31 research outputs found
Dark Matter Capture in the First Stars: a Power Source and Limit on Stellar Mass
The annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles can provide an
important heat source for the first (Pop. III) stars, potentially leading to a
new phase of stellar evolution known as a "Dark Star". When dark matter (DM)
capture via scattering off of baryons is included, the luminosity from DM
annihilation may dominate over the luminosity due to fusion, depending on the
DM density and scattering cross-section. The influx of DM due to capture may
thus prolong the lifetime of the Dark Stars. Comparison of DM luminosity with
the Eddington luminosity for the star may constrain the stellar mass of zero
metallicity stars; in this case DM will uniquely determine the mass of the
first stars. Alternatively, if sufficiently massive Pop. III stars are found,
they might be used to bound dark matter properties.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, 3 Tables updated captions and graphs, corrected
grammer, and added citations revised for submission to JCA
Abelian Hidden Sectors at a GeV
We discuss mechanisms for naturally generating GeV-scale hidden sectors in
the context of weak-scale supersymmetry. Such low mass scales can arise when
hidden sectors are more weakly coupled to supersymmetry breaking than the
visible sector, as happens when supersymmetry breaking is communicated to the
visible sector by gauge interactions under which the hidden sector is
uncharged, or if the hidden sector is sequestered from gravity-mediated
supersymmetry breaking. We study these mechanisms in detail in the context of
gauge and gaugino mediation, and present specific models of Abelian GeV-scale
hidden sectors. In particular, we discuss kinetic mixing of a U(1)_x gauge
force with hypercharge, singlets or bi-fundamentals which couple to both
sectors, and additional loop effects. Finally, we investigate the possible
relevance of such sectors for dark matter phenomenology, as well as for low-
and high-energy collider searches.Comment: 43 pages, no figures; v2: to match JHEP versio
Dark Matter Candidates: A Ten-Point Test
An extraordinarily rich zoo of non-baryonic Dark Matter candidates has been
proposed over the last three decades. Here we present a 10-point test that a
new particle has to pass, in order to be considered a viable DM candidate: I.)
Does it match the appropriate relic density? II.) Is it {\it cold}? III.) Is it
neutral? IV.) Is it consistent with BBN? V.) Does it leave stellar evolution
unchanged? VI.) Is it compatible with constraints on self-interactions? VII.)
Is it consistent with {\it direct} DM searches? VIII.) Is it compatible with
gamma-ray constraints? IX.) Is it compatible with other astrophysical bounds?
X.) Can it be probed experimentally?Comment: 29 pages, 12 figure
Stau Kinks at the LHC
The kink signature of charged tracks is predicted in some SUSY models, and it
is very characteristic signal at collider experiments. We study the kink
signature at LHC using two models, SUSY models with a gravitino LSP and a stau
NLSP, and R-parity violating SUSY models with a stau (N)LSP. We find that a
large number of kink events can be discovered in a wide range of the SUSY
parameters, when the decay length is O(10-10^5)mm. Model discrimination by
identifying the daughter particles of the kink tracks is also discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures; Version published in JHEP; abstract refined,
reference added and several minor corrections in tex
Absolute electron and positron fluxes from PAMELA/Fermi and Dark Matter
We extract the positron and electron fluxes in the energy range 10 - 100 GeV
by combining the recent data from PAMELA and Fermi LAT. The {\it absolute
positron and electron} fluxes thus obtained are found to obey the power laws:
and respectively, which can be confirmed by the
upcoming data from PAMELA. The positron flux appears to indicate an excess at
energies E\gsim 50 GeV even if the uncertainty in the secondary positron flux
is added to the Galactic positron background. This leaves enough motivation for
considering new physics, such as annihilation or decay of dark matter, as the
origin of positron excess in the cosmic rays.Comment: Accepted by JCA
The PAMELA Positron Excess from Annihilations into a Light Boson
Recently published results from the PAMELA experiment have shown conclusive
evidence for an excess of positrons at high (~ 10 - 100 GeV) energies,
confirming earlier indications from HEAT and AMS-01. Such a signal is generally
expected from dark matter annihilations. However, the hard positron spectrum
and large amplitude are difficult to achieve in most conventional WIMP models.
