English

Blast-frozen Dark Matter and Modulated Density Perturbations

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2026-02-13 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

First-order phase transitions (FOPT) are ubiquitous in beyond the Standard Model physics and leave distinctive echoes in the history of early universe. We consider a FOPT serving the well-motivated role of dark matter mass generation and present {\it blast-frozen dark matter} (BFDM), which transitions from radiation to non-relativistic relic in a period much shorter than the corresponding Hubble time. Its cosmological imprint are strong oscillations in the dark matter density perturbations that seed structure formation on large and small scales. For a FOPT occurring not long before the matter-radiation equality, next generation cosmological surveys bear a strong potential to discover BFDM and in turn establish the origin of dark matter mass.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.02176,
  title  = {Blast-frozen Dark Matter and Modulated Density Perturbations},
  author = {Miha Nemevšek and Yue Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.02176},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

7 pages, 3 figures. v2: End Matter added on consistent matching conditions for dark matter density perturbation before and after the first-order phase transition. Accepted for publication in Physical Review D