arXiv subjects

Ayuki Kamada

Publications and source records attributed to Ayuki Kamada.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Lessons from $T^μ_{~ μ}$ on inflation models: two-scalar theory and Yukawa theory

We demonstrate two properties of the trace of the energy-momentum tensor $T^μ_{~ μ}$ in the flat spacetime. One is the decoupling of heavy degrees of freedom; i.e., heavy degrees of freedom leave no effect for low-energy $T^μ_{~ μ}$-inserted amplitudes. This is intuitively apparent from the effective field theory point of view, but one has to take into account the so-called trace anomaly to explicitly demonstrate the decoupling. As a result, for example, in the $R^{2}$ inflation model, scalaron decay is insensitive to heavy degrees of freedom when a matter sector ${\it minimally}$ couples to gravity (up to a non-minimal coupling of a matter scalar field other than the scalaron). The other property is a quantum contribution to a non-minimal coupling of a scalar field. The non-minimal coupling disappears from the action in the flat spacetime, but leaves the so-called improvement term in $T^μ_{~ μ}$. We study the renormalization group equation of the non-minimal coupling to discuss its quantum-induced value and implications for inflation dynamics. We work it out in the two-scalar theory and Yukawa theory.

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arXiv2019

Smallest Halos in Thermal Wino Dark Matter

(Mini) split supersymmetry explains the observed Higgs mass and evades stringent constraints, while keeping good features of TeV-scale supersymmetry other than the little hierarchy problem. Such scenarios naturally predict thermal wino dark matter whose mass is around $3 \, {\rm TeV}$. Its non-perturbatively enhanced annihilation is a promising target of indirect detection experiments. It is known that identifying the smallest halos is essential for reducing an uncertainty in interpreting indirect detection experiments. Despite its importance, the smallest halos of thermal wino dark matter have not been well understood and thus are investigated in this work. In particular, we remark on two aspects: 1) the neutral wino is in kinetic equilibrium with primordial plasma predominantly through inelastic processes involving the slightly heavier charged wino; and 2) the resultant density contrast shows larger powers at dark acoustic oscillation peaks than in cold dark matter, which is known as an overshooting phenomenon. By taking them into account, we provide a rigorous estimate of the boost factor. Our result facilitates accurately pinning down thermal wino dark matter through vigorous efforts in indirect detection experiments.

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arXiv2019

Escalating core formation with dark matter self-heating

Exothermic scatterings of dark matter (DM) produce DM particles with significant kick velocities inside DM halos. In collaboration with DM self-interaction, the excess kinetic energy of the produced DM particles is distributed to the others, which self-heats the DM particles as a whole. The DM self-heating is efficient towards the halo center, and the heat injection is used to enhance the formation of a uniform density core inside halos. The effect of DM self-heating is expected to be more significant in smaller halos for two reasons: 1) the exothermic cross section times the relative velocity, $\left\langleσ_{\rm exo}v_{\rm rel}\right\rangle$, is constant; 2) and the ratio of the injected heat to the velocity dispersion squared gets larger towards smaller halos. For the first time, we quantitatively investigate the core formation from DM self-heating for halos in a wide mass range ($10^{9}$-$10^{15}\,{\rm M}_\odot$) using the gravothermal fluid formalism. Notably, we demonstrate that the core formation is sharply escalating towards smaller halos by taking the self-heating DM (i.e., DM that semi-annihilates and self-interacts) as an example. We show that the sharp escalation of core formation may cause a tension in simultaneously explaining the observed central mass deficit of Milky Way satellites, and field dwarf/low surface brightness spiral galaxies. While the details of the self-heating effect may differ among models, we expect that the sharp halo-mass dependence of the core formation is a general feature of exothermic DM.

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arXiv2019

Unification for the Darkly Charged Dark Matter

We provide a simple UV theory for a Dirac dark matter with a massless Abelian gauge boson. We introduce a single fermion transforming as the $\bf{16}$ representation in the SO(10)$'$ gauge group, which is assumed to be spontaneously broken to SU(5)$'\times$U(1)$'$. The SU(5)$'$ gauge interaction becomes strong at an intermediate scale and then we obtain a light composite Dirac fermion with U(1)$'$ gauge interaction at the low-energy scale. Its thermal relic can explain the observed amount of dark matter consistently with