Related papers: Millicharged Atomic Dark Matter
We consider a hidden sector model of dark matter which is charged under a hidden U(1)_X gauge symmetry. Kinetic mixing of U(1)_X with the Standard Model hypercharge U(1)_Y is allowed to provide communication between the hidden sector and…
Hints of direct dark matter detection coming from the DAMA, CoGeNT experiments point toward light dark matter with isospin-violating and possibly inelastic couplings. However an array of astrophysical constraints are rapidly closing the…
Minimal atomic dark matter with its distinctive cooling mechanisms offers an instructive framework for understanding the potential impact of dark matter on small-scale structure formation and early cosmology. The model consists of two…
Motivated by recent attempts to reconcile hints of direct dark matter detection by the CoGeNT and DAMA experiments, we construct simple particle physics models that can accommodate the constraints. We point out challenges for building…
The non-observation of dark matter (DM) by direct detection experiments suggests that any new interaction of DM with the Standard Model (SM) should be very weak. One of the simplest scenarios to achieve this is a dark sector that is charged…
Some models of inelastic dark matter posit the existence of bound states under some new $U(1)'$ gauge symmetry. If this new dark photon kinetically mixes with the standard model photon, then the constituent particles in these bound states…
A gauged $U(1)_X$ symmetry appended to the Standard Model (SM) is particularly well-motivated since it can account for the light neutrino masses by the seesaw mechanism, explain the origin of baryon asymmetry of the universe via…
We propose that dark matter is dominantly comprised of atomic bound states. We build a simple model and map the parameter space that results in the early universe formation of hydrogen-like dark atoms. We find that atomic dark matter has…
An appealing framework for dark matter is provided by light hidden sectors, below the electroweak scale, feebly coupled to the Standard Model via light mediators. We consider a minimal, predictive model where both the dark matter and the…
We investigate scenarios in which dark matter is stabilized by an abelian Z_N discrete gauge symmetry. Models are surveyed according to symmetries and matter content. Multi-component dark matter arises when N is not prime and Z_N contains…
We examine the possibility that dark matter may be the manifestation of dark forces of a hidden sector, i.e. "Dark Force = Dark Matter." As an illustrative and minimal example we consider the hidden SU(2)_h x U(1)_h gauge group. The hidden…
We consider models with extra U(1)' gauge symmetry that is broken spontaneously. In the models, there are cold dark matter candidates which are charged under U(1)' symmetry. Depending on the charge assignment, we can evade the strong bound…
We present a simple model of two dark matter species with opposite millicharge that can form electrically neutral bound states via the exchange of a massive dark photon. If bound state formation is suppressed at low temperatures, a…
We examine data from the DAMA, CoGeNT, CRESST-II and CDMS/Si direct detection experiments in the context of multi-component hidden sector dark matter. The models considered feature a hidden sector with two or more stable particles charged…
We investigate the cosmological stability of light bosonic dark matter carrying a tiny electric charge. In the wave-like regime of high occupation numbers, annihilation into gauge bosons can be drastically enhanced by parametric resonance.…
We study the atomic physics and the astrophysical implications of a model in which the dark matter is the analog of hydrogen in a secluded sector. The self interactions between dark matter particles include both elastic scatterings as well…
We consider theories where dark matter is composed of a thermal relic of weak scale mass, whose couplings to the Standard Model (SM) are however too small to give rise to the observed abundance. Instead, the abundance is set by annihilation…
Models of inelastic (or pseudo-Dirac) dark matter commonly introduce a gauge symmetry spontaneously broken by the introduction of a dark sector version of the Higgs mechanism. We find that this ubiquitous introduction of two extra fields, a…
At a level too faint for astronomy, particle dark matter may interact with Standard Model states via the photon. We derive limits from direct detection experiments on photon-mediated nuclear interactions up to operator dimension-6, viz.,…
A dark sector resembling the standard model, where the abundance of matter is explained by baryon and lepton asymmetries, and stable constituents bind to form atoms, is a theoretically appealing possibility. We show that a minimal model…