English

Testing frozen-in pNGB dark matter with a long-lived dark Higgs

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2025-12-05 v2 High Energy Physics - Experiment

Abstract

We consider a simple Higgs portal dark matter (DM) model, where the Standard Model is extended with a complex singlet scalar. The imaginary part of the scalar becomes a massive and stable pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson, serving as the DM candidate, while the real part gives rise to a second (dark) Higgs boson. We focus on the freeze-in production of the DM, paying particular attention to low-reheating temperature scenarios, where the dark Higgs can be a long-lived particle (LLP). We also explore the phenomenology of this dark Higgs at the LHC and the Future Circular Collider in hadron-hadron mode, discussing its discovery prospects in regions of parameter space consistent with current DM constraints. Our results emphasize the impact of the cosmic reheating dynamics on the DM freeze-in production and their critical role in interpreting collider signatures. Furthermore, our findings suggest that LLP searches may provide insights into the fundamental dynamics of reheating.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2507.07089,
  title  = {Testing frozen-in pNGB dark matter with a long-lived dark Higgs},
  author = {Nicolás Bernal and Giovanna Cottin and Bastián Díaz Sáez and Manuel López},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.07089},
  year   = {2025}
}