The (ir)Relevance of Initial Conditions in Soft Leptogenesis

We explore how the initial conditions affect the final lepton asymmetry in Soft Leptogenesis. It has been usually assumed that the initial state is a statistical mixture of sterile sneutrinos and anti-sneutrinos with equal abundances. We calculate the lepton asymmetry due to the most general initial mixture. The usually assumed equal mixture produces a small, but sufficient, lepton asymmetry which is proportional to the ratio of the supersymmetry breaking scale over the Majorana scale. A more generic mixture, still with equal contents of sneutrinos and anti sneutrinos, yields an unsuppressed lepton asymmetry. Mixtures of non equal contents of sneutrinos and anti sneutrinos result in a large lepton asymmetry too. While these results establish the robustness of Soft Leptogenesis and other mixing based mechanisms, they also expose their lack of predictive power.Comment: v1: 12 pages; v2: typos corrected; v3: published version with new discussions and reference

Direct Detection with Dark Mediators

We introduce dark mediator Dark matter (dmDM) where the dark and visible sectors are connected by at least one light mediator $\phi$ carrying the same dark charge that stabilizes DM. $\phi$ is coupled to the Standard Model via an operator $\bar q q \phi \phi^*/\Lambda$, and to dark matter via a Yukawa coupling $y_\chi \overline{\chi^c}\chi \phi$. Direct detection is realized as the $2\rightarrow3$ process $\chi N \rightarrow \bar \chi N \phi$ at tree-level for $m_\phi \lesssim 10 \ \mathrm{keV}$ and small Yukawa coupling, or alternatively as a loop-induced $2\rightarrow2$ process $\chi N \rightarrow \chi N$. We explore the direct-detection consequences of this scenario and find that a heavy $\mathcal{O}(100 \ \mathrm{GeV})$ dmDM candidate fakes different $\mathcal{O}(10 \ \mathrm{GeV})$ standard WIMPs in different experiments. Large portions of the dmDM parameter space are detectable above the irreducible neutrino background and not yet excluded by any bounds. Interestingly, for the $m_\phi$ range leading to novel direct detection phenomenology, dmDM is also a form of Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM), which resolves inconsistencies between dwarf galaxy observations and numerical simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures + reference

WIMPless Dark Matter in Anomaly-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking with Hidden QED

In anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking, superpartners in a hidden sector have masses that are proportional to couplings squared, and so naturally freeze out with the desired dark matter relic density for a large range of masses. We present an extremely simple realization of this possibility, with WIMPless dark matter arising from a hidden sector that is supersymmetric QED with N_F flavors. Dark matter is multi-component, composed of hidden leptons and sleptons with masses anywhere from 10 GeV to 10 TeV, and hidden photons provide the thermal bath. The dark matter self-interacts through hidden sector Coulomb scatterings that are potentially observable. In addition, the hidden photon contribution to the number of relativistic degrees of freedom is in the range \Delta N_eff ~ 0 - 2, and, if the hidden and visible sectors were initially in thermal contact, the model predicts \Delta N_eff ~ 0.2 - 0.4. Data already taken by Planck may provide evidence of such deviations.Comment: 17 page

WIMPless Dark Matter from an AMSB Hidden Sector with No New Mass Parameters

We present a model with dark matter in an anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking hidden sector with a U(1)xU(1) gauge symmetry. The symmetries of the model stabilize the dark matter and forbid the introduction of new mass parameters. As a result, the thermal relic density is completely determined by the gravitino mass and dimensionless couplings. Assuming non-hierarchical couplings, the thermal relic density is ~ 0.1, independent of the dark matter's mass and interaction strength, realizing the WIMPless miracle. The model has several striking features. For particle physics, stability of the dark matter is completely consistent with R-parity violation in the visible sector, with implications for superpartner collider signatures; also the thermal relic's mass may be ~ 10 GeV or lighter, which is of interest given recent direct detection results. Interesting astrophysical signatures are dark matter self-interactions through a long-range force, and massless hidden photons and fermions that contribute to the number of relativistic degrees of freedom at BBN and CMB. The latter are particularly interesting, given current indications for extra degrees of freedom and near future results from the Planck observatory.Comment: 18 pages, pdflate

Confluence of Constraints in Gauge Mediation: The 125 GeV Higgs Boson and Goldilocks Cosmology

Recent indications of a 125 GeV Higgs boson are challenging for gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB), since radiative contributions to the Higgs boson mass are not enhanced by significant stop mixing. This challenge should not be considered in isolation, however, as GMSB also generically suffers from two other problems: unsuppressed electric dipole moments and the absence of an attractive dark matter candidate. We show that all of these problems may be simultaneously solved by considering heavy superpartners, without extra fields or modified cosmology. Multi-TeV sfermions suppress the EDMs and raise the Higgs mass, and the dark matter problem is solved by Goldilocks cosmology, in which TeV neutralinos decay to GeV gravitinos that are simultaneously light enough to solve the flavor problem and heavy enough to be all of dark matter. The implications for collider searches and direct and indirect dark matter detection are sobering, but EDMs are expected near their current bounds, and the resulting non-thermal gravitino dark matter is necessarily warm, with testable cosmological implications.Comment: pdflatex, 15 pages, 11 figure