Jusak Tandean

CONSTRAINTS ON SCALAR DARK MATTER FROM DIRECT EXPERIMENTAL SEARCHES

The standard model (SM) plus a real gauge-singlet scalar field dubbed darkon (SM+D) is the simplest model possessing a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark-matter candidate. The upper limits for the WIMP-nucleon elastic cross section as a function of WIMP mass from the recent XENON10 and CDMS II experiments rule out darkon mass ranges from 10 to (50, 70, 75) GeV for Higgs-boson masses of (120, 200, 350) GeV, respectively. This may exclude the possibility of the darkon providing an explanation for the gamma-ray excess observed in the EGRET data. We show that by extending the SM+D to a two-Higgs-doublet model plus a darkon the experimental constraints on the WIMP-nucleon interactions can be circumvented due to suppression occurring at some values of the product tan{alpha}tan{beta}, with {alpha} being the neutral-Higgs mixing angle and tan{beta} the ratio of vacuum expectation values of the Higgs doublets. We also comment on the implication of the darkon model for Higgs searches at the LHC.

Hints of Standard Model Higgs Boson at the LHC and Light Dark Matter Searches

The most recent results of searches at the LHC for the Higgs boson h have turned up possible hints of such a particle with mass m_h about 125 GeV consistent with standard model (SM) expectations. This has many potential implications for the SM and beyond. We consider some of them in the contexts of a simple Higgs-portal dark matter (DM) model, the SM plus a real gauge-singlet scalar field D as the DM candidate, and a couple of its variations. In the simplest model with one Higgs doublet and three or four generations of fermions, for D mass m_D DD tends to have a substantial branching ratio. If future LHC data confirm the preliminary Higgs indications, m_D will have to exceed m_h/2. To keep the DM lighter than m_h/2, one will need to extend the model and also satisfy constraints from DM direct searches. The latter can be accommodated if the model provides sizable isospin violation in the DM-nucleon interactions. We explore this in a two-Higgs-doublet model combined with the scalar field D. This model can offer a 125-GeV SM-like Higgs and a light DM candidate having isospin-violating interactions with nucleons at roughly the required level, albeit with some degree of fine-tuning.

Hidden Higgs Boson at the LHC and Light Dark Matter Searches

Recent LHC searches have not found a clear signal of the Higgs boson h of the standard model (SM) with three or four families in the mass range m{sub h}=120-600 GeV. If the Higgs had an unexpectedly large invisible branching ratio, the excluded m{sub h} regions would shrink. This can be realized in the simplest weakly interacting massive particle dark matter (DM) model, which is the SM plus a real gauge-singlet scalar field D as the DM, via the invisible mode h{yields}DD. Current data allow this decay to occur for D-mass values near, but below, m{sub h}/2 and those compatible with the light DM hypothesis. For such D masses, h{yields}DD can dominate the Higgs width depending on m{sub h}, and thus sizable portions of the m{sub h} exclusion zones in the SM with three or four families may be recovered. Increased luminosity at the LHC may even reveal a Higgs having SM-like visible decays still hiding in the presently disallowed regions. The model also accommodates well the new possible DM hints from CRESST-II and will be further tested by improved data from future DM direct searches.

The simplest dark-matter model, CDMS II results, and Higgs detection at LHC

Abstract The direct-search experiment for dark matter performed by the CDMS II Collaboration has observed two candidate events. Although these events cannot be interpreted as significant evidence for the presence of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM), the total CDMS II data have led to an improved upper-limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross-section. We study some implications of these results for the simplest WIMP DM model, the SM+D, which extends the standard model (SM) by the addition of a real SM-singlet scalar field dubbed darkon to play the role of the DM. We find that, although the CDMS II data rule out a sizable portion of parameter space of the model, a large part of the parameter space is still allowed. We obtain strong correlations among the darkon mass, darkon–nucleon cross-section, mass of the Higgs boson, and branching ratio of its invisible decay. We point out that measurements of the Higgs invisible branching-ratio at the LHC can lift some possible ambiguities in determining the darkon mass from direct DM searches.

New LUX and PandaX-II results illuminating the simplest Higgs-portal dark matter models

A bstractDirect searches for dark matter (DM) by the LUX and PandaX-II Collaborations employing xenon-based detectors have recently come up with the most stringent limits to date on the spin-independent elastic scattering of DM off nucleons. For Higgs-portal scalar DM models, the new results have precluded any possibility of accommodating low-mass DM as suggested by the DAMA and CDMS II Si experiments utilizing other target materials, even after invoking isospin-violating DM interactions with nucleons. In the simplest model, SM+D, which is the standard model plus a real singlet scalar named darkon acting as the DM candidate, the LUX and PandaX-II limits rule out DM masses roughly from 4 to 450 GeV, except a small range around the resonance point at half of the Higgs mass where the interaction cross-section is near the neutrino-background floor. In the THDM II+D, which is the type-II two-Higgs-doublet model combined with a darkon, the region excluded in the SM+D by the direct searches can be recovered due to suppression of the DM effective interactions with nucleons at some values of the ratios of Higgs couplings to the up and down quarks, making the interactions significantly isospin-violating. However, in either model, if the 125-GeV Higgs boson is the portal between the dark and SM sectors, DM masses less than 50 GeV or so are already ruled out by the LHC constraint on the Higgs invisible decay. In the THDM II+D, if the heavier CP -even Higgs boson is the portal, theoretical restrictions from perturbativity, vacuum stability, and unitarity requirements turn out to be important instead and exclude much of the region below 100 GeV. For larger DM masses, the THDM II+D has plentiful parameter space that corresponds to interaction cross-sections under the neutrino-background floor and therefore is likely to be beyond the reach of future direct searches without directional sensitivity.

