Motivated by the galactic positron excess seen by PAMELA and ATIC/PPB-BETS, we propose that dark matter is a TeV-scale particle that annihilates into a pseudoscalar "axion." The positron excess and the absence of an anti-proton or gamma ray excess constrain the axion mass and branching ratios. In the simplest realization, the axion is associated with a Peccei-Quinn symmetry, in which case it has a mass around 360-800 MeV and decays into muons. We present a simple and predictive supersymmetric model implementing this scenario, where both the Higgsino and dark matter obtain masses from the same source of TeV-scale spontaneous symmetry breaking.
The dark photon and the axion (or axion-like particle) are popular light particles of the hidden sector. Each of them has been actively searched for through the couplings called the vector portal and the axion portal. We introduce a new portal connecting the dark photon and the axion (axion--photon--dark photon, axion--dark photon--dark photon), which emerges in the presence of the two particles. This dark axion portal is genuinely new couplings, not just from a product of the vector portal and the axion portal, because of the internal structure of these couplings. We present a simple model th…
The dark axion portal is a recently introduced portal between the standard model and the dark sector. It connects both the dark photon and the axion (or axion-like particle) to the photon simultaneously through an anomaly triangle. While the vector portal and the axion portal have been popular venues to search for the dark photon and axion, respectively, the new portal provides new detection channels if they coexist. The dark axion portal is not a result of the simple combination of the two portals, and its value is not determined by the other portal values; it should be tested independently. …
We investigate the implications of the dark axion portal interaction, the axion-photon-dark photon vertex, for the future experiments SHiP and FASER. We also study the phenomenology of the combined vector portal (kinetic mixing of the photon and dark photon) and dark axion portal. The muon $g-2$ discrepancy is unfortunately not solved even with the two portals, but the low-energy beam dump experiments with monophoton detection capability can open new opportunities in light dark sector searches using the combined portals.
We propose a new scenario of using the dark axion portal at one-loop level to explain the recently observed muon anomalous magnetic moment by the Fermilab Muon g-2 experiment. Both axion/axion-like particle (ALP) and dark photon are involved in the same vertex with photon. Although ALP or dark photon alone cannot explain muon $g-2$, since the former provides only negative contribution while the latter has very much constrained parameter space, dark axion portal can save the situation and significantly extend the allowed parameter space. The observed muon anomalous magnetic moment provides a ro…
We investigate the bounds on axionlike states from flavor-changing neutral current b->s decays, assuming the axion couples to the standard model through mixing with the Higgs sector. Such GeV-scale axions have received renewed attention in connection with observed cosmic ray excesses. We find that existing B->K l+ l- data impose stringent bounds on the axion decay constant in the multi-TeV range, relevant for constraining the "axion portal" model of dark matter. Such bounds also constrain light Higgs scenarios in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. These bounds can be improved b…
The link between ordinary Standard model (SM) photon and both dark photon and axion like particle (ALP) can be introduced through the dark axion portal coupling. Given the dark axion portal setup, in the present paper we refer the dark photon as the mediator between SM and dark matter (DM) particles, implying that it decays predominantly into pair of DM fermions. Furthermore, we discuss in detail the implication of the dark axion portal scenario for the lepton (electron and muon) fixed target experiments. In particular, for the specific fixed target facility we study the missing energy signatu…
The dark axion portal is a coupling of an axion-like particle to a dark photon kinetically mixed with the visible photon. We show how this portal, when applied to the relaxion, can lead to cosmological relaxation of the weak scale using dark photon production. The key backreaction mechanism involves the Schwinger effect: As long as electroweak symmetry is unbroken, Schwinger production of massless Standard Model fermions, which carry dark millicharges, suppresses the dark photon production. Once the electroweak symmetry is broken, the fermions acquire mass and the suppression is lifted. An enh…
Extending the Standard Model with a new complex singlet scalar, right-handed neutrinos and a vector-like quark allows to simultaneously tackle several problems in particle physics and cosmology within a constrained framework that can be falsified by future probes of the cosmic microwave background, as well as by upcoming axion experiments. This Standard Model - Axion - Seesaw - H portal inflation theory (SMASH) provides predictive inflation and $H$ boson stabilization, and can explain baryogenesis, light neutrino masses, dark matter and the strong CP problem. The model contains a unique new ma…
