Cosmology and accelerator tests of strongly interacting dark matter

Journal Article · 23 March 2018 · Physical Review D

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.055033 · OSTI ID:1429134

Berlin, Asher; Blinov, Nikita; Gori, Stefania; Schuster, Philip; Toro, Natalia

A natural possibility for dark matter is that it is composed of the stable pions of a QCD-like hidden sector. Existing literature largely assumes that pion self-interactions alone control the early universe cosmology. We point out that processes involving vector mesons typically dominate the physics of dark matter freeze-out and significantly widen the viable mass range for these models. The vector mesons also give rise to striking signals at accelerators. For example, in most of the cosmologically favored parameter space, the vector mesons are naturally long-lived and produce standard model particles in their decays. Electron and proton beam fixed-target experiments such as HPS, SeaQuest, and LDMX can exploit these signals to explore much of the viable parameter space. As a result, we also comment on dark matter decay inherent in a large class of previously considered models and explain how to ensure dark matter stability.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515; PHY-1654502
• OSTI ID: 1429134
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1436474
• Journal Information: Physical Review D, Journal Name: Physical Review D Vol. 97 Journal Issue: 5; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English