Supersymmetric dark-matter Q-balls and their interactions in matter

Supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model contain non-topological solitons, Q-balls, which can be stable and can be a form of cosmological dark matter. Understanding the interaction of SUSY Q-balls with matter fermions is important for both astrophysical limits and laboratory searches for these dark matter candidates. We show that a baryon scattering off a baryonic SUSY Q-ball can convert into its antiparticle with a high probability, while the baryon number of the Q-ball is increased by two units. For a SUSY Q-ball interacting with matter, this process dominates over those previously discussed in the literature.Comment: 12 page

Q-ball Formation through Affleck-Dine Mechanism

We present the full nonlinear calculation of the formation of a Q-ball through the Affleck-Dine (AD) mechanism by numerical simulations. It is shown that large Q-balls are actually produced by the fragmentation of the condensate of a scalar field whose potential is very flat. We find that the typical size of a Q-ball is determined by the most developed mode of linearized fluctuations, and almost all the initial charges which the AD condensate carries are absorbed into the formed Q-balls, whose sizes and the charges depend only on the initial charge densities.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 3 postscript figures included, the published versio

Solitons in the supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model

All supersymmetric generalizations of the Standard Model allow for stable non-topological solitons of the Q-ball type which may have non-zero baryon and lepton numbers, as well as the electric charge. These solitons can be produced in the early Universe, can affect the nucleosynthesis, and can lead to a variety of other cosmological consequences

Sufficient conditions for the existence of Q-balls in gauge theories

We formulate a set of simple sufficient conditions for the existence of Q-balls in gauge theories.Comment: 5 page

Experimental identification of non-pointlike dark-matter candidates

We show that direct dark matter detection experiments can distinguish between pointlike and non-pointlike dark-matter candidates. The shape of the nuclear recoil energy spectrum from pointlike dark-matter particles, e.g., neutralinos, is determined by the velocity distribution of dark matter in the galactic halo and by nuclear form factors. In contrast, typical cross sections of non-pointlike dark matter, for example, Q-balls, have a new form factor, which decreases rapidly with the recoil energy. Therefore, a signal from non-pointlike dark matter is expected to peak near the experimental threshold and to fall off rapidly at higher energies. Although the width of the signal is practically independent of the dark matter velocity dispersion, its height is expected to exhibit an annual modulation due to the changes in the dark matter flux.Comment: 4 pages; minor changes, references adde

Non-topological Domain Walls in a Model with Broken Supersymmetry

We study non-topological, charged planar walls (Q-walls) in the context of a particle physics model with supersymmetry broken by low-energy gauge mediation. Analytical properties are derived within the flat-potential approximation for the flat-direction raising potential, while a numerical study is performed using the full two-loop supersymmetric potential. We analyze the energetics of finite-size Q-walls and compare them to Q-balls, non-topological solitons possessing spherical symmetry and arising in the same supersymmetric model. This allow us to draw a phase diagram in the charge-transverse length plane, which shows a region where Q-wall solutions are more stable than Q-balls.Comment: Some discussion about the phase diagram added. To appear on the journal "Communications in Theoretical Physics