Probing Scotogenic Effects in Higgs Boson Decays

The recent observation of a Higgs boson at the LHC and experimental confirmation of nonvanishing neutrino-mixing parameter sin(theta_13) offer important means to test physics beyond the standard model. We explore this within the context of the scotogenic model, in which neutrinos acquire mass radiatively via one-loop interactions with dark matter. Starting with a two-parameter neutrino-mixing matrix which is consistent with the latest neutrino-oscillation data at the one-sigma level, we derive different sets of solutions for the Yukawa couplings of the nonstandard particles in the model and use the results to consider the Higgs decays into final states involving the new particles. Assuming that the lightest one of them serves as fermionic cold dark matter, we show that such decays are allowed by various experimental and theoretical constraints to have substantial rates that are already restricted by the current LHC data. We also look at their correlations with the Higgs decays into gamma gamma and gamma Z. Upcoming LHC measurements of the Higgs boson can therefore either detect scotogenic signals or place further constraints on the model.

Lepton-flavored scalar dark matter with minimal flavor violation

A bstractWe explore scalar dark matter that is part of a lepton flavor triplet satisfying symmetry requirements under the hypothesis of minimal flavor violation. Beyond the standard model, the theory contains in addition three right-handed neutrinos that participate in the seesaw mechanism for light neutrino mass generation. The dark-matter candidate couples to standard-model particles via Higgs-portal renormalizable interactions as well as to leptons through dimension-six operators, all of which have minimal flavor violation built-in. We consider restrictions on the new scalars from the Higgs boson measurements, observed relic density, dark-matter direct detection experiments, LEP II measurements on e+e− scattering into a photon plus missing energy, and searches for flavor-violating lepton decays. The viable parameter space can be tested further with future data. Also, we investigate the possibility of the new scalars’ couplings accounting for the tentative hint of Higgs flavor-violating decay h → μτ recently detected in the CMS experiment. They are allowed by constraints from other Higgs data to produce a rate of this decay roughly compatible with the CMS finding.

Low-Mass Dark-Matter Hint from CDMS II, Higgs Boson at the LHC, and Darkon Models

The CDMS II experiment has observed three events which may have arisen from weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter (DM) with mass of order 9 GeV colliding with nuclei. Although the implied WIMP parameter region seems to be excluded by limits from the XENON experiments, it is interesting that most of this tension can go away if the WIMP-nucleon interaction violates isospin. This motivates us to explore some of the implications for models in which a real gauge-singlet scalar particle, the darkon, serves as the WIMP, taking into account the recent discovery of a Higgs boson at the LHC and Planck determination of the DM relic density. In the simplest scenario, involving only the standard model plus a darkon, the Higgs boson is largely invisible due to its decay into a pair of darkons having the WIMP mass suggested by CDMS II and hence cannot be identified with the one found at the LHC. We find, on the other hand, that a two-Higgs-doublet model supplemented with a darkon has ample parameter space to accommodate well both the new potential DM hint from CDMS II and the Higgs data from the LHC, whether or not the darkon-nucleon interaction conserves isospin.

Scalar dark matter and standard model with four generations

We consider a scalar dark-matter (DM) model, the SM4+D, consisting of the standard model with four generations (SM4) and a real gauge-singlet scalar called darkon, D, as the WIMP DM candidate. We explore constraints on the darkon sector of the SM4+D from WIMP DM direct-search experiments, including CDMS-II and CoGeNT, and from the decay of a B meson into a kaon plus missing energy. We find that a sizable portion of the darkon parameter space is still compatible with the experimental data. Since the darkon-Higgs interaction may give rise to considerable enhancement of the Higgs invisible decay mode, the existence of the darkon could lead to the weakening or evasion of some of the restrictions on the Higgs mass in the presence of fourth-generation quarks. In addition, it can affect the flavor-changing decays of these new heavy quarks into a lighter quark and the Higgs boson, as the Higgs may subsequently decay invisibly. Therefore, we also study these flavor-changing neutral transitions involving the darkon, as well as the corresponding top-quark decay t{yields}cDD, some of which may be observable at the Tevatron or LHC and thus provide additional tests for the SM4+D.

Probing leptonic interactions of a family-nonuniversal Z′ boson

A bstractWe explore a Z′ boson with family-nonuniversal couplings to charged leptons. The general effect of Z-Z′ mixing, of both kinetic and mass types, is included in the analysis. Adopting a model-independent approach, we perform a comprehensive study of constraints on the leptonic Z′ couplings from currently available experimental data on a number of flavor-conserving and flavor-changing transitions. Detailed comparisons are made to extract the most stringent bounds on the leptonic couplings. Such information is fed into predictions of various processes that may be experimentally probed in the near future.