The absence of any associated excess in anti-protons is highly constraining on
any model with hadronic annihilation modes. We revisit an earlier proposal,
whereby the dark matter annihilates into a new light (<~GeV) boson phi, which
is kinematically constrained to go to hard leptonic states, without
anti-protons or pi0's. We find this provides a very good fit to the data. The
light boson naturally provides a mechanism by which large cross sections can be
achieved through the Sommerfeld enhancement, as was recently proposed.
Depending on the mass of the WIMP, the rise may continue above 300 GeV, the
extent of PAMELA's ability to discriminate electrons and positrons.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; v3 separated pions plot, references adde
The Leptonic Higgs as a Messenger of Dark Matter
We propose that the leptonic cosmic ray signals seen by PAMELA and ATIC
result from the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles via states of a
leptonic Higgs doublet to leptons, linking cosmic ray signals of dark
matter to LHC signals of the Higgs sector. The states of the leptonic Higgs
doublet are lighter than about 200 GeV, yielding large and
event rates at the LHC. Simple models are
given for the dark matter particle and its interactions with the leptonic
Higgs, for cosmic ray signals arising from both annihilations and decays in the
galactic halo. For the case of annihilations, cosmic photon and neutrino
signals are on the verge of discovery.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures, minor typos corrected, references adde
PAMELA/ATIC anomaly from the meta-stable extra dark matter component and the leptophilic Yukawa interaction
We present a supersymmetric model with two dark matter (DM) components
explaining the galactic positron excess observed by PAMELA/HEAT and
ATIC/PPB-BETS: One is the conventional (bino-like) lightest supersymmetric
particle (LSP) \chi, and the other is a TeV scale meta-stable neutral singlet
N_D, which is a Dirac fermion (N,N^c). In this model, N_D decays dominantly
into \chi e^+e^- through an R parity preserving dimension 6 operator with the
life time \tau_N\sim 10^{26} sec. We introduce a pair of vector-like superheavy
SU(2) lepton doublets (L,L^c) and lepton singlets (E,E^c). The dimension 6
operator leading to the N_D decay is generated from the leptophilic Yukawa
interactions by W\supset Ne^cE+Lh_dE^c+m_{3/2}l_1L^c with the dimensionless
couplings of order unity, and the gauge interaction by {\cal L}\supset \sqrt{2}
g'\tilde{e}^{c*}e^c\chi + h.c. The superheavy masses of the vector-like leptons
(M_L, M_E\sim 10^{16} GeV) are responsible for the longevity of N_D. The low
energy field spectrum in this model is just the MSSM fields and N_D. Even for
the case that the portion of N_D is much smaller than that of \chi in the total
DM density [{\cal O}(10^{-10}) \lesssim n_{N_D}/n_\chi], the observed positron
excess can be explained by adopting relatively lighter masses of the
vector-like leptons (10^{13} GeV \lesssim M_{L,E} \lesssim 10^{16} GeV). The
smallness of the electron mass is also explained. This model is easily embedded
in the flipped SU(5) grand unification, which is a leptophilic unified theory.Comment: 12 pages, published versio
Dark Stars: A New Study of the FIrst Stars in the Universe
We have proposed that the first phase of stellar evolution in the history of
the Universe may be Dark Stars (DS), powered by dark matter heating rather than
by nuclear fusion. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, which may be their own
antipartners, collect inside the first stars and annihilate to produce a heat
source that can power the stars. A new stellar phase results, a Dark Star,
powered by dark matter annihilation as long as there is dark matter fuel, with
lifetimes from millions to billions of years. We find that the first stars are
very bright () and cool (K) during the DS
phase, and grow to be very massive (500-1000 times as massive as the Sun).
These results differ markedly from the standard picture in the absence of DM
heating, in which the maximum mass is about 140 and the temperatures
are much hotter (K); hence DS should be observationally
distinct from standard Pop III stars. Once the dark matter fuel is exhausted,
the DS becomes a heavy main sequence star; these stars eventually collapse to
form massive black holes that may provide seeds for supermassive black holes
observed at early times as well as explanations for recent ARCADE data and for
intermediate black holes.Comment: article to be published in special issue on Dark Matter and Particle
Physics in New Journal of Physic