Theoretical bounds on dark matter masses

Abstract

In this letter, we show that quantum gravity leads to lower and upper bounds on the masses of dark matter candidates. These bounds depend on the spins of the dark matter candidates and the nature of interactions in the dark matter sector. For example, for singlet scalar dark matter, we find a mass range 10 −3 eV m φ 10 7 eV. The lower bound comes from limits on fifth force type interactions and the upper bound from the lifetime of the dark matter candidate.

QSNET, a network of clock for measuring the stability of fundamental constants

“…One expects on very general grounds that quantum gravity will generate an interaction between any scalar field φ and regular matter with d (i) j ∼ O(1) whether such a coupling exists or not when gravity decouples. 10,[12][13][14][15] However, very light scalar fields coupling linearly to regular matter (i.e. dimension five operators) are essentially ruled out by the Eöt-Wash torsion pendulum experiment [16][17][18][19] for d…”

“…10, 12-15 QSNET will therefore provide a very important test of quantum gravity. 10,[12][13][14][15] If a very light neutral scalar field with linear coupling to regular matter was found with QSNET, we would learn that dimension 5 operators are not generated by quantum gravity. On the other hand, non-linear couplings are far less constrained by current experiments and clocks will be able to explore uncharted territory.…”

QSNET, a network of clocks for measuring the stability of fundamental constants

“…One expects on very general grounds that quantum gravity will generate an interaction between any scalar field φ and regular matter with d (i) j ∼ O(1) whether such a coupling exists or not when gravity decouples. 10,[12][13][14][15] However, very light scalar fields coupling linearly to regular matter (i.e. dimension five operators) are essentially ruled out by the Eöt-Wash torsion pendulum experiment [16][17][18][19] for d…”

“…10, 12-15 QSNET will therefore provide a very important test of quantum gravity. 10,[12][13][14][15] If a very light neutral scalar field with linear coupling to regular matter was found with QSNET, we would learn that dimension 5 operators are not generated by quantum gravity. On the other hand, non-linear couplings are far less constrained by current experiments and clocks will be able to explore uncharted territory.…”

Implications of Quantum Gravity for Dark Matter Searches with Atom Interferometers

“…While non-perturbative effects in quantum gravity are still poorly understood, there are strong indications that non-perturbative quantum gravitational effects such as gravitational instantons, wormholes or quantum black holes, see e.g. [13][14][15] will generate an interaction between any scalar field φ and regular matter with d (i) j ∼ O(1) whether such a coupling exists or not when gravity decouples [16][17][18][19][20]. Identical arguments have been made in different contexts, for example in models of grand unification [21][22][23][24], axion models [25][26][27][28][29], dark matter models [30] or inflationary models [31,32].…”