Prateek Agrawal

Flavored dark matter and the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess

avor-safe manner. We propose a phenomenologically viable model of bottom avored dark matter that can account for the spectral shape and normalization of the gamma-ray excess while naturally suppressing the elastic scattering cross sections probed by direct detection experiments. This model will be denitively tested with increased exposure at LUX and with data from the upcoming high-energy run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

WIMPs at the Galactic Center

Simple models of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) predict dark matter annihilations into pairs of electroweak gauge bosons, Higgses or tops, which through their subsequent cascade decays produce a spectrum of gamma rays. Intriguingly, an excess in gamma rays coming from near the Galactic center has been consistently observed in Fermi data. A recent analysis by the Fermi collaboration confirms these earlier results. Taking into account the systematic uncertainties in the modelling of the gamma ray backgrounds, we show for the first time that this excess can be well fit by these final states. In particular, for annihilations to (WW, ZZ, hh, tt{sup -bar}), dark matter with mass between threshold and approximately (165, 190, 280, 310) GeV gives an acceptable fit. The fit range for bb{sup -bar} is also enlarged to 35 GeV≲m{sub χ}≲165 GeV. These are to be compared to previous fits that concluded only much lighter dark matter annihilating into b, τ, and light quark final states could describe the excess. We demonstrate that simple, well-motivated models of WIMP dark matter including a thermal-relic neutralino of the MSSM, Higgs portal models, as well as other simplified models can explain the excess.

Flavored Dark Matter, and Its Implications for Direct Detection and Colliders

We consider theories where the dark matter particle carries flavor quantum numbers, and has renormalizable contact interactions with the Standard Model fields. The phenomenology of this scenario depends sensitively on whether dark matter carries lepton flavor, quark flavor or its own internal flavor quantum numbers. We show that each of these possibilities is associated with a characteristic type of vertex, has different implications for direct detection experiments and gives rise to distinct collider signatures. We find that the region of parameter space where dark matter has the right abundance to be a thermal relic is in general within reach of current direct detection experiments. We focus on a class of models where dark matter carries tau flavor, and show that the collider signals of these models include events with four or more isolated leptons and missing energy. A full simulation of the signal and backgrounds, including detector effects, shows that in a significant part of parameter space these theories can be discovered above Standard Model backgrounds at the Large Hadron Collider. We also study the extent to which flavor and charge correlations among the final state leptons allows models of this type to be distinguished from theories where dark matter couples to leptons but does not carry flavor.

Signals of inert doublet dark matter in neutrino telescopes

One of the simplest extensions of the standard model that explains the observed abundance of dark matter is the inert doublet model. In this theory a discrete symmetry ensures that the neutral component of an additional electroweak doublet scalar is stable and constitutes a dark matter candidate. As massive bodies such as the Sun and Earth move through the dark matter halo, dark matter particles can become gravitationally trapped in their cores. Annihilations of these particles result in neutrinos, which can potentially be observed with neutrino telescopes. We calculate the neutrino detection rate at these experiments from inert doublet dark matter annihilations in the cores of the Sun and the Earth.

Conservative constraints on dark matter from the Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background spectrum

We examine the constraints on final state radiation from Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter candidates annihilating into various standard model final states, as imposed by the measurement of the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background by the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. The expected isotropic diffuse signal from dark matter annihilation has contributions from the local Milky Way (MW) as well as from extragalactic dark matter. The signal from the MW is very insensitive to the adopted dark matter profile of the halos, and dominates the signal from extragalactic halos, which is sensitive to the low mass cut-off of the halo mass function. We adopt a conservative model for both the low halo mass survival cut-off and the substructure boost factor of the Galactic and extragalactic components, and only consider the primary final state radiation. This provides robust constraints which reach the thermal production cross-section for low mass WIMPs annihilating into hadronic modes. We also reanalyze limits from HESS observations of the Galactic Ridge region using a conservative model for the dark matter halo profile. When combined with the HESS constraint, the isotropic diffuse spectrum rules out all interpretations of the PAMELA positron excess based on dark matter annihilation into two lepton final states. Annihilation into four leptons through new intermediate states, although constrained by the data, is not excluded.

Flavored dark matter beyond Minimal Flavor Violation

A bstractWe study the interplay of flavor and dark matter phenomenology for models of flavored dark matter interacting with quarks. We allow an arbitrary flavor structure in the coupling of dark matter with quarks. This coupling is assumed to be the only new source of violation of the Standard Model flavor symmetry extended by a U(3)χ associated with the dark matter. We call this ansatz Dark Minimal Flavor Violation (DMFV) and highlight its various implications, including an unbroken discrete symmetry that can stabilize the dark matter. As an illustration we study a Dirac fermionic dark matter χ which transforms as triplet under U(3)χ, and is a singlet under the Standard Model. The dark matter couples to right-handed down-type quarks via a colored scalar mediator ϕ with a coupling λ. We identify a number of “flavor-safe” scenarios for the structure of λ which are beyond Minimal Flavor Violation. For dark matter and collider phenomenology we focus on the well-motivated case of b-flavored dark matter. The combined flavor and dark matter constraints on the parameter space of λ turn out to be interesting intersections of the individual ones. LHC constraints on simplified models of squarks and sbottoms can be adapted to our case, and monojet searches can be relevant if the spectrum is compressed.

Leptophilic dark matter and the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon

A bstractWe consider renormalizable theories such that the scattering of dark matter off leptons arises at tree level, but scattering off nuclei only arises at loop. In this framework, the various dark matter candidates can be classified by their spins and by the forms of their interactions with leptons. We determine the corrections to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon that arise from its interactions with dark matter. We then consider the implications of these results for a set of simplified models of leptophilic dark matter. When a dark matter candidate reduces the existing tension between the standard model prediction of the anomalous magnetic moment and the experimental measurement, the region of parameter space favored to completely remove the discrepancy is highlighted. Conversely, when agreement is worsened, we place limits on the parameters of the corresponding simplified model. These bounds and favored regions are compared against the experimental constraints on the simplified model from direct detection and from collider searches. Although these constraints are severe, we find there do exist limited regions of parameter space in these simple theories that can explain the observed anomaly in the muon magnetic moment while remaining consistent with all experimental bounds.

Mixing stops at the LHC

A bstractWe study the phenomenology of a light stop NLSP in the presence of large mixing with either the first or the second generation. R-symmetric models provide a prime setting for this scenario, but our discussion also applies to the MSSM when a significant amount of mixing can be accommodated. In our framework the dominant stop decay is through the flavor violating mode into a light jet and the LSP in an extended region of parameter space. There are currently no limits from ATLAS and CMS in this region. We emulate shape-based hadronic SUSY searches for this topology, and find that they have potential sensitivity. If the extension of these analyses to this region is robust, we find that these searches can set strong exclusion limits on light stops. If not, then the flavor violating decay mode is challenging and may represent a blind spot in stop searches even at 13 TeV. Thus, an experimental investigation of this scenario is well motivated.

Make dark matter charged again

We revisit constraints on dark matter that is charged under a

Lower limits on the strengths of gamma ray lines from WIMP dark matter annihilation

U(1)