Scattering versus Forbidden Decay in Dark Matter Freeze-in

It is generically believed that the two-body scattering is suppressed by higher-order weak couplings with respect to the two-body decay. We show that this does not always hold when a heavy particle is produced by forbidden decay in a thermal plasma, where the scattering shares the same order of couplings with the decay. We find that there is a simple and close relation between the forbidden decay and the same-order scattering. To illustrate this point, we consider freeze-in production of heavy dark matter via a light scalar mediator. We point out that, when the Boltzmann (quantum) statistics is used, the forbidden decay can contribute to the dark matter relic density at 5$\%$-24$\%$ (11$\%$-42$\%$) with a weak thermal coupling, while the contribution from the scattering channel can be several orders of magnitude larger than from the forbidden decay if the thermal coupling is much smaller. Such a relative effect between the scattering and the forbidden decay could also exist in other plasma-induced processes, such as the purely thermal generation of the right-handed neutrino dark matter, or of the lepton asymmetry in leptogenesis.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, title modified and more discussions adde

Freeze-in Dirac neutrinogenesis: thermal leptonic CP asymmetry

We present a freeze-in realization of the Dirac neutrinogenesis in which the decaying particle that generates the lepton-number asymmetry is in thermal equilibrium. As the right-handed Dirac neutrinos are produced non-thermally, the lepton-number asymmetry is accumulated and partially converted to the baryon-number asymmetry via the rapid sphaleron transitions. The necessary CP-violating condition can be fulfilled by a purely thermal kinetic phase from the wavefunction correction in the lepton-doublet sector, which has been neglected in most leptogenesis-based setup. Furthermore, this condition necessitates a preferred flavor basis in which both the charged-lepton and neutrino Yukawa matrices are non-diagonal. To protect such a proper Yukawa structure from the basis transformations in flavor space prior to the electroweak gauge symmetry breaking, we can resort to a plethora of model buildings aimed at deciphering the non-trivial Yukawa structures. Interestingly, based on the well-known tri-bimaximal mixing with a minimal correction from the charged-lepton or neutrino sector, we find that a simultaneous explanation of the baryon-number asymmetry in the Universe and the low-energy neutrino oscillation observables can be attributed to the mixing angle and the CP-violating phase introduced in the minimal correction.Comment: 28 pages and 7 figures; more discussions and one figure added, final version published in the journa

Separation of Phytosterol and Synthesized VE Succinate from Rapeseed Oil Deodorizer Distillate

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 7 (2005): Separation of Phytosterol and Synthesized VE Succinate from Rapeseed Oil Deodorizer Distillate by Pan Li-jun, Shao Ping, Jiang Shao-ton

Dark phase transition from WIMP: complementary tests from gravitational waves and colliders

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 the dark content, largely unconstrained parameter space and the connection to the visible world. We consider a minimal dark scalar-vector boson plasma to realize the three mentioned phenomena, with a unique connection to the Standard Model via the Higgs portal coupling. We discuss the important features of the Higgs portal in such a minimal dark sector, namely the dark thermalization, collider tests, and direct detection of dark matter. We perform numerical analyses of the dark phase transition associated with stochastic gravitational waves and dark matter, discussing the complementarity of collider detection, dark matter direct detection and space-based/terrestrial interferometers as a promising avenue to hear and see the minimal dark sector.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures and 1 table. Version accepted by JCA

A collider test of nano-Hertz gravitational waves from pulsar timing arrays

A cosmic first-order phase transition (FOPT) occurring at MeV-scale provides an attractive explanation for the nano-Hertz gravitational wave (GW) background indicated by the recent pulsar timing array data from the NANOGrav, CPTA, EPTA and PPTA collaborations. We propose this explanation can be further tested at the colliders if the hidden sector couples to the Standard Model sector via Higgs portal. Through a careful analysis of the thermal history of the hidden sector, we demonstrate that in order to successfully explain the observed GW signal, the portal coupling must be sizable that it can be probed through Higgs invisible decay at the LHC or future lepton colliders such as CEPC, ILC, and FCC-ee. Our research offers a promising avenue to uncover the physical origin of the nano-Hertz GWs through particle physics experiments.Comment: 6 pages + 2 figures + appendix + reference