Pionic Dark Matter

We study a phenomenological model where the lightest dark matter (DM) particles are the pseudo-Goldstone excitations associated with a spontaneously broken symmetry, and transforming linearly with respect to an unbroken group H. For definiteness we take H = SU(N) and assume the Goldstone particles are bosons; in parallel with QCD, we refer to these particles as dark-matter pions. This scenario is in contrast to the common assumption that DM fields transform linearly under the full symmetry of the model. We illustrate the formalism by treating in detail the case of H = SU(2), in particular we calculate all the interactions relevant for the Boltzmann equations, which we solve numerically; we also derive approximate analytic solutions and show their consistency with the numerical results. We then compare the results with the constraints derived from the cold DM and direct detection experiments and derive the corresponding restrictions on the model parameters.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure

Seeking the CP-odd Higgs via h→ηc,bℓ+ℓ−h\rightarrow \eta_{c,b}\ell^+\ell^-

We show that the decay rates of the Higgs boson to a pseudoscalar quarkonium and a pair of leptons, $h\to P\ell^+\ell^-$ ($P\in\{\eta_c,\eta_b\}$), can be substantially enhanced in a scenario with two Higgs doublets with a softly broken $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry (2HDM) when the CP-odd Higgs A is light, i.e. $m_A\lesssim m_h$. Depending on the type of 2HDM the enhancement of $\mathcal{B}(h\to \eta_{c,b}\tau^+\tau^-)$ with respect to its Standard Model value can be an order of magnitude larger, i.e. $\mathcal{O}(10^{-6}\div10^{-5})$. The decays $h\to P\ell^+\ell^-$ could therefore provide an efficient channel to investigate the presence of a light CP-odd Higgs $A$ and help to disentangle among various 2HDM scenarios.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure