Related papers: Changes in Dark Matter Properties After Freeze-Out
In this letter, we consider a class of scenarios in which the dark matter is part of a heavy hidden sector that is thermally decoupled from the Standard Model in the early universe. The dark matter freezes-out by annihilating to a lighter,…
The consideration of dark energy's quanta, required also by thermodynamics, introduces its chemical potential into the cosmological equations. Isolating its main contribution, we obtain solutions with dark energy decaying to matter or…
We present a new paradigm for achieving thermal relic dark matter. The mechanism arises when a nearly secluded dark sector is thermalized with the Standard Model after reheating. The freezeout process is a number-changing 3->2 annihilation…
We investigate a particle dark matter (DM) scenario where the DM interaction with the Standard Model are mediated by a leptophilic effective operator. Unlike conventional WIMP scenarios where thermal freeze-out occurs in a…
In these lectures we first briefly review the main observational facts which imply that most part of matter in the Universe is not visible and some recent intriguing experimental data which would point to a significant contribution to Omega…
Dark Matter annihilations after recombination and during the epoch of structure formation deposit energy in the primordial intergalactic medium, producing reionization and heating. We investigate the constraints that are imposed by the…
A notable feature of UV freeze-in is that the relic density is strongly dependent on the highest temperatures of the thermal bath, and a common assumption is that the relevant 'highest temperature' should be the reheating temperature after…
Isocurvature fluctuations, where the relative number density of particle species spatially varies, can be generated from initially adiabatic, or curvature, fluctuations if the various species fall out of or were never in thermal…
Freeze-out or freeze-in during a period of early matter domination can yield the correct dark matter abundance for small values of the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section, $\langle \sigma_{\rm ann} v \rangle_{\rm f} < 3 \times…
In this talk, I explained how the observed dark matter (DM) relic abundance can be accounted for in models composed of three sectors (the DM, the Standard Model (SM) and a light mediator) connected to each other. This scenario is explored…
We consider dark matter (DM) with very weak couplings to the standard model (SM), such that its self-annihilation cross section is much smaller than the canonical one, $\langle\sigma v\rangle_{\chi\chi} \ll…
Dark matter produced from thermal freeze-out is typically restricted to have masses above roughly 1 MeV. However, if the couplings are small, the freeze-in mechanism allows for production of dark matter down to keV masses. We consider dark…
We study the general properties of the freezeout of a thermal relic. We give analytic estimates of the relic abundance for an arbitrary freezeout process, showing when instantaneous freezeout is appropriate and how it can be corrected when…
Cosmology and astrophysics provide various ways to study the properties of dark matter even if they have negligible non-gravitational interactions with the Standard Model particles and remain hidden. We study a type of hidden dark matter…
Chemical equilibrium is a commonly made assumption in the freeze-out calculation of coannihilating dark matter. We explore the possible failure of this assumption and find a new conversion-driven freeze-out mechanism. Considering a…
Traditional computations of the dark matter (DM) relic abundance, for models where attractive self-interactions are mediated by light force-carriers and bound states exist, rely on the solution of a coupled system of classical on-shell…
We present a scenario in which a scalar field dark energy is coupled to the trace of the energy momentum tensor of the baryonic matter fields. In the slow-roll regime, this interaction could give rise to the cosmological features of dark…
We explore a class of dark matter models with two dark matter candidates, only one interacts with the standard model sector. One of the dark matter is thermalized with the assistance of the other stable particle. While both stable particles…
Dark Stars (DS) may constitute the first phase of stellar evolution, powered by dark matter (DM) annihilation. We will investigate here the properties of DS assuming the DM particle has the required properties to explain the excess positron…
Assuming that the positron excess in PAMELA satellite data is a consequence of annihilations of cold dark matter, we consider from a model-independent perspective if the data show a preference for the spin of dark matter. We then perform a…