1,176 research outputs found
Sommerfeld Enhancement of DM Annihilation: Resonance Structure, Freeze-Out and CMB Spectral Bound
In the last few years there has been some interest in WIMP Dark Matter models
featuring a velocity dependent cross section through the Sommerfeld enhancement
mechanism, which is a nonrelativistic effect due to massive bosons in the dark
sector. In the first part of this article, we find analytic expressions for the
boost factor for three different model potentials, the Coulomb potential, the
spherical well and the spherical cone well and compare with the numerical
solution of the Yukawa potential. We find that the resonance pattern of all the
potentials can be cast into the same universal form. In the second part of the
article we perform a detailed computation of the Dark Matter relic density for
models having Sommerfeld enhancement by solving the Boltzmann equation
numerically. We calculate the expected distortions of the CMB blackbody
spectrum from WIMP annihilations and compare these to the bounds set by FIRAS.
We conclude that only a small part of the parameter space can be ruled out by
the FIRAS observations.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, version accepted by JCA
Charge Violation and Alice Behavior in Global and Textured Strings
Spontaneous breaking of global symmetries can produce ``Alice'' strings: line
defects which make unbroken symmetries multivalued, induce apparent charge
violation via Aharonov-Bohm interactions, and form point defects when twisted
into loops. We demonstrate this behavior for both divergent and textured global
Alice strings. Both adiabatically scatter charged particles via effective
Wilson lines. For textured Alice strings, such Wilson lines occur at all radii,
and are multivalued only inside the string. This produces measurable effects,
including path-dependent charge violation.Comment: 32 pages, 2 epsfigs, Revte
PAMELA, DAMA, INTEGRAL and Signatures of Metastable Excited WIMPs
Models of dark matter with ~ GeV scale force mediators provide attractive
explanations of many high energy anomalies, including PAMELA, ATIC, and the
WMAP haze. At the same time, by exploiting the ~ MeV scale excited states that
are automatically present in such theories, these models naturally explain the
DAMA/LIBRA and INTEGRAL signals through the inelastic dark matter (iDM) and
exciting dark matter (XDM) scenarios, respectively. Interestingly, with only
weak kinetic mixing to hypercharge to mediate decays, the lifetime of excited
states with delta < 2 m_e is longer than the age of the universe. The
fractional relic abundance of these excited states depends on the temperature
of kinetic decoupling, but can be appreciable. There could easily be other
mechanisms for rapid decay, but the consequences of such long-lived states are
intriguing. We find that CDMS constrains the fractional relic population of
~100 keV states to be <~ 10^-2, for a 1 TeV WIMP with sigma_n = 10^-40 cm^2.
Upcoming searches at CDMS, as well as xenon, silicon, and argon targets, can
push this limit significantly lower. We also consider the possibility that the
DAMA excitation occurs from a metastable state into the XDM state, which decays
via e+e- emission, which allows lighter states to explain the INTEGRAL signal
due to the small kinetic energies required. Such models yield dramatic signals
from down-scattering, with spectra peaking at high energies, sometimes as high
as ~1 MeV, well outside the usual search windows. Such signals would be visible
at future Ar and Si experiments, and may be visible at Ge and Xe experiments.
We also consider other XDM models involving ~ 500 keV metastable states, and
find they can allow lighter WIMPs to explain INTEGRAL as well.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
Singlet Fermionic Dark Matter explains DAMA signal
It has been suggested that, considering channeling effect, the order of a few
GeV dark matters which are elastically scattered from detector nuclei might be
plausible candidates reconciling the DAMA annual modulation signal with the
results of other null experiments. We show that Singlet Fermionic Dark Matter
can be such a dark matter candidate, simultaneously providing the correct
thermal relic density which is consistent with the WMAP data.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Stabilization of Sub-Millimeter Dimensions: The New Guise of the Hierarchy Problem
A new framework for solving the hierarchy problem was recently proposed which
does not rely on low energy supersymmetry or technicolor. The fundamental
Planck mass is at a \tev and the observed weakness of gravity at long
distances is due the existence of new sub-millimeter spatial dimensions. In
this picture the standard model fields are localized to a -dimensional
wall or ``3-brane''. The hierarchy problem becomes isomorphic to the problem of
the largeness of the extra dimensions. This is in turn inextricably linked to
the cosmological constant problem, suggesting the possibility of a common
solution. The radii of the extra dimensions must be prevented from both
expanding to too great a size, and collapsing to the fundamental Planck length
\tev^{-1}. In this paper we propose a number of mechanisms addressing this
question. We argue that a positive bulk cosmological constant can
stabilize the internal manifold against expansion, and that the value of
is not unstable to radiative corrections provided that the
supersymmetries of string theory are broken by dynamics on our 3-brane. We
further argue that the extra dimensions can be stabilized against collapse in a
