Probing Feebly Interacting Dark Matter

by Francesco Costa
Doctoral thesis
Date of Examination:2024-07-12
Date of issue:2025-03-07
Advisor:Prof. Dr. Laura Covi
Referee:Prof. Dr. Laura Covi
Referee:Prof. Dr. Jens Niemeyer
Referee:Prof. Dr. Martin Schmaltz
Persistent Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.53846/goediss-11136

 

 

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Abstract

English

Feebly Interacting Massive Particles are elusive Dark Matter candidates produced via the freeze-in mechanism. They are a type of Dark Matter that never reaches thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model. This fact leads to two major consequences: Dark Matter relics produced gravitationally at very early times are not washed out by thermal equilibrium, which can lead to an over-closure of the Universe; and the couplings to the Standard Model need to be feeble, as their name suggests, rendering detection extremely challenging. However, if the reheating thermal bath temperature is below the Dark Matter mass, both problems can be solved at the same time. A long, matter dominated, reheating period can wash out the unwanted early Dark Matter relics while leading to a low reheating temperature. In this scenario the feebly interacting particle coupling to the Standard Model can be up to O(1), leading to a vast number of phenomenological signatures at direct and indirect detection and collider experiments. In Ultra-Violet complete models Gravitational Waves signatures can also arise and they can provide complementary information to standard Dark Matter searches on the nature of Feebly Interacting Massive Particles.
Keywords: dark matter; gravitational waves; FIMP; freeze-in at stronger coupling; feebly interacting particles; gravitational particle production
 
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