Related papers: Despicable Dark Relics: generated by gravity with …
We calculate analytically and numerically the production of superheavy dark matter (X) when it is coupled to the inflaton field \phi within the context of a slow-roll m_\phi^2 \phi^2/2 inflationary model with coupling g^2 X^2 \phi^2/2. We…
Depending on various assumptions on the energy scale of inflation and assuming a primordial power spectrum of a Broken Scale Invariance (BSI) type, we explore the possibility for Primordial Black Holes (PBH) and Planck relics to contribute…
The evolution of the Universe between inflation and the onset of big bang nucleosynthesis is difficult to probe and largely unconstrained. This ignorance profoundly limits our understanding of dark matter: we cannot calculate its thermal…
We demonstrate that adiabatic dark matter can be generated by gravity induced symmetry breaking during inflation. We study a $Z_2$ symmetric scalar singlet that couples to other fields only through gravity and for which the symmetry is…
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,…
Let's be frank: we all love WIMP dark matter (DM). However, thermal equilibrium may not be reached between the visible and dark sectors. The only interaction guaranteed between them is gravity. Gravitational DM could be generated by the…
Observational evidence for the existence of Dark Matter is limited to its gravitational effects. The extensive program for dedicated searches has yielded null results so far, challenging the most popular models. Here we propose that this is…
If dark matter is composed of primordial black holes, such black holes can span an enormous range of masses. A variety of observational constraints exist on massive black holes, and black holes with masses below $10^{15}\,\mathrm{g}$ are…
We discuss a scenario that gravitinos produced non-thermally by an inflaton decay constitute dark matter in the present universe. We find that this scenario is realized for wide ranges of the inflaton mass and the vacuum expectation value.…
The phase of inflationary expansion in the early universe produces superheavy relics in a mass window between 10^{12} GeV and 10^{14} GeV. Decay or annihilation of these superheavy relics can explain the observed ultrahigh energy cosmic…
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…
It is now, generally, believed that the presence of some form of dark matter is essential to explain the flat rotation curves of galaxies, and anomalous large velocities of galaxies in the clusters and superclusters. This dark matter turns…
Dark matter could have an electroweak origin, yet communicate with the visible sector exclusively through gravitational interactions. In a set-up addressing the hierarchy problem, we propose a new dark matter scenario where gravitational…
Moduli, modulini and the gravitino have gravitational-strength interactions, and thermal collisions after reheating create all of them with roughly the same abundance. With their mass of order $100\GeV$, corresponding to gravity-mediated…
We revisit the calculation of dark matter relic abundances in scalar-tensor gravity using a generic form $A(\varphi_*) = e^{\beta\varphi_*^2/2}$ for the coupling between the scalar field $\varphi_*$ and the metric, for which detailed Big…
At the end of inflation, the inflaton field decays into an initially nonthermal population of relativistic particles which eventually thermalize. We consider the production of dark matter from this relativistic plasma, focusing on the…
We investigate the relic density n_\chi of non-relativistic long-lived or stable particles \chi in non-standard cosmological scenarios. We calculate the relic abundance starting from arbitrary initial temperatures of the radiation-dominated…
Stable particle dark matter may well originate during the decay of long-lived relic particles, as recently extensively examined in the cases of the axino, gravitino, and higher-dimensional Kaluza-Klein (KK) graviton. It is shown that in…
The dark matter in the universe can be in the form of a superheavy matter species (WIMPZILLA). Several mechanisms have been proposed for the production of WIMPZILLA particles during or immediately following the inflationary epoch. Perhaps…
We demonstrate that if the universe is dominated by the massive cold dark matter, then besides the generally believed thermal distribution of the dark matter relics, there may exist some very energetic non-thermal relics of the dark matter…