We present a new mechanism to produce the dark photon ($γ'$) in the early universe with a help of the axion ($a$) using a recently proposed dark axion portal. The dark photon, a light gauge boson in the dark sector, can be a relic dark matter if its lifetime is long enough. The main process we consider is a variant of the Primakoff process $f a \to f γ'$ mediated by a photon, which is possible with the axion--photon--dark photon coupling. The axion is thermalized in the early universe because of the strong interaction and it can contribute to the non-thermal dark photon production through the …
The Dark Axion Portal provides a model for Dark Matter (DM) in which both Dark Photons $γ^\prime$ and Axions $a$ can contribute to the present day abundance of DM. We study the parameter space of the Dark Axion Portal to pinpoint regions of the parameter space where $γ^\prime$ and $a$ can be produced with sufficient abundance to account for the cosmic DM density, while still being detectable in planned direct detection and axion haloscope experiments. In particular, we explore the production of eV-scale Dark Photons in the Dark Axion Portal, taking into account a possible kinetic mixing betwee…
We present a minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM) providing a consistent picture of particle physics from the electroweak scale to the Planck scale and of cosmology from inflation until today. Three right-handed neutrinos $N_i$, a new color triplet $Q$ and a complex SM-singlet scalar $σ$, whose vacuum expectation value $v_σ\sim 10^{11}$ GeV breaks lepton number and a Peccei-Quinn symmetry simultaneously, are added to the SM. At low energies, the model reduces to the SM, augmented by seesaw generated neutrino masses and mixing, plus the axion. The latter solves the strong CP problem and…
A nuclear reactor is a powerful tool to study neutrinos and light dark sector particles. Some of the reactor experiments have proven to be extremely useful already. Considering the great interest in the power of intensity frontier to search for new light particles, it would be desirable to explore more possibilities to exploit the existing reactor power sources for particle physics research. We suggest a new reactor experiment searching for the dark sector. The dark photon can be produced in a reactor core and decay into a photon and an axion in the presence of the dark axion portal through an…
Hidden monopole is a plausible dark matter candidate due to its stability, but its direct experimental search is extremely difficult due to feeble interactions with the standard model particles in the minimal form. Then, we introduce an axion, $a$, connecting the hidden monopole and the standard model particles and examine the current limits and future prospects of direct dark matter searches and beam-dump experiments. We find two parameter regions around $m_a = {\cal O}(10)$ MeV, $f_a = {\cal O}(10^{5})$ GeV and $m_a = {\cal O}(100)$ MeV, $f_a = {\cal O}(10^{4})$ GeV where monopole dark matte…
We consider axions coupled to nucleons and photons only through the nucleon electric-dipole moment (EDM) portal. This coupling is a model-independent feature of QCD axions, which solve the strong CP problem, and might arise as well in more general axion-like particle setups. We revise the supernova (SN) axion emission induced by the nucleon EDM coupling and refine accordingly the SN 1987A bound. Furthermore, we calculate the axion flux from a future Galactic SN and show that it might produce a peculiar and potentially detectable gamma-ray signal in a large underground neutrino detector such as…
Dark matter could be a thermal relic comprised of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs), where $3 \rightarrow 2$ interactions set the relic abundance. Such interactions generically arise in theories of chiral symmetry breaking via the Wess-Zumino-Witten term. In this work, we show that an axion-like particle can successfully maintain kinetic equilibrium between the dark matter and the visible sector, allowing the requisite entropy transfer that is crucial for SIMPs to be a cold dark matter candidate. Constraints on this scenario arise from beam dump and collider experiments, from the …
Axion-Like Electrophilic Portal for Pion Dark Matter
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati（意大利国家核物理研究所，弗拉斯卡蒂国家实验室）；Università Roma Tre（罗马第三大学）；Beihang University（北京航空航天大学）
Constraints on dark axion portal: missing energy and fermion EDMs
Institute for Nuclear Research（核物理研究所）；Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, JINR（约飞联合核子研究所玻戈留博夫理论物理实验室）；Millennium Institute for Subatomic Physics at the High-Energy Frontier (SAPHIR) of ANID（智利国家研究与创新发展署高能前沿亚原子物理千年研究所）；Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Tübingen（蒂宾根大学理论物理研究所）；Kepler Center for Astro and Particle Physics（开普勒天体与粒子物理中心）；Center for Theoretical and Experimental Particle Physics, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello（安德烈斯贝略大学精确科学学院理论与实验粒子物理中心）；Matrosov Institute for System Dynamics and Control Theory SB RAS（俄罗斯科学院西伯利亚分院马特罗索夫系统动力学与控制理论研究所）；Tomsk Polytechnic University（托木斯克理工大学）
We discuss new physics phenomenology of hidden scalar ($S$), pseudoscalar ($P$), vector ($V$) and axial-vector ($A$) particles coupled to nucleons and leptons, which could give contributions to proton charge radius, $(g-2)_μ$, $^8$Be-$^4$He anomaly and electric dipole moment (EDM) of Standard Model (SM) particles. In particular, we estimate sensitivity of NA64$μ$ experiment to observe muon missing energy events involving hidden scalar and vector particles. That analysis is based on {\tt GEANT4} Monte Carlo simulation of the signal process of muon scattering off target nuclei $μN \to μN S(V)$ f…
