The Inflationary Universe

We present an overview of scenarios where the observed Dark Matter (DM) abundance consists of Feebly Interacting Massive Particles (FIMPs), produced nonthermally by the so-called freeze-in mechanism. In contrast to the usual freeze-out scenario, frozen-in FIMP DM interacts very weakly with the particles in the visible sector and never attained thermal equilibrium with the baryon–photon fluid in the early Universe. Instead of being determined by its annihilation strength, the DM abundance depends on the decay and annihilation strengths of particles in equilibrium with the baryon–photon fluid, as well as couplings in the DM sector. This makes frozen-in DM very difficult but not impossible to test. In this review, we present the freeze-in mechanism and its variations considered in the literature (dark freeze-out and reannihilation), compare them to the standard DM freeze-out scenario, discuss several aspects of model building, and pay particular attention to observational properties and general testability o...

The dawn of FIMP Dark Matter : A review of models and constraints

We review several current aspects of dark matter theory and experiment. We overview the present experimental status, which includes current bounds and recent claims and hints of a possible signal in a wide range of experiments: direct detection in underground laboratories, gamma-ray, cosmic ray, x-ray, neutrino telescopes, and the LHC. We briefly review several possible particle candidates for a weakly interactive massive particle (WIMP) and dark matter that have recently been considered in the literature. We pay particular attention to the lightest neutralino of supersymmetry as it remains the best motivated candidate for dark matter and also shows excellent detection prospects. Finally we briefly review some alternative scenarios that can considerably alter properties and prospects for the detection of dark matter obtained within the standard thermal WIMP paradigm.

WIMP dark matter candidates and searches—current status and future prospects

We review several current aspects of dark matter theory and experiment. We overview the present experimental status, which includes current bounds and recent claims and hints of a possible signal in a wide range of experiments: direct detection in underground laboratories, gamma-ray, cosmic ray, X-ray, neutrino telescopes, and the LHC. We briefly review several possible particle candidates for a Weakly Interactive Massive Particle (WIMP) and dark matter that have recently been considered in the literature. We pay particular attention to the lightest neutralino of supersymmetry as it remains the best motivated candidate for dark matter and also shows excellent detection prospects. Finally we briefly review some alternative scenarios that can considerably alter properties and prospects for the detection of dark matter obtained within the standard thermal WIMP paradigm.

WIMP dark matter candidates and searches - current issues and future prospects

If there exists fields of mass of the order of 10{sup 13} GeV and large field inflation occurs, their interaction with classical gravitation will generate enough particles to give the universe critical density today regardless of their nongravitational coupling. In the standard dark matter scenarios, WIMPs are usually considered to have once been in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), and their present abundance is determined by their self-annihilation cross section. In that case, unitarity and the lower bound on the age of the universe constrains the mass of the relic to be less than 500 TeV. On the other hand, if the DM particles never attained LTE in the past, self-annihilation cross section does not determine their abundance. For example, axions, which may never have been in LTE, can have their abundance determined by the dynamics of the phase transition associated with the breaking of U(1){sub PQ}. These nonthermal relics (ones that never obtained LTE) are typically light. However, there are mechanisms that can produce superheavy (many orders of magnitude greater than the weak scale) nonthermal relics. Some of this is reviewed in reference 2. Although not known at the time when this talk was given, it is now known that if the DM fields are coupled to the inflaton field, then the mass of the DM particles that can be naturally produced in significant abundance after inflation can be as large as 10{sup {minus}3} M{sub Pl} (paper in preparation). The author discusses the gravitational production mechanism which is a generic consequence of any large field inflationary phase ending.

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Superheavy dark Matter

We consider a classically scale invariant version of the Standard Model, extended by an extra dark $SU(2{)}_{X}$ gauge group. Apart from the dark gauge bosons and a dark scalar doublet which is coupled to the Standard Model Higgs through a portal coupling, we incorporate right-handed neutrinos and an additional real singlet scalar field. After symmetry breaking \`a la Coleman-Weinberg, we examine the multi-Higgs sector and impose theoretical and experimental constraints. In addition, by computing the dark matter relic abundance and the spin-independent scattering cross section off a nucleon we determine the viable dark matter mass range in accordance with present limits. The model can be tested in the near future by collider experiments and direct detection searches such as XENON 1T.

