The old idea that Dark Matter is produced by thermal freeze-out in the early Universe is reviewed. Present advances in direct, indirect and collider searches are more and more constraining this type of Dark Matter. In this talk this statement is made explicit by considering a generic type of a simplified model for WIMP Dark Matter. We argue that the WIMP paradigm is pushed to "special" corners...
I will discuss a model of Pseudo-Dirac Dark Matter. This model proposes a new fermionic state with both Dirac and Majorana mass terms. In the limit where the Dirac mass dominates, a pair of dark particles appears with a small mass splitting, the lighter of which is a dark matter candidate. The dark states have both Dirac-like and Majorana-like features, evading direct detection constraints...
We reconsider the lower bound on the mass of a fermionic dark matter (DM) candidate resulting from the existence of known small Dwarf Spheroidal galaxies, in the hypothesis that their DM halo is constituted by degenerate fermions. By relaxing the common assumption that the DM halo scale radius is similar to the scale radius of the luminous stellar component and by marginalizing on the effects...
I discuss how the observed hierarchy in the Standard Model Yukawa couplings may radiatively originate from the dark sector dynamics. The associated dark photons and the mediator sector that transfers the dark hierarchy to the Standard Model offer distinguishing experimental tests at high and low energy experiments.
The existence of dark matter is one of the few solid hints for physics beyond the standard model. If dark matter has indeed particle nature, then direct detection via scattering on atomic nuclei is one of the most promising discovery channels. In order to connect this nonrelativistic process with astrophysical and collider searches, as well as UV model building, a consistent setup of effective...
The direct detection of Dark Matter particles with mass below the GeV-scale is hampered by soft nuclear recoil energies and finite detector thresholds. We propose to bypass the kinematic limitations by considering the inelastic channel of photon emission in the nuclear recoil. Our proposed method allows to set the first limits on Dark Matter below 500 MeV in the plane of Dark Matter mass and...
For heavy MSSM dark matter with a dominant wino dark matter, resummation of large quantum corrections due to the electroweak force (the "Sommerfeld" effect) is imperative for a reliable calculation of the annihilation cross section. In this talk I first discuss how this is done within a non-relativistic EFT approximation to the full MSSM. It is then investigated whether dominantly wino dark...
Dark gauge groups, coupled to the Standard Model via the Higgs portal, can provide WIMP dark matter in a simple and appealing way. After reviewing the origin of dark matter stability in this framework, I discuss different mechanisms that lead to a natural suppression of direct detection rates below present-day limits, without a fine-tuning of parameters.
We discuss a simplified model of top-flavoured dark matter, where the dark matter-quark coupling constitutes a new source of flavour and CP violation. The setup is experimentally constrained by LHC searches, by neutral D meson mixing data, by the assumption of dark matter being a thermal relic, and the cross-section limits from direct detection experiments. We take a look at the impact of the...
Charged composite dark matter
Models of composite Higgs provide a natural explanation of the hierarchy problem and a beautiful rationale for the flavor puzzle. However, and contrary to what happens in other BSM scenarios, they typically lack a natural dark matter candidate unless non-minimal models with symmetric cosets are considered. Here, we will show an example of a non-symmetric coset which nevertheless provide a...
