Samuel D. McDermott

Singlet Scalar Resonances and the Diphoton Excess

Abstract ATLAS and CMS recently released the first results of searches for diphoton resonances in 13 TeV data, revealing a modest excess at an invariant mass of approximately 750 GeV. We find that it is generically possible that a singlet scalar resonance is the origin of the excess while avoiding all other constraints. We highlight some of the implications of this model and how compatible it is with certain features of the experimental results. In particular, we find that the very large total width of the excess is difficult to explain with loop-level decays alone, pointing to other interesting bounds and signals if this feature of the data persists. Finally we comment on the robust Zγ signature that will always accompany the model we investigate.

Constraining light dark matter with diffuse X-ray and gamma-ray observations

A bstractWe present constraints on decaying and annihilating dark matter (DM) in the 4 keV to 10 GeV mass range, using published results from the satellites HEAO-1, INTEGRAL, COMPTEL, EGRET, and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We derive analytic expressions for the gamma-ray spectra from various DM decay modes, and find lifetime constraints in the range 1024 − 1028 sec, depending on the DM mass and decay mode. We map these constraints onto the parameter space for a variety of models, including a hidden photino that is part of a kinetically mixed hidden sector, a gravitino with R-parity violating decays, a sterile neutrino, DM with a dipole moment, and a dark pion. The indirect constraints on sterile-neutrino and hidden-photino DM are found to be more powerful than other experimental or astrophysical probes in some parts of parameter space. While our focus is on decaying DM, we also present constraints on DM annihilation to electron-positron pairs. We find that if the annihilation is p-wave suppressed, the galactic diffuse constraints are, depending on the DM mass and velocity at recombination, more powerful than the constraints from the Cosmic Microwave Background.

Constraints on Scalar Asymmetric Dark Matter from Black Hole Formation in Neutron Stars

We consider possibly observable effects of asymmetric dark matter (ADM) in neutron stars. Since dark matter does not self-annihilate in the ADM scenario, dark matter accumulates in neutron stars, eventually reaching the Chandrasekhar limit and forming a black hole. We focus on the case of scalar ADM, where the constraints from Bose-Einstein condensation and subsequent black hole formation are most severe due to the absence of Fermi degeneracy pressure. We also note that in some portions of this constrained parameter space, nontrivial effects from Hawking radiation can modify our limits. We find that for scalar ADM with mass between 5 MeV and 13 GeV, the constraint from nearby neutron stars on the scattering cross section with neutrons ranges from

Turning off the Lights: How Dark is Dark Matter?

We consider current observational constraints on the electromagnetic charge of dark matter. The velocity dependence of the scattering cross-section through the photon gives rise to qualitatively different constraints than standard dark matter scattering through massive force carriers. In particular, recombination epoch observations of dark matter density perturbations require that

Dissecting the Gamma-Ray Background in Search of Dark Matter

\epsilon

Neutrino Phenomenology in a 3+1+1 Framework

, the ratio of the dark matter to electronic charge, is less than

Inspecting the Higgs for New Weakly Interacting Particles

10^{-6}

The Dark Matter Inverse Problem: Extracting Particle Physics from Scattering Events

for

Lining up the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess

m_X = 1 GeV

Supernova 1987A constraints on sub-GeV dark sectors, millicharged particles, the QCD axion, and an axion-like particle

, rising to