phenomenologically successful way by either of two methods: 1) Large,
topologically conserved quantum numbers associated with higher-form bulk U(1)
gauge fields, such as the naturally occurring Ramond-Ramond gauge fields, or
the winding number of bulk scalar fields. 2) The brane-lattice-crystallization
of a large number of 3-branes in the bulk. These mechanisms are consistent with
theoretical, laboratory, and cosmological considerations such as the absence of
large time variations in Newton's constant during and after primordial
nucleosynthesis, and millimeter-scale tests of gravity.Comment: Corrected referencing to important earlier work by Sundrum, errors
fixed, additional discussion on radion phenomenology, conclusions unchanged,
23 pages, LaTe
Indirect Detection of Kaluza-Klein Dark Matter from Latticized Universal Dimensions
We consider Kaluza-Klein dark matter from latticized universal dimensions. We
motivate and investigate two different lattice models, where the models differ
in the choice of boundary conditions. The models reproduce relevant features of
the continuum model for Kaluza-Klein dark matter. For the model with simple
boundary conditions, this is the case even for a model with only a few lattice
sites. We study the effects of the latticization on the differential flux of
positrons from Kaluza-Klein dark matter annihilation in the galactic halo. We
find that for different choices of the compactification radius, the
differential positron flux rapidly converges to the continuum model results as
a function of the number of lattice sites. In addition, we consider the
prospects for upcoming space-based experiments such as PAMELA and AMS-02 to
probe the latticization effect.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, LaTeX. Final version published in JCA
A Global Analog of Cheshire Charge
It is shown that a model with a spontaneously broken global symmetry can
support defects analogous to Alice strings, and a process analogous to Cheshire
charge exchange can take place. A possible realization in superfluid He-3 is
pointed out.Comment: 24 pages (figures 1-4 included as uu-encoded tar files), CALT-68-1865
(Revised version: an expression (eq. 17) for global charge density is
corrected; some typos and sign mismatches are removed.
Dark matter annihilation and non-thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect: II. dwarf spheroidal galaxy
We calculate the CMB temperature distortion due to the energetic electrons
and positrons produced by dark matter annihilation (Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect),
in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). In the calculation we have included two
important effects which were previously ignored. First we show that the
electron-positron pairs with energy less than GeV, which were neglected in
previous calculation, could contribute a significant fraction of the total
signal. Secondly we also consider the full effects of diffusion loss, which
could significantly reduce the density of electron-positron pairs at the center
of cuspy halos. For neutralinos, we confirm that detecting such kind of SZ
effect is beyond the capability of the current or even the next generation
experiments. In the case of light dark matter (LDM) the signal is much larger,
but even in this case it is only marginally detectable with the next generation
of experiment such as ALMA. We conclude that similar to the case of galaxy
clusters, in the dwarf galaxies the SZ_2DM} effect is not a strong probe of
DM annihilations.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, version accepted by JCA
Topologically Alice Strings and Monopoles
Symmetry breaking can produce ``Alice'' strings, which alter scattered
charges and carry monopole number and charge when twisted into loops. Alice
behavior arises algebraically, when strings obstruct unbroken symmetries -- a
fragile criterion. We give a topological criterion, compelling Alice behavior
or deforming it away. Our criterion, that \pi_o(H) acts nontrivially on
\pi_1(H), links topologically Alice strings to topological monopoles. We twist
topologically Alice loops to form monopoles. We show that Alice strings of
condensed matter systems (nematic liquid crystals, helium 3A, and related
non-chiral Bose condensates and amorphous chiral superconductors) are
topologically Alice, and support fundamental monopole charge when twisted into
loops. Thus they might be observed indirectly, not as strings, but as loop-like
point defects. We describe other models, showing Alice strings failing our
topological criterion; and twisted Alice loops supporting deposited, but not
fundamental, monopole number.Comment: 2 figures; this paper consolidates preprints hep-th/0304161 and
hep-th/0304162, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Hiding relativistic degrees of freedom in the early universe
We quantify the extent to which extra relativistic energy density can be
concealed by a neutrino asymmetry without conflicting with the baryon asymmetry
measured by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). In the presence of
a large electron neutrino asymmetry, slightly more than seven effective
neutrinos are allowed by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and WMAP at 2\sigma.
The same electron neutrino degeneracy that reconciles the BBN prediction for
the primordial helium abundance with the observationally inferred value also
reconciles the LSND neutrino with BBN by suppressing its thermalization prior
to BBN.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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