2018/09/24 by Anthony Francis, Renwick J. Hudspith, Randy Lewis +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #hep-ph #hep-lat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/jhep12(2018)118
26 pages, 16 figures
arxiv created 2018/09/24 · arxiv updated 2019/01/30
As a simple model for dark matter, we propose a QCD-like theory based on \rmSU(2) gauge theory with one flavor of dark quark. The model is confining at low energy and we use lattice simulations to investigate the properties of the lowest-lying hadrons. Compared to QCD, the theory has several peculiar differences: there are no Goldstone bosons or chiral symmetry restoration when the dark quark becomes massless; the usual global baryon number symmetry is enlarged to \rmSU(2)B, resembling isospin; and baryons and mesons are unified together in \rmSU(2)B iso-multiplets. We argue that the lightest baryon, a vector boson, is a stable dark matter candidate and is a composite realization of the hidden vector dark matter scenario. The model naturally includes a lighter state, the analog of the η^′ in QCD, for dark matter to annihilate into to set the relic density via thermal freeze-out. Dark matter baryons may also be asymmetric, strongly self-interacting, or have their relic density set via 3 → 2 cannibalizing transitions. We discuss some experimental implications of coupling dark baryons to the Higgs portal.