2007/09/06 by D. G. Cerdeño, D. G. Cerdeno, T. Kobayashi +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1126-6708/2008/01/009
published as JHEP0801:009,2008 · 51 pages, 25 figures
arxiv created 2007/09/06 · openalex publication_date 2008/01/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We analyse the phenomenology of orbifold scenarios from the heterotic superstring, and the resulting theoretical predictions for the direct detection of neutralino dark matter. In particular, we study the parameter space of these constructions, computing the low-energy spectrum and taking into account the most recent experimental and astrophysical constraints, as well as imposing the absence of dangerous charge and colour breaking minima. In the remaining allowed regions the spin-independent part of the neutralino-proton cross section is calculated and compared with the sensitivity of dark matter detectors. In addition to the usual non universalities of the soft terms in orbifold scenarios due to the modular weight dependence, we also consider D-term contributions to scalar masses. These are generated by the presence of an anomalous U(1), providing more flexibility in the resulting soft terms, and are crucial in order to avoid charge and colour breaking minima. Thanks to the D-term contribution, large neutralino detection cross sections can be found, within the reach of projected dark matter detectors.