Axion like particles(ALPs) and right handed neutrinos~(RHNs) are two well-motivated dark matter(DM) candidates. However, these two particles have a completely different origin. Axion was proposed to solve the Strong CP problem, whereas RHNs were introduced to explain light neutrino masses through seesaw mechanisms. We study the case of ALP portal RHN DM taking into account existing constraints on ALPs. We consider the leading effective operators mediating interactions between the ALP and SM particles and three RHNs to generate light neutrino masses through type-I seesaw. Further, ALP-RHN neutr…
Superradiant instability turns rotating astrophysical black holes into unique probes of light axions. We consider what happens when a light axion is coupled to a strongly coupled hidden gauge sector. In this case superradiance results in an adiabatic increase of a hidden sector CP-violating $θ$-parameter in a near horizon region. This may trigger a first order phase transition in the gauge sector. As a result a significant fraction of a black hole mass is released as a cloud of hidden mesons and can be later converted into electromagnetic radiation. This results in a violent electromagnetic bu…
We examine a scenario where the Higgs boson is coupled to an additional singlet scalar field which we identify with a quintessence field. We show that this results in an unified picture of dark matter and dark energy, where dark energy is the zero-mode classical field rolling the usual quintessence potential and the dark matter candidate is the quantum excitation (particle) of the field, which is produced in the universe due to its coupling to the Higgs boson.
Motivated by Higgs Portal and Hidden Valley models, heavy particle dark matter that communicates with the supersymmetric Standard Model via pure Higgs sector interactions is considered. We show that a thermal relic abundance consistent with the measured density of dark matter is possible for masses up to $\sim 30\tev$. For dark matter masses above $\sim 1\tev$, non-perturbative Sommerfeld corrections to the annihilation rate are large, and have the potential to greatly affect indirect detection signals. For large dark matter masses, the Higgs-dark-matter-sector couplings are large and we show …
In this work we study the possibility that dark matter fields transform in the $(1,0)\oplus(0,1)$ representation of the Homogeneous Lorentz Group. In an effective theory approach, we study the lowest dimension interacting terms of dark matter with standard model fields, assuming that dark matter fields transform as singlets under the standard model gauge group. There are three dimension-four operators, two of them yielding a Higgs portal to dark matter. The third operator couple the photon and $Z^0$ fields to the higher multipoles of dark matter, yielding a \textit{spin portal} to dark matter.…
We propose a Z_2-stabilised singlino (\barχ) as a dark matter candidate in extended and R-parity violating versions of the supersymmetric standard model. \barχ interacts with visible matter via a heavy messenger field S, which results in a supersymmetric version of the Higgs portal interaction. The relic abundance of \barχ can account for cold dark matter if the messenger mass satisfies M_S \lsim 10^{4} GeV. Our model can be implemented in many realistic supersymmetric models such as the NMSSM and nMSSM.
The nature of dark matter and the fundamental quantum structure of spacetime could be directly linked in the asymptotic-safety framework. A toy model for the visible Higgs-Yukawa sector of the Standard Model, coupled to a dark sector through a portal coupling, provides a very first example for a model that simultaneously i) could become asymptotically safe at non-vanishing portal coupling, ii) could feature a strongly enhanced predictive power with calculable values for all interactions and thereby iii) give rise to calculable relations between the masses of the dark particles, their self-inte…
We discuss the possibility that a Stueckelberg portal connects both Standard Model and Dark Matter sectors. The particle responsible of this portal is the lightest Z' boson that induces isospin-violating interactions. This property leads to a rich phenomenology for the direct detection and collider experiments that can constraint the parameter space of this kind of models and can be tested in the future.
We propose a new portal coupling to dark matter by taking advantage of the nonminimally coupled portal sector to the Ricci scalar. Such a portal sector conformally induces couplings to the trace of the energy-momentum tensor of matters including highly secluded dark matter particles. The portal coupling is so feeble that dark matter is produced by freeze-in processes of scatterings and/or the decay of the mediator. We consider two concrete realizations of the portal: conformally induced Higgs portal and conformally induced mediator portal. The former case is compatible with the Higgs inflation…
We study the non-abelian $SU(2)_D$ extension of the $U(1)_D$ Stueckelberg portal, which plays a role of the mediator between the Standard Model (SM) and Dark Sector (DS). This portal is specified by the Stueckelberg mechanism for generation of dark gauge boson masses. Proposed $U(1)_D\times SU(2)_D$ Stueckelberg portal has a connection with SM matter fields in analogy with Familon Model. We derive bounds on the couplings of dark portal bosons and SM particles, which govern diagonal and non-diagonal flavor transitions of quarks and leptons.
