Fermion Portal Dark Matter

We study a class of simplified dark matter models in which one dark matter particle couples with a mediator and a Standard Model fermion. In such models, collider and direct detection searches probe complimentary regions of parameter space. For Majorana dark matter, direct detection covers the region near mediator-dark matter degeneracy, while colliders probe regions with a large dark matter and mediator mass splitting. For Dirac and complex dark matter, direct detection is effective for the entire region above the mass threshold, but colliders provide a strong bound for dark matter lighter than a few GeV. We also point out that dedicated searches for signatures with two jets or a mono-jet not coming from initial state radiation, along missing transverse energy can cover the remaining parameter space for thermal relic dark matter.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures; corrections made on coannihilation parts, references added; corrections made on Majorana fermion direct detectio

Large N (=3) Neutrinos and Random Matrix Theory

The large N limit has been successfully applied to QCD, leading to qualitatively correct results even for N=3. In this work, we propose to treat the number N=3 of Standard Model generations as a large number. Specifically, we apply this idea to the neutrino anarchy scenario and study neutrino physics using Random Matrix Theory, finding new results in both areas. For neutrino physics, we obtain predictions for the masses and mixing angles as a function of the generation number N. The Seesaw mechanism produces a hierarchy of order 1/N^3 between the lightest and heaviest neutrino, and a theta(13) mixing angle of order 1/N, in parametric agreement with experimental data when N goes to 3. For Random Matrix Theory, this motivates the introduction of a new type of ensemble of random matrices, the "Seesaw ensemble." Basic properties of such matrices are studied, including the eigenvalue density and the interpretation as a Coulomb gas system. Besides its mathematical interest, the Seesaw ensemble may be useful in random systems where two hierarchical scales exist.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; accepted version for JHEP, references adde

Detecting Axion Stars with Radio Telescopes

When axion stars fly through an astrophysical magnetic background, the axion-to-photon conversion may generate a large electromagnetic radiation power. After including the interference effects of the spacially-extended axion-star source and the macroscopic medium effects, we estimate the radiation power when an axion star meets a neutron star. For a dense axion star with $10^{-13}\,M_\odot$, the radiated power is at the order of 10^{11}\,\mbox{W}\times(100\,\mu\mbox{eV}/m_a)^4\,(B/10^{10}\,\mbox{Gauss})^2 with $m_a$ as the axion particle mass and $B$ the strength of the neutron star magnetic field. For axion stars occupy a large fraction of dark matter energy density, this encounter event with a transient \mathcal{O}(0.1\,\mbox{s}) radio signal may happen in our galaxy with the averaged source distance of one kiloparsec. The predicted spectral flux density is at the order of $\mu$Jy for a neutron star with $B\sim 10^{13}$ Gauss. The existing Arecibo, GBT, JVLA and FAST and the ongoing SKA radio telescopes have excellent discovery potential of dense axion stars.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Coloron-assisted Leptoquarks at the LHC

Recent searches for a first-generation leptoquark by the CMS collaboration have shown around 2.5 sigma deviations from Standard Model predictions in both the eejj and e nu jj channels. Furthermore, the eejj invariant mass distribution has another 2.8 sigma excess from the CMS right-handed W plus heavy neutrino search. We point out that additional leptoquark production from a heavy coloron decay can provide a good explanation for all three excesses. The coloron has a mass around 2.1 TeV and the leptoquark mass can vary from 550 GeV to 650 GeV. A key prediction of this model is an edge in the total m_T distribution of e nu jj events at around 2.1 TeV.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Lepton Portal Dark Matter

We study a class of simplified dark matter models in which dark matter couples directly with a mediator and a charged lepton. This class of Lepton Portal dark matter models has very rich phenomenology: it has loop generated dark matter electromagnetic moments that generate a direct detection signal; it contributes to indirect detection in the cosmic positron flux via dark matter annihilation; it provides a signature of the same-flavor, opposite-sign dilepton plus missing transverse energy at colliders. We determine the current experimental constraints on the model parameter space for Dirac fermion, Majorana fermion and complex scalar dark matter cases of the Lepton Portal framework. We also perform a collider study for the 14 TeV LHC reach with 100 inverse femtobarns for dark matter parameter space. For the complex scalar dark matter case, the LHC provides a very stringent constraint and its reach can be interpreted as corresponding to a limit as strong as two tenths of a zeptobarn on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section for dark matter masses up to 500 GeV. We also demonstrate that one can improve the current collider searches by using a Breit-Wigner like formula to fit the dilepton MT2 tail of the dominant diboson background.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure