Using neutron stars (NS) as a dark matter (DM) probe has gained broad attention recently, either from heating due to DM annihilation or its stability under the presence of DM. In this work, we investigate spin-$1/2$ fermionic DM $χ$ charged under the $U(1)_{X}$ in the dark sector. The massive gauge boson $V$ of $U(1)_{X}$ gauge group can be produced in NS via DM annihilation. The produced gauge boson can decay into Standard Model (SM) particles before it exits the NS, despite its tiny couplings to SM particles. Thus, we perform a systematic study on $χ\barχ\to2V\to4{\rm SM}$ as a new heating mechanism for NS in addition to $χ\barχ\to2{\rm SM}$ and kinetic heating from DM-baryon scattering. The self-trapping due to $χV$ scattering is also considered. We assume the general framework that both kinetic and mass mixing terms between $V$ and SM gauge bosons are present. This allows both vector and axial-vector couplings between $V$ and SM fermions even for $m_V\ll m_Z$. Notably, the contribution from axial-vector coupling is not negligible when particles scatter relativistically. We point out that the above approaches to DM-induced NS heating are not yet adopted in recent analyses. Detectabilities of the aforementioned effects to the NS surface temperature by the future telescopes are discussed as well.
Higgs sectors extended by electroweakly charged scalars can be explored by scalar pair production at the LHC. We consider a fermiophobic scenario, with decays into a pair of gauge bosons, and a fermiophilic one, with decays into top and bottom quarks. After establishing the current bounds on simplified models, we focus on an SU(5)/SO(5) composite Higgs model. This first exploration demonstrates the need for dedicated searches at current and future colliders.
The neutron lifetime anomaly has been used to motivate the introduction of new physics with hidden-sector particles coupled to baryon number, and on which neutron stars provide powerful constraints. Although the neutron lifetime anomaly may eventually prove to be of mundane origin, we use it as motivation for a broader review of the ways that baryon number violation, be it real or apparent, and dark sectors can intertwine and how neutron star observables, both present and future, can constrain them.
A broad program of searches at high intensity experiments during the coming decade and beyond will sensitively probe new light mediator particles interacting through the minimal renormalizable vector, Higgs, and neutrino portals as well as higher-dimension axion-like particle portals. These portals may link the visible and dark sectors and play a critical role in many proposed solutions to some of the big open questions in particle physics and cosmology. In this whitepaper, we survey the theoretical and experimental progress, status, and prospects in the study of minimal dark sector portals.
We consider the effect of density dependent dark matter on the neutron star mass, radius, and tidal deformability. Nuclear matter (normal matter) as well as the fermionic dark matter sector is considered in a mean field model. We adopt the two fluid formalism to investigate the effect of dark matter on the neutron star properties. In the two fluid picture, there is no direct interaction between the dark matter and the nuclear matter. Rather these two sectors interact only through gravitational interaction. The nuclear matter sector is described by the $σ-ω-ρ$ meson interaction in the "FSU2R" p…
Active-sterile neutrino mixing is known to affect the neutrino oscillation probabilities at both short as well as long-baselines. In particular, constraints on active-sterile neutrino oscillation parameters can be obtained from long-baseline experiments such as T2HK and DUNE. We present here existence of fake solution in the appearance channel for the 3+1 scenario at long-baseline experiments. We show that the appearance probability is same for values of $Δm_{41}^2$ for which the fast oscillations are averaged out and for $Δm_{41}^2=(1/2)Δm_{31}^2$. The fake solution does not appear for the di…
According to the Standard Model (SM), we expect to find a proton for each decaying neutron. However, the experiments counting the number of decayed neutrons and produced protons have a disagreement. This discrepancy suggests that neutrons might have an exotic decay to a Dark Sector (DS). In this paper, we explore a scenario where neutrons decay to a dark Dirac fermion $χ$ and a non-abelian dark gauge boson $W'$. We discuss the cosmological implications of this scenario assuming DS particles are produced via freeze-in. In our proposed scenario, DS has three portals with the SM sector: (1) the f…
We summarize our recent proposal of explaining the discrepancy between the bottle and beam measurements of the neutron lifetime through the existence of a dark sector, which the neutron can decay to with a branching fraction 1%. We show that viable particle physics models for such neutron dark decays can be constructed and we briefly comment on recent developments in this area.
