2009/05/08 by Xiao-Jun Bi, Robert Brandenberger, Paolo Gondolo +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.80.103502
published as Phys.Rev.D80:103502,2009 · 23 pages, 2 figures
arxiv created 2009/05/08 · openalex publication_date 2009/11/04 · arxiv updated 2010/04/15 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In this paper we propose a dark matter model and study aspects of its phenomenology. Our model is based on a new dark matter sector with a U(1)^\ensuremath' gauge symmetry plus a discrete symmetry added to the standard model of particle physics. The new fields of the dark matter sector have no hadronic charges and couple only to leptons. Our model cannot only give rise to the observed neutrino mass hierarchy, but can also generate the baryon number asymmetry via nonthermal leptogenesis. The breaking of the new U(1)^\ensuremath' symmetry produces cosmic strings. The dark matter particles are produced nonthermally from cosmic string loop decay which allows one to obtain sufficiently large annihilation cross sections to explain the observed cosmic ray positron and electron fluxes recently measured by the PAMELA, ATIC, PPB-BETS, Fermi-LAT, and HESS experiments while maintaining the required overall dark matter energy density. The high velocity of the dark matter particles from cosmic string loop decay leads to a low phase space density and thus to a dark matter profile with a constant density core in contrast to what happens in a scenario with thermally produced cold dark matter where the density keeps rising towards the center. As a result, the flux of \ensuremathγ rays radiated from the final leptonic states of dark matter annihilation from the Galactic center is suppressed and satisfies the constraints from the HESS \ensuremathγ-ray observations.