Sub-GeV dark matter that interacts hadronically is ruled out for nucleon scattering cross sections above 10^{-36} cm² across the keV to 100 MeV mass range by combined cosmological and particle-decay constraints.
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Krnjaic, Phys
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abstract
We systematically study light (< few GeV) Dark Matter (DM) models that thermalize with visible matter through the Higgs portal and identify the remaining gaps in the viable parameter space. Such models require a comparably light scalar mediator that mixes with the Higgs to avoid DM overproduction and can be classified according to whether this mediator decays (in)visibly. In a representative benchmark model with Dirac fermion DM, we find that, even with conservative assumptions about the DM-mediator coupling and mass ratio, the regime in which the mediator is heavier than the DM is fully ruled out by a combination of collider, rare meson decay, and direct detection limits; future and planned experiments including NA62 can further improve sensitivity to scenarios in which the Higgs portal interaction does not determine the DM abundance. The opposite, regime in which the mediator is lighter than the DM and the latter annihilates to pairs of visibly-decaying mediators is still viable, but much of the parameter space is covered by rare meson decay, supernova cooling, beam dump, and direct detection constraints. Nearly all of these conclusions apply broadly to the simplest variations (e.g. scalar or asymmetric DM). Future experiments including SHiP, NEWS, and Super-CDMS SNOLAB can greatly improve coverage to this class of models.
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In a two-scalar dark sector, non-equilibrium phase-space evolution during sequential freeze-in alters the dark matter relic abundance by up to an order of magnitude relative to the standard number-density treatment.
Large initial baryon asymmetry allows Hubble patches to collapse into primordial neutron stars arrested by nuclear pressure, requiring later entropy dilution to match observed Y_B and BBN.
MicroBooNE sets the strongest limits to date on the Higgs-portal scalar mixing angle θ below ~3×10^{-4} for masses 110-155 MeV using kaon decays in the NuMI beam and 2.01×10^{21} POT exposure.
In a vector dark matter extension of the Higgs portal, far detectors at colliders can probe otherwise inaccessible parameter space and set novel bounds on the reheating temperature.
Xenon data constrain inelastic fermion DM with scalar mediator for sub-MeV mass splittings through endothermic and exothermic DM-electron scattering.
STCF can reach |V_eN|^2 values one to two orders of magnitude below current bounds for heavy neutral leptons via displaced-vertex searches from ALP decays in D-meson production.
citing papers explorer
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Irreducible Constraints on Hadronically Interacting Sub-GeV Dark Matter
Sub-GeV dark matter that interacts hadronically is ruled out for nucleon scattering cross sections above 10^{-36} cm² across the keV to 100 MeV mass range by combined cosmological and particle-decay constraints.
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Electroweak Baryogenesis from Collapsing Domain Walls
Collapsing axion-like domain walls generate the baryon asymmetry by acting as an effective chemical potential through coupling to the electroweak topological term, with the asymmetry produced via sphaleron processes.
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Exploring non-equilibrium effects in sequential freeze-in
In a two-scalar dark sector, non-equilibrium phase-space evolution during sequential freeze-in alters the dark matter relic abundance by up to an order of magnitude relative to the standard number-density treatment.
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Primordial Neutron Stars
Large initial baryon asymmetry allows Hubble patches to collapse into primordial neutron stars arrested by nuclear pressure, requiring later entropy dilution to match observed Y_B and BBN.
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Search for the production of Higgs-portal scalar bosons in the NuMI beam using the MicroBooNE detector
MicroBooNE sets the strongest limits to date on the Higgs-portal scalar mixing angle θ below ~3×10^{-4} for masses 110-155 MeV using kaon decays in the NuMI beam and 2.01×10^{21} POT exposure.
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Can LLP detectors probe the reheating temperature? A case study of vector dark matter
In a vector dark matter extension of the Higgs portal, far detectors at colliders can probe otherwise inaccessible parameter space and set novel bounds on the reheating temperature.
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Direct-detection constraints on inelastic dark matter with a scalar mediator
Xenon data constrain inelastic fermion DM with scalar mediator for sub-MeV mass splittings through endothermic and exothermic DM-electron scattering.
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Long-lived sterile neutrinos from axionlike particles at the Super Tau-Charm Facility
STCF can reach |V_eN|^2 values one to two orders of magnitude below current bounds for heavy neutral leptons via displaced-vertex searches from ALP decays in D-meson production.