Determining the phase structure of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and its Equation of State (EOS) at densities and temperatures realized inside neutron stars and their mergers is a long-standing open problem. The holographic V-QCD framework provides a model for the EOS of dense and hot QCD, which describes the deconfinement phase transition between a dense baryonic and a quark matter phase. We use this model in fully general relativistic hydrodynamic (GRHD) simulations to study the formation of quark matter and the emitted gravitational wave signal of binary systems that are similar to the first…
We explore the neutrino sector of the minimal left-right symmetric model, with the additional charge conjugation discrete symmetry, in the tuned regime where type-I and type-II seesaw mechanisms are equally responsible for the light neutrino masses. We show that unless the charged lepton mixing matrix is the identity and the right handed neutrino mass matrix has no phases, we expect sizable lepton flavor violation and electron dipole moment in this region. We use results from recent neutrino oscillation fits, bounds on neutrinoless double beta decay, $μ\to e γ$, $μ\to 3 e$, $μ\to e$ conversion…
Core collapse of massive stars leads to different fates for various physical factors, which gives different spectra of the emitted neutrinos. We focus on the supernova relic neutrinos (SRNs) as a probe to investigate the stellar collapse fate. We present the SRN fluxes and event rate spectra at a detector for three resultant states after stellar core collapse, the typical mass neutron star, the higher mass neutron star, or the failed supernova forming a black hole, based on different nuclear equations of state. Then possible SRN fluxes are formed as mixtures of the three components. We also sh…
We establish the possibility of having a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (pNGB) Dark Matter (DM) candidate in the inspired Froggatt-Nielsen Singlet Model (iFNSM) wherein a direct connection exists between the DM mass and new flavon symmetry-breaking scale. We find a considerable allowed region of parameter space for the ensuing pseudoscalar DM, which is dependent upon the flavon Vacuum Expectation Value (VEV) and Yukawa couplings, over which it may be possible to explain the fermion mass hierarchy. Finally, we choose a Benchmark Point (BP) and perform detailed collider analyses to probe this DM s…
Quantum interferometric probe of neutron--hidden neutron oscillations
Università di Salerno（萨莱诺大学）；INFN – Gruppo Collegato di Salerno（意大利国家核物理研究所萨莱诺协作组）；University of Camerino（卡梅里诺大学）；Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）
We consider extended scalar sectors of the Standard Model as ultraviolet-complete motivations for studying the effective Higgs self-interaction operators of the Standard Model effective field theory. We investigate all motivated heavy scalar models which generate the dimension-6 effective operator, $|H|^6$, at tree level and proceed to identify the full set of tree-level dimension-six operators by integrating out the heavy scalars. Of seven models which generate $|H|^6$ at tree level only two, quadruplets of hypercharge $Y=3Y_H$ and $Y=Y_H$, generate only this operator. Next we perform global …
The possibility that a neutron can be transformed to a hidden sector particle remains intriguingly open. Proposed theoretical models conjecture that the hidden sector can be represented by a mirror sector, and the neutron n can oscillate into its sterile mirror twin n', exactly or nearly degenerate in mass with n. Oscillations n - n' can take place in vacuum and in the environment of the regular matter and the magnetic field where only neutron will be subject of interaction with the environment. We describe the propagation of the oscillating n - n' system as a particle of the cold neutron beam…
In the present study we analyse, within the scalar sector of the Standard-Model Extension (SME) framework, the influence of a spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking on gravitational quantum states of ultracold neutrons. The model is framed according to the laboratory conditions of the recent high-sensitivity GRANIT and $q$Bounce experiments. The high-precision data achieved in such experiments allow us to set bounds on the symmetry breaking parameters of the model. The effective Hamiltonian governing the neutron's motion along the axis of free fall is derived explicitly. It describes a particle…
We investigate the prospects for detecting light leptophilic dark sectors with a missing-momentum experiment at NA64 running in muon mode. In particular, we consider models in which dark matter connects to the visible sector through a lepton- or muon-specific scalar mediator. These scalars can also account for the $\sim 3.5σ$ discrepancy between the measured and predicted values of $(g-2)_μ$ . We emphasize the complementarity between NA64-$μ$ and other terrestrial and astrophysical probes.
Exploring the neutron momentum distribution in nuclei through $γn \to π^- p$ at an electron-positron collider
School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院）；School of Physics, Zhengzhou University（郑州大学物理学院）；School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University（兰州大学核科学与技术学院）；Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院近代物理研究所）
We investigate the effect of feeble interaction of dark matter (DM) with hadronic matter on the equation of state (EoS) and structural properties of neutron stars (NSs) in static conditions. For the purpose we adopt the effective chiral model for the hadronic sector and for the first time in the context of possible existence of DM inside NSs, we introduce DM-SM interaction through light new physics mediator. Moreover, the mass of DM fermion, the mediator and the coupling are adopted from the self-interaction constraint from Bullet cluster and from present day relic abundance. Within the consid…
The oscillation of the neutron $n$ into mirror neutron $n'$, its partner from dark mirror sector, can gradually transform an ordinary neutron star into a mixed star consisting in part of mirror dark matter. The implications of the reverse process taking place in the mirror neutron stars depend on the sign of baryon asymmetry in mirror sector. Namely, if it is negative, as predicted by certain baryogenesis scenarios, then $\bar{n}'-\bar{n}$ transitions create a core of our antimatter gravitationally trapped in the mirror star interior. The annihilation of accreted gas on such antimatter cores c…
Semi-visible jets arise in strongly interacting dark sectors, where parton evolution includes dark sector emissions, resulting in jets overlapping with missing transverse momentum. The implementation of semi-visible jets is done using the Pythia Hidden valley module to duplicate the QCD sector showering. In this work, several jet substructure observables have been examined to compare semi-visible jets and light quark/gluon jets. These comparisons were performed using different dark hadron fraction in the semi-visible jets (signal). The extreme scenarios where signal consists either of entirely…
The possibility of neutron swapping between the ordinary and mirror sectors is today a subject of a great many theoretical and experimental studies. In this paper, we investigate the neutron-mirror neutron transitions in different environments from vacuum to neutron star. Our approach is based on the density matrix formalism, Lindblad and Bloch equations and the implication of the seesaw mechanism to the Hamiltonian diagonalization.
