Related papers: Jump Starting the Dark Sector with a Phase Transit…
We demonstrate how a dark sector can provide a crucial link between a vacuum-dominated early universe and the later radiation-dominated epoch. As an example, we consider a feeble axion-like coupling of dark non-Abelian gauge fields with a…
This work examines the confining-deconfining phase transition in a hidden Yang Mills sector with scale $\Lambda \sim 10^{14}$ GeV appropriate to dilaton stabilization and SUSY-breaking via formation of a gaugino consensate. If the…
We show that a particular class of postrecombination phase transitions in the vacuum can lead to localized overdense regions on relatively small scales, roughly 10^6 to 10^10 M_sun, potentially interesting for the origin of large black hole…
A dark sector is an interesting place where a strong first-order phase transition, observable gravitational waves and/or a dark matter candidate could arise. However, the experimental tests for such a dark sector could be ambiguous due to…
We investigate the possibility of a dark energy component that is scaling with epochs. A phenomenological model is introduced whose energy density depends on the redshift in such a way that a smooth transition among the three dominant…
Models of secluded dark matter offer a variant on the standard WIMP picture and can modify our expectations for hidden sector phenomenology and detection. In this work we extend a minimal model of secluded dark matter, comprised of a…
The magnetic monopole of a dark sector has been advocated as an appealing dark matter candidate. We revisit the computation of the monopole abundance $\Omega_M$, generated by a thermal phase transition in the minimal 't Hooft-Polyakov…
We investigate the nightmare scenario of dark sectors that are made of non-abelian gauge theories with fermions, gravitationally coupled to the Standard Model (SM). While testing these scenarios is experimentally challenging, they are…
Simple models are constructed for "acceleressence" dark energy: the latent heat of a phase transition occurring in a hidden sector governed by the seesaw mass scale v^2/M_Pl, where v is the electroweak scale and M_Pl the gravitational mass…
Interacting dark sectors may undergo changes in the number of their relativistic species during the early universe, due to a mass threshold $m$ (similar to changes in the Standard Model bath), and in doing so affect the cosmic history. When…
If dark matter resides in a hidden sector minimally coupled to the Standard Model, another particle within the hidden sector might dominate the energy density of the early universe temporarily, causing an early matter-dominated era (EMDE).…
We study the spectrum of gravitational waves produced by a first order phase transition in a hidden sector that is colder than the visible sector. In this scenario, bubbles of the hidden sector vacuum can be nucleated through either thermal…
We present a systematic cosmological study of a universe in which the visible sector is coupled, albeit very weakly, to a hidden sector comprised of its own set of particles and interactions. Assuming that dark matter (DM) resides in the…
The secluded dark matter resides within a hidden sector and self-annihilates into lighter mediators which subsequently decay to the Standard Model (SM) particles. Depending on the coupling strength of the mediator to the SM, the hidden…
If the dark sector possesses long-range self-interactions, these interactions can source dramatic collective instabilities even in astrophysical settings where the collisional mean free path is long. Here, we focus on the specific case of…
Strong first-order phase transitions in a dark sector offer a compelling explanation for the stochastic gravitational wave background in the nano-Hertz range recently detected by pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). We explore the possibility that…
We describe a general scenario, dubbed "Inflatable Dark Matter", in which the density of dark matter particles can be reduced through a short period of late-time inflation in the early universe. The overproduction of dark matter that is…
We study cosmological perturbations in a model of unified dark matter and dark energy with a sharp transition in the late-time universe. The dark sector is described by a dark fluid which evolves from an early stage at redshifts $z > z_C$…
Phantom Cosmology provides an unique opportunity to "connect" the phantom driven (low en- ergy meV scale) dark energy phase to the (high energy GUT scale) inflationary era. This is possible because the energy density increases in phantom…
We propose a mass-varying dark matter (MVDM) model consisting of a scalar field and a fermionic field interacting via a simple Yukawa coupling, and containing an exponential self-interaction potential for the scalar field. Analyzing the…