A geometric origin for the radiative neutrino portal to secluded dark matter

Abstract

We study a secluded dark-matter scenario in which the smallness of laboratory signals is linked to the origin of neutrino masses. In the four-dimensional theory, the dark sector contains a hidden scalar, a fermionic dark-matter particle, and heavy Majorana neutrinos. The same heavy-neutrino sector that generates light neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism also induces the Higgs-dark-scalar portal at one loop. This portal is tied to the small observed neutrino masses, naturally leading to very small Higgs-singlet mixing and suppressed signals in direct-detection and collider experiments. We then provide a geometric origin for the boundary condition of the tree level portal coupling being zero $\kappa(\Lambda_{\rm UV})=0$ via a five-dimensional sequestered setup. In this construction, the Standard Model fields and the hidden sector are localized on different branes, with sterile neutrinos propagating in the bulk. Five-dimensional locality forbids a fundamental local tree-level Higgs-dark-scalar contact interaction, while heavy-neutrino loops induce a small residual portal coupling. The main phenomenological parameter controlling the viability of the model is the heavy-neutrino mass scale: direct detection bounds it from above, while Big Bang nucleosynthesis bounds it from below through the requirement that the hidden scalar decays sufficiently early. Depending on the amount of five-dimensional sequestering, the viable region can span heavy-neutrino masses from the multi-TeV scale to the PeV scale, or even higher.