Completely dark photons from gravitational particle production during the inflationary era

et al. 2021

The Starobinsky inflation model is one of the simplest inflation models that is consistent with the cosmic microwave background observations. In order to explain dark matter of the universe, we consider a minimal extension of the Starobinsky inflation model with introducing the dark sector which communicates with the visible sector only via the gravitational interaction. In Starobinsky inflation model, a sizable amount of dark-sector particle may be produced by the inflaton decay. Thus, a scalar, a fermion or a vector boson in the dark sector may become dark matter. We pay particular attention to the case with dark non-Abelian gauge interaction to make a dark glueball a dark matter candidate. In the minimal setup, we show that it is difficult to explain the observed dark matter abundance without conflicting observational constraints on the coldness and the self-interaction of dark matter. We propose scenarios in which the dark glueball, as well as other dark-sector particles, from the inflaton decay become viable dark matter candidates. We also discuss possibilities to test such scenarios.

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hidden dark matter from Starobinsky inflation

Moroi

et al. 2021

“…[52]. Another contribution may be from the inflationary period or (pre)heating [22][23][24][25]. This component, however, is sensitive to the inflation scale and the reheating dynamics, and is subdominant the inflation scale is very high and not shown here.…”

Section: Hidden Photon Production Via Hidden U(1) Breakingmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Therefore some nonthermal production mechanism is required. It has been discussed that production mechanisms include the misalignment production for the axion [13][14][15] and hidden photon [16][17][18][19], 1 gravitational or inflationary particle production for the axion [20,21] or hidden photon [22][23][24][25] and decay or interaction with some other fields [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42].…”

Section: Jhep10(2021)026mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hidden photon and axion dark matter from symmetry breaking

Yin

2021

A light hidden photon or axion-like particle is a good dark matter candidate and they are often associated with the spontaneous breaking of dark global or gauged U(1) symmetry. We consider the dark Higgs dynamics around the phase transition in detail taking account of the portal coupling between the dark Higgs and the Standard Model Higgs as well as various thermal effects. We show that the (would-be) Nambu-Goldstone bosons are efficiently produced via a parametric resonance with the resonance parameter q ∼ 1 at the hidden symmetry breaking. In the simplest setup, which predicts a second order phase transition, this can explain the dark matter abundance for the axion or hidden photon as light as sub eV. Even lighter mass, as predicted by the QCD axion model, can be consistent with dark matter abundance in the case of first order phase transition, in which case the gravitational wave signals may be detectable by future experiments such as LISA and DECIGO.

“…The correct relic abundance of hidden photon DM of meV mass range is reasonably explained by the gravitational production mechanism[64][65][66][67] or the production from cosmic strings[68]. See also refs [69][70][71][72].…”

mentioning

confidence: 85%

Axion/hidden-photon dark matter conversion into condensed matter axion

Chigusa

Moroi

2021

The QCD axion or axion-like particles are candidates of dark matter of the universe. On the other hand, axion-like excitations exist in certain condensed matter systems, which implies that there can be interactions of dark matter particles with condensed matter axions. We discuss the relationship between the condensed matter axion and a collective spin-wave excitation in an anti-ferromagnetic insulator at the quantum level. The conversion rate of the light dark matter, such as the elementary particle axion or hidden photon, into the condensed matter axion is estimated for the discovery of the dark matter signals.