English

Asymmetric WIMP dark matter

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2015-05-27 v3 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

In existing dark matter models with global symmetries the relic abundance of dark matter is either equal to that of anti-dark matter (thermal WIMP), or vastly larger, with essentially no remaining anti-dark matter (asymmetric dark matter). By exploring the consequences of a primordial asymmetry on the coupled dark matter and anti-dark matter Boltzmann equations we find large regions of parameter space that interpolate between these two extremes. Interestingly, this new asymmetric WIMP framework can accommodate a wide range of dark matter masses and annihilation cross sections. The present-day dark matter population is typically asymmetric, but only weakly so, such that indirect signals of dark matter annihilation are not completely suppressed. We apply our results to existing models, noting that upcoming direct detection experiments will constrain a large region of the relevant parameter space.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1103.2771,
  title  = {Asymmetric WIMP dark matter},
  author = {Michael L. Graesser and Ian M. Shoemaker and Luca Vecchi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.2771},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

32 pages, 6 figures, updated references, updated XENON100 bounds, typo in figure caption corrected

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:39:23.908Z