9–11 May 2016
University of Pittsburgh
US/Eastern timezone

Randomness in the Dark Sector and Emergent Mass Spectra

10 May 2016, 15:30
15m
G28 (Benedum Hall)

G28

Benedum Hall

parallel talk Dark Matter II

Speaker

Prof. Brooks Thomas (Colorado College)

Description

In non-minimal dark-matter models such as Dynamical Dark Matter (DDM), the mass spectrum of the dark-sector states plays a crucial role in dark-matter phenomenology. In this talk, I examine one natural method in which a particularly auspicious mass spectrum can be generated for an ensemble of such states via early-universe processes which are essentially random. Despite this inherent randomness, a characteristic mass spectrum statistically emerges in which the density of states for the ensemble decreases in a predictable way as a function of mass. I discuss the phenomenological implications of such "emergent" mass spectra within the DDM framework and explore some of the possibilities for model-building to which they give rise.

Summary

In non-minimal dark-matter models such as Dynamical Dark Matter (DDM), the mass spectrum of the dark-sector states plays a crucial role in dark-matter phenomenology. In this talk, I examine one natural method in which a particularly auspicious mass spectrum can be generated for an ensemble of such states via early-universe processes which are essentially random. Despite this inherent randomness, a characteristic mass spectrum statistically emerges in which the density of states for the ensemble decreases in a predictable way as a function of mass. I discuss the phenomenological implications of such "emergent" mass spectra within the DDM framework and explore some of the possibilities for model-building to which they give rise.

Author

Prof. Brooks Thomas (Colorado College)

Co-authors

Mr Jacob Fennick (University of Hawaii) Prof. Jason Kumar (University of Hawaii) Prof. Keith Dienes (University of Arizona)

Presentation materials