Searching for dark matter sterile neutrino in laboratory

If the dark matter of the Universe is made of sterile neutrinos with the mass in keV region they can be searched for with the help of X-ray satellites. We discuss the prospects of laboratory experiments that can be competitive and complimentary to Space missions. We argue that the detailed study of beta decays of tritium and other nuclei with the help of Cold Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy (COLTRIMS) can potentially enter into interesting parameter range and even supersede the current astronomical bounds on the properties of dark matter sterile neutrino.Comment: RevTex, 6 pages, 1 figure. Journal version accepted in Phys.Rev.

Constraints on the parameters of radiatively decaying dark matter from the dark matter halo of the Milky Way and Ursa Minor

We improve the earlier restrictions on parameters of the dark matter (DM) in the form of a sterile neutrino. The results were obtained from non-observing the DM decay line in the X-ray spectrum of the Milky Way (using the recent XMM-Newton PN blank sky data). We also present a similar constraint coming from the recent XMM-Newton observation of Ursa Minor -- dark, X-ray quiet dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The new Milky way data improve on (by as much as the order of magnitude at masses ~3.5 keV) existing constraints. Although the observation of Ursa Minor has relatively poor statistics, the constraints are comparable to those recently obtained using observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud or M31. This confirms a recent proposal that dwarf satellites of the MW are very interesting candidates for the DM search and dedicated studies should be made to this purpose.Comment: 8 pp. v.2 - Final version to appear in A&

Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

We present a comprehensive analysis of constraints on the sterile neutrino as a dark matter candidate. The minimal production scenario with a standard thermal history and negligible cosmological lepton number is in conflict with conservative radiative decay constraints from the cosmic X-ray background in combination with stringent small-scale structure limits from the Lyman-alpha forest. We show that entropy release through massive particle decay after production does not alleviate these constraints. We further show that radiative decay constraints from local group dwarf galaxies are subject to large uncertainties in the dark matter density profile of these systems. Within the strongest set of constraints, resonant production of cold sterile neutrino dark matter in non-zero lepton number cosmologies remains allowed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; v2 includes discussion of astro-ph/0605706 and matches version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Sterile neutrinos in cosmology and how to find them in the lab

A number of observed phenomena in high energy physics and cosmology lack their resolution within the Standard Model of particle physics. These puzzles include neutrino oscillations, baryon asymmetry of the universe and existence of dark matter. We discuss the suggestion that all these problems can be solved by new physics which exists only below the electroweak scale. The dedicated experiments that can confirm or rule out this possibility are discussed.Comment: Invited talk at XXIII Int. Conf. on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, May 25-31, Christchurch, New Zealan

Sterile neutrinos, dark matter, and the pulsar velocities in models with a Higgs singlet

We identify the range of parameters for which the sterile neutrinos can simultaneously explain the cosmological dark matter and the observed velocities of pulsars. To satisfy all cosmological bounds, the relic sterile neutrinos must be produced sufficiently cold. This is possible in a class of models with a gauge-singlet Higgs boson coupled to the neutrinos. Sterile dark matter can be detected by the x-ray telescopes. The presence of the singlet in the Higgs sector can be tested at the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 4 pages, one figur

The masses of active neutrinos in the nuMSM from X-ray astronomy

In an extention of the Standard Model by three relatively light right-handed neutrinos (the nuMSM model) the role of the dark matter particle is played by the lightest sterile neutrino. We demonstrate that the observations of the extragalactic X-ray background allow to put a strong upper bound on the mass of the lightest active neutrino and predict the absolute values of the mass of the two heavier active neutrinos in the nuMSM, provided that the mass of the dark matter sterile neutrino is larger than 1.8 keV.Comment: 6 pages. revtex

Hadronic Axion Model in Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking and Cosmology of Saxion

Recently we have proposed a simple hadronic axion model within gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking. In this paper we discuss various cosmological consequences of the model in great detail. A particular attention is paid to a saxion, a scalar partner of an axion, which is produced as a coherent oscillation in the early universe. We show that our model is cosmologically viable, if the reheating temperature of inflation is sufficiently low. We also discuss the late decay of the saxion which gives a preferable power spectrum of the density fluctuation in the standard cold dark matter model when compared with the observation.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Affleck-Dine mechanism with negative thermal logarithmic potential

We investigate whether the Affleck-Dine (AD) mechanism works when the contribution of the two-loop thermal correction to the potential is negative in the gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models. The AD field is trapped far away from the origin by the negative thermal correction for a long time until the temperature of the universe becomes low enough. The most striking feature is that the Hubble parameter becomes much smaller than the mass scale of the radial component of the AD field, during the trap. Then, the amplitude of the AD field decreases so slowly that the baryon number is not fixed even after the onset of radial oscillation. The resultant baryon asymmetry crucially depends on whether the Hubble parameter, $H$, is larger than the mass scale of the phase component of the AD field, $M_\theta$, at the beginning of oscillation. If $H < M_\theta$ holds, the formation of Q balls plays an essential role to determine the baryon number, which is found to be washed out due to the nonlinear dynamics of Q-ball formation. On the other hand, if $H > M_\theta$ holds, it is found that the dynamics of Q-ball formation does not affect the baryon asymmetry, and that it is possible to generate the right amount of the baryon asymmetry.Comment: 18 pages, RevTeX4, 9 postscript figures included, final version to appear in Phys.Rev.

Search for the light dark matter with an X-ray spectrometer

Sterile neutrinos with the mass in the keV range are interesting warm dark matter (WDM) candidates. The restrictions on their parameters (mass and mixing angle) obtained by current X-ray missions (XMM-Newton or Chandra) can only be improved by less than an order of magnitude in the near future. Therefore the new strategy of search is needed. We compare the sensitivities of existing and planned X-ray missions for the detection of WDM particles with the mass ~1-20 keV. We show that existing technology allows an improvement in sensitivity by a factor of 100. Namely, two different designs can achieve such an improvement: [A] a spectrometer with the high spectral resolving power of 0.1%, wide (steradian) field of view, with small effective area of about cm^2 (which can be achieved without focusing optics) or [B] the same type of spectrometer with a smaller (degree) field of view but with a much larger effective area of 10^3 cm^2 (achieved with the help of focusing optics). To illustrate the use of the "type A" design we present the bounds on parameters of the sterile neutrino obtained from analysis of the data taken by an X-ray microcalorimeter. In spite of the very short exposure time (100 sec) the derived bound is comparable to the one found from long XMM-Newton observation.Comment: 9pp, revtex

Power-Like Threshold Corrections to Gauge Unification in Extra Dimensions

One of the much-debated novel features of theories with extra dimensions is the presence of power-like loop corrections to gauge coupling unification, which have the potential of allowing a significant reduction of the unification scale. A recognized problem of such scenarios is the UV sensitivity of the above power corrections. We consider situations where the grand unified group is broken by the vacuum expectation value of a bulk field and find that, because of the softness of this extra-dimensional symmetry breaking mechanism, power-like threshold corrections are calculable and generic in many of the most relevant settings. While the precision is limited by the presence of higher-dimension bulk operators, the most dangerous of these operators are naturally forbidden by symmetries of the bulk theory. Particularly interesting and constrained scenarios arise in the context of higher-dimensional supersymmetry. Our phenomenological exploration of SU(5) models in 5d, linked in particular with more recently discussed orbifold GUT models, shows promising results.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, v3: references and related comment adde