Related papers: Enabling Forbidden Dark Matter
We have developed a set of four fully coupled Boltzmann equations to precisely determine the relic density and temperature of dark matter by including three distinct sectors: dark matter, light scalar, and standard model sectors. The…
Thermal freeze-out is a prominent example of dark matter (DM) production mechanism in the early Universe that can yield the correct relic density of stable weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). At the other end of the mass scale,…
Thermal dark matter is a compelling setup that has been probed by a multitude of experiments, mostly in the GeV-TeV mass range. The thermal paradigm in the sub-GeV range is about to experience the same experimental test with the next…
In this paper we consider a spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ dark matter (DM) particle coupled to neutrinos as a viable candidate to produce the observed DM relic density through the thermal freeze-out mechanism. The couplings of DM to neutrinos is…
We investigate a so-called 331 extension of the Standard Model gauge sector which accommodates neutrino masses and where the lightest of the new neutral fermions in the theory is a viable particle dark matter candidate. In this model,…
We summarize here our studies \cite{Chu:2022xuh,Chu:2023jyb,Chu:2024rrv} on two distinct scenarios for MeV-mass thermal dark matter freeze-out. First, we determine the minimal viable mass for dark matter below tens of MeV, considering…
Assisted annihilation is a novel mechanism to generate viable sub-GeV thermal dark matter, where a pair of stable dark matter annihilates with an assister to Standard Model states. Typically such $3 \to 2$ annihilation topologies are flux…
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…
We propose a new thermal freezeout mechanism which results in dark matter masses exceeding the unitarity bound by many orders of magnitude, without violating perturbative unitarity or modifying the standard cosmology. The process…
We discuss degenerate vector dark matter and dark photon that are induced from hidden $SU(2)_H$ gauge sector where it is spontaneously broken by vacuum expectation value of $SU(2)_H$ doublet. Kinetic mixing between $SU(2)_H$ and $U(1)_Y$…
We propose a new mechanism for thermal dark matter freezeout, termed Co-Decaying Dark Matter. Multi-component dark sectors with degenerate particles and out-of-equilibrium decays can co-decay to obtain the observed relic density. The dark…
The existence of a light mediator is beneficial to some phenomena in astroparticle physics, such as the core-cusp problem and diversity problem. It can decouple from Standard Model to avoid direct detection constraints, generally realized…
We test the dark photon as a portal connecting to the dark sector in the case of Dirac fermion and complex scalar dark matter with masses up to 1 TeV. Both the dark photon and the $Z$ boson contribute to the dark matter annihilation and…
In this paper, we calculate the relic abundance of the dark matter particles when they can annihilate into sterile neutrinos with the mass $\lesssim 100 \text{ GeV}$ in a simple model. Unlike the usual standard calculations, the sterile…
The 'WIMP miracle' for the relic abundance of thermal dark matter motivates weak scale dark matter with renormalizable couplings to standard model particles. We study minimal models with such couplings that explain dark matter as a thermal…
This work presents an asymmetric dark matter model with relic density determined by the freeze-out of asymmetric semi-annihilations into long-lived particles slowly decaying into the Standard Model states. We carefully consider the $CPT$…
The inert doublet model, a minimal extension of the Standard Model by a second higgs doublet with no direct couplings to quarks or leptons, is one of the simplest scenarios that can explain the dark matter. In this paper, we study in detail…
Light dark matter is a compelling experimental target in light of stringent constraints on heavier WIMPs. However, for a sub-MeV WIMP, the universe is sufficiently well understood at temperatures below 10 MeV that there is no room for it to…
Recent gamma-ray and radio observations provide stringent constraints for annihilating dark matter. The current $2\sigma$ lower limits of dark matter mass can be constrained to $\sim 100$ GeV for thermal relic annihilation cross section. In…
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…