs appear in well motivated particle theories with naturally the correct relic density. In contrast to WIMPs, however, super-WIMPs are impossible to detect in all conventional dark matter searches. We consider the concrete examples of gravitino and graviton cold dark matter in models with supersymmetry and universal extra dimensions, respectively, and show that super-WIMP dark matter satisfies stringent constraints from big bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background.

Gravitino dark matter without R-parity

Abstract Cosmological issues are examined when the gravitino is the lightest superparticle (LSP) and R-parity is broken. Decays of the next lightest superparticles occur rapidly via R-parity violating interaction, and thus they do not upset the big-bang nucleosynthesis, unlike the R-parity conserving case. The gravitino LSP becomes unstable, but its lifetime is typically much longer than the age of the Universe. It turns out that observations of the diffuse photon background coming from radiative decays of the gravitino do not severely constrain the gravitino abundance, and thus a gravitino weighing less than around 1 GeV can be the dark matter of the Universe when bilinear R-parity violation generates a neutrino mass which accounts for the atmospheric neutrino anomaly.

Supergravity with a gravitino lightest supersymmetric particle

We investigate supergravity models in which the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is a stable gravitino. We assume that the next-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) freezes out with its thermal relic density before decaying to the gravitino at time t ~ 10^4 s - 10^8 s. In contrast to studies that assume a fixed gravitino relic density, the thermal relic density assumption implies upper, not lower, bounds on superpartner masses, with important implications for particle colliders. We consider slepton, sneutrino, and neutralino NLSPs, and determine what superpartner masses are viable in all of these cases, applying CMB and electromagnetic and hadronic BBN constraints to the leading two- and three-body NLSP decays. Hadronic constraints have been neglected previously, but we find that they provide the most stringent constraints in much of the natural parameter space. We then discuss the collider phenomenology of supergravity with a gravitino LSP. We find that colliders may provide important insights to clarify BBN and the thermal history of the Universe below temperatures around 10 GeV and may even provide precise measurements of the gravitinos mass and couplings.

Superweakly interacting massive particle dark matter signals from the early Universe

Cold dark matter may be made of superweakly-interacting massive particles, superWIMPs, that naturally inherit the desired relic density from late decays of metastable WIMPs. Well-motivated examples are weak-scale gravitinos in supergravity and Kaluza-Klein gravitons from extra dimensions. These particles are impossible to detect in all dark matter experiments. We find, however, that superWIMP dark matter may be discovered through cosmological signatures from the early universe. In particular, superWIMP dark matter has observable consequences for Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and may explain the observed underabundance of 7Li without upsetting the concordance between deuterium and CMB baryometers. We discuss implications for future probes of CMB black body distortions and collider searches for new particles. In the course of this study, we also present a model-independent analysis of entropy production from late-decaying particles in light of WMAP data.

SuperWIMP gravitino dark matter from slepton and sneutrino decays

Dark matter may be composed of superWIMPs, superweakly-interacting massive particles produced in the late decays of other particles. We focus on the case of gravitinos produced in the late decays of sleptons or sneutrinos and assume they are produced in sufficient numbers to constitute all of nonbaryonic dark matter. At leading order, these late decays are two-body and the accompanying energy is electromagnetic. For natural weak-scale parameters, these decays have been shown to satisfy bounds from Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background. However, sleptons and sneutrinos may also decay to three-body final states, producing hadronic energy, which is subject to even more stringent nucleosynthesis bounds. We determine the three-body branching fractions and the resulting hadronic energy release. We find that superWIMP gravitino dark matter is viable and determine the gravitino and slepton/sneutrino masses preferred by this solution to the dark matter problem. In passing, we note that hadronic constraints disfavor the possibility of superWIMPs produced by neutralino decays unless the neutralino is photinolike.

Big bang nucleosynthesis with long-lived charged massive particles

We consider big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) with long-lived charged massive particles. Before decaying, the long-lived charged particle recombines with a light element to form a bound state like a hydrogen atom. This effect modifies the nuclear-reaction rates during the BBN epoch through the modifications of the Coulomb field and the kinematics of the captured light elements, which can change the light element abundances. It is possible for heavier nuclei abundances such as {sup 7}Li and {sup 7}Be to decrease sizably, while the ratios Y{sub p}, D/H, and {sup 3}He/H remain unchanged. This may solve the current discrepancy between the BBN prediction and the observed abundance of {sup 7}Li. If future collider experiments find signals of a long-lived charged particle inside the detector, the information of its lifetime and decay properties could provide insights into not only the particle physics models but also the phenomena in the early Universe, in turn.

Superweakly interacting massive particle solutions to small scale structure problems.

Collisionless, cold dark matter in the form of weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is well-motivated in particle physics, naturally yields the observed relic density, and successfully explains structure formation on large scales. On small scales, however, it predicts too much power, leading to cuspy halos, dense cores, and large numbers of subhalos, in apparent conflict with observations. We consider superWIMP dark matter, produced with large velocity in late decays at times 10^5 s - 10^8 s. As analyzed by Kaplinghat in a more general setting, we find that superWIMPs have sufficiently large free-streaming lengths and low phase space densities to help resolve small scale structure problems while preserving all of the above-mentioned WIMP virtues.

Graviton cosmology in universal extra dimensions

In models of universal extra dimensions, gravity and all standard model fields propagate in the extra dimensions. Previous studies of such models have concentrated on the Kaluza-Klein (KK) partners of standard model particles. Here we determine the properties of the KK gravitons and explore their cosmological implications. We find the lifetimes of decays to KK gravitons, of relevance for the viability of KK gravitons as dark matter. We then discuss the primordial production of KK gravitons after reheating. The existence of a tower of KK graviton states makes such production extremely efficient: for reheat temperature T_RH and d extra dimensions, the energy density stored in gravitons scales as T_RH^{2+3d/2}. Overclosure and Big Bang nucleosynthesis therefore stringently constrain T_RH in all universal extra dimension scenarios. At the same time, there is a window of reheat temperatures low enough to avoid these constraints and high enough to generate the desired thermal relic density for KK WIMP and superWIMP dark matter.

Lower limit on dark matter production at the CERN large hadron collider

We evaluate the prospects for finding evidence of dark matter production at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We consider weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and superWIMPs and characterize their properties through model-independent parametrizations. The observed relic density then implies lower bounds on dark matter production rates as functions of a few parameters. For WIMPs, the resulting signal is indistinguishable from background. For superWIMPs, however, this analysis implies significant production of metastable charged particles. For natural parameters, these rates may far exceed Drell-Yan cross sections and yield spectacular signals.

PROBING GRAVITATIONAL INTERACTIONS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES

The gravitational interactions of elementary particles are suppressed by the Planck scale M*~1018GeV and are typically expected to be far too weak to be probed by experiments. We show that, contrary to conventional wisdom, such interactions may be studied by particle physics experiments in the next few years. As an example, we consider conventional supergravity with a stable gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle. The next-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) decays to the gravitino through gravitational interactions after about a year. This lifetime can be measured by stopping NLSPs at colliders and observing their decays. Such studies will yield a measurement of Newtons gravitational constant on unprecedentedly small scales, shed light on dark matter, and provide a window on the early universe.