A Possible Link between the Electroweak Phase Transition and the Dark Matter of the Universe

A possible connection between the dark matter and strong first order electroweak phase transition, which is an essential ingredient of the electroweak baryogenesis, has been explored in this thesis. It is shown that the extension of the Standard Model's minimal Higgs sector with an inert $SU(2)_L$ scalar doublet can provide light dark matter candidate and simultaneously induce a strong first order phase transition. There is however no symmetry reason to prevent the extension using scalars with higher $SU(2)_L$ representations. Therefore, by making random scans over the models' parameters, we show, in the light of electroweak physics constraints, strong first order electroweak phase transition and the possibility of having a sub-TeV cold dark matter candidate, that the higher representations are rather disfavored compared to the inert doublet. This is done by computing generic perturbativity behavior and impact on electroweak phase transitions of higher representations in comparison with the inert doublet model. Explicit phase transition and cold dark matter phenomenology within the context of the inert triplet and quartet representations are used for detailed illustrations

Gravitational Properties of the Proca Field

We study various properties of a Proca field coupled to gravity through minimal and quadrupole interactions, described by a two-parameter family of Lagrangians. St\"uckelberg decomposition of the effective theory spells out its model-dependent ultraviolet cutoff, parametrically larger than the Proca mass. We present pp-wave solutions that the model admits, consider linear fluctuations on such backgrounds, and thereby constrain the parameter space of the theory by requiring null-energy condition and the absence of negative time delays in high-energy scattering. We briefly discuss the positivity constraints$-$derived from unitarity and analyticity of scattering amplitudes$-$that become ineffective in this regard.Comment: 23 pages, revised positivity-bound analysis, references adde

Gamma rays from Dark Matter Annihilation in Three-loop Radiative Neutrino Mass Generation Models

We present the Sommerfeld enhanced Dark Matter (DM) annihilation into gamma ray for a class of three-loop radiative neutrino mass models with large electroweak multiplets where the DM mass is in O(TeV) range. We show that in this model, the DM annihilation rate becomes more prominent for larger multiplets and it is already within the reach of currently operating Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs), High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). Furthermore, Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), which will begin operating in 2030, will improve this sensitivity by a factor of $\mathcal{O}{(10)}$ and may exclude a large portion of parameter space of this radiative neutrino mass model with larger electroweak multiplet. This implies that the only viable option is the model with lowest electroweak multiplets i.e. singlets of $SU(2)_{L}$ where the DM annihilation rate is not Sommerfeld enhanced and hence it is not yet constrained by the indirect detection limits from H.E.S.S. or future CTA.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Nested Radiative Seesaw Masses for Dark Matter and Neutrinos

The scotogenic model of neutrino mass is modified so that the dark Majorana fermion singlet $S$ which makes the neutrino massive is itself generated in one loop. This is accomplished by having $Z_6$ lepton symmetry softly broken to $Z_2$ in the scalar sector by a unique quadratic term. It is shown that $S$ is a viable freeze-in dark-matter candidate through Higgs decay.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Probing Zee-Babu states at Muon Colliders

The Zee-Babu model is a minimal realization of radiative neutrino mass generation mechanism at the two-loop level. We study the phenomenology of this model at future multi-TeV muon colliders. After imposing all theoretical and low-energy experimental constraints on the model parameters, we find that the Zee-Babu states are expected not to reside below the TeV scale, making it challenging to probe them at the LHC. We first analyze the production rates for various channels, including multi singly-charged and/or doubly-charged scalars at muon colliders. For concreteness, we study several benchmark points that satisfy neutrino oscillation data and other constraints and find that most channels have large production rates. We then analyze the discovery reach of the model using two specific channels: the pair production of singly- and doubly-charged scalars. For the phenomenologically viable scenarios considered in this study, charged scalars with masses up to ${\cal O}(3$--$4)$ TeV can be probed for the center-of-mass energy of $10$ TeV and total luminosity of $10~{\rm ab}^{-1}$.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures and 5 table