Self-interacting dark matter through the Higgs portal

2014/11/13 by Chris Kouvaris, Ian M. Shoemaker, Kimmo Tuominen · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Higgs boson #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #astro-ph.CO #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.91.043519

published as Phys. Rev. D 91, 043519 (2015) · 7 pages, 2 figures

arxiv created 2014/11/13 · openalex publication_date 2015/02/13 · arxiv updated 2015/03/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We study self-interacting dark matter coupled to the Standard Model via the Higgs portal. We consider a scenario where dark matter is a thermal relic with strong enough self-interactions that can alleviate the problems of collisionless dark matter. We study constraints from direct-detection searches, the LHC, and big bang nucleosynthesis. We show that the tension between these constraints and the need for sufficiently strong self-interactions with light mediators can be alleviated by coupling the mediator to either active or sterile neutrinos. Future direct-detection data offers great potential and can be used to find evidence of a light mediator and verify that dark matter scatters via long-range self-interactions.

Citations

• Cosmologically Safe eV-Scale Sterile Neutrinos and Improved Dark Matter Structure
• Cores in Dwarf Galaxies from Dark Matter with a Yukawa Potential
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• SMALL-SCALE STRUCTURE IN THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY AND ΛCDM: ISOLATED ∼L*GALAXIES WITH BRIGHT SATELLITES
• Sommerfeld enhancements for thermal relic dark matter
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Cited by

• Interpreting the CMSℓ+ℓ−jj+missing transverse energy excess with a leptoquark model
• Thermal dark matter from a highly decoupled sector