The clockwork mechanism can explain interactions which are dimensionally very weak without the need for very large mass scales. We present a model in which the clockwork mechanism generates the very small Higgs portal coupling and dark matter particle mass necessary to explain cold dark matter via the freeze-in mechanism. We introduce a TeV-scale scalar clockwork sector which couples to the Standard Model via the Higgs portal. The dark matter particle is the lightest scalar of the clockwork sector. We show that the freeze-in mechanism is dominated by decay of the heavy clockwork scalars to lig…
We study a model of dark matter in which the hidden sector interacts with standard model particles via a hidden photonic portal. We investigate the effects of this new interaction on the hydrogen atom, including the Stark, Zeeman and hyperfine effects. Using the accuracy of the measurement of energy, we obtain an upper bound for the coupling constant of the model. We also calculate the contribution from the hidden photonic portal to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, which provides an important probe of physics beyond the standard model.
We consider a singlet Dirac fermion with Peccei-Quinn(PQ) symmetry as dark matter. A singlet complex scalar is introduced to mediate between dark matter and the SM through Higgs portal interaction and electroweak PQ anomalies. We show that a resonant annihilation of dark matter with axion mediation can explain the monochromatic photon line of the Fermi LAT data at 130 GeV by anomaly interactions while the annihilation cross section with Higgs portal interaction is p-wave suppressed. We discuss the interplay between the direct detection of the fermion dark matter and the collider search of Higg…
We perform frequentist and Bayesian statistical analyses of Higgs- and Z-portal models of dark matter particles with spin 0, 1/2 and 1. Our analyses incorporate data from direct detection and indirect detection experiments, as well as LHC searches for monojet and monophoton events, and we also analyze the potential impacts of future direct detection experiments. We find acceptable regions of the parameter spaces for Higgs-portal models with real scalar, neutral vector, Majorana or Dirac fermion dark matter particles, and Z-portal models with Majorana or Dirac fermion dark matter particles. In …
In the classic type I seesaw mechanism with very heavy right-handed (RH) neutrinos, it is possible to account for dark matter via RH neutrino portal couplings to a feebly interacting massive particle (FIMP) dark sector. However, for large RH neutrino masses, gravity can play an important role. We study the interplay between the neutrino portal through the right-handed neutrinos and the gravity portal through the massless spin-2 graviton in producing dark matter particles in the early universe. As a concrete example, we consider the minimal and realistic Littlest Seesaw model with two RH neutri…
We study the recent $e^\pm$ cosmic ray excess reported by DAMPE in a Hidden Valley Model with lepton-portal dark matter. We find the electron-portal can account for the excess well and satisfy the DM relic density and direct detection bounds, while electron+muon/electron+muon+tau-portal suffers from strong constraints from lepton flavor violating observables, such as $μ\to 3 e$. We also discuss possible collider signatures of our model, both at the LHC and a future 100 TeV hadron collider.
We perform a detailed study of scalar dark matter with triplet Higgs extensions of the Standard Model in order to explain the cosmic ray electron and positron excesses reported by AMS-02 and DAMPE. A detailed analysis of AMS-02 positron excess reveals that for different orderings (normal, inverted and quasi-degenerate) of neutrino mass, the hybrid triplet Higgs portal framework is more favored with respect to the single triplet Higgs portal for TeV scale dark matter. We also show that the resonant peak and continuous excess in DAMPE cosmic ray data can be well explained with the hybrid triplet…
The Higgs portal to scalar Dark Matter is considered in the context of non-linearly realised electroweak symmetry breaking. We determine the interactions of gauge bosons and the physical Higgs particle $h$ to a scalar singlet Dark Matter candidate $S$ in an effective description. The main phenomenological differences with respect to the standard scenario can be seen in the Dark Matter relic abundance, in direct/indirect searches and in signals at colliders.
The hypothesis of dark matter interacting with the standard model uniquely via the Higgs portal is severely challenged by experiments. However, if dark matter is a fermion, the Higgs-portal interaction implies the presence of mediators, which can change the phenomenology significantly. This article discusses the impact of weakly-interacting mediators on the dark-matter relic abundance, direct detection, and collider searches. At the LHC, a typical signature of Higgs-portal fermion dark matter features soft leptons and missing energy, similarly to gaugino production in models with supersymmetry…