Dark matter and neutrino masses from a scale-invariant multi-Higgs portal

In this work we study a classically scale-invariant extension of the Standard Model in which the dark matter and electroweak scales are generated through the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. The extra $SU(3{)}_{X}$ gauge factor gets completely broken by the vacuum expectation values of two scalar triplets. Out of the eight resulting massive vector bosons the three lightest are stable due to an intrinsic ${Z}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{Z}_{2}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ discrete symmetry and can constitute dark matter candidates. We analyze the phenomenological viability of the predicted multi-Higgs sector imposing theoretical and experimental constraints. We perform a comprehensive analysis of the dark matter predictions of the model solving numerically the set of coupled Boltzmann equations involving all relevant dark matter processes and explore the direct detection prospects of the dark matter candidates.

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Dark matter from a classically scale-invariant S U ( 3 ) X

The Starobinsky model, considered in the framework of the Palatini formalism, in contrast to the metric formulation, does not provide us with a model for inflation, due to the absence of a propagating scalar degree of freedom that can play the role of the inflaton. In the present article we study the Palatini formulation of the Starobinsky model coupled, in general nonminimally, to scalar fields and analyze its inflationary behavior. We consider scalars, minimally or nonminimally coupled to the Starobinsky model, such as a quadratic model, the induced gravity model or the standard Higgs-like inflation model and analyze the corresponding modifications favorable to inflation. In addition we examine the case of a classically scale-invariant model driven by the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. In the slow-roll approximation, we analyze the inflationary predictions of these models and compare them to the latest constraints from the Planck collaboration. In all cases, we find that the effect of the R2 term is to lower the value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio.

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Palatini inflation in models with an $R^2$ term

In the context of scalar-tensor theories of gravity we compute the third-order corrected spectral indices in the slow-roll approximation. The calculation is carried out by employing the Green's function method for scalar and tensor perturbations in both the Einstein and Jordan frames. Then, using the interrelations between the Hubble slow-roll parameters in the two frames we find that the frames are equivalent up to third order. Since the Hubble slow-roll parameters are related to the potential slow-roll parameters, we express the observables in terms of the latter which are manifestly invariant. Nevertheless, the same inflaton excursion leads to different predictions in the two frames since the definition of the number of $e$-folds differs. To illustrate this effect we consider a nonminimal inflationary model and find that the difference in the predictions grows with the nonminimal coupling, and it can actually be larger than the difference between the first and third order results for the observables. Finally, we demonstrate the effect of various end-of-inflation conditions on the observables. These effects will become important for the analyses of inflationary models in view of the improved sensitivity of future experiments.

Frame-dependence of higher-order inflationary observables in scalar-tensor theories

When considered in the Palatini formalism, the Starobinsky model does not provide us with a mechanism for inflation due to the absence of a propagating scalar degree of freedom. By (non)-minimally coupling scalar fields to the Starobinsky model in the Palatini formalism we can in principle describe the inflationary epoch. In this article, we focus on the minimally coupled quartic and natural inflation models. Both theories are excluded in their simplest realization since they predict values for the inflationary observables that are outside the limits set by the Planck data. However, with the addition of the R2 term and the use of the Palatini formalism, we show that these models can be rendered viable.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1475-7516/2019/03/005/pdf

Alexandros Karam

Papers

Dark matter and neutrino masses from a scale-invariant multi-Higgs portal

Dark matter from a classically scale-invariant S U ( 3 ) X

Palatini inflation in models with an $R^2$ term

Frame-dependence of higher-order inflationary observables in scalar-tensor theories

Rescuing quartic and natural inflation in the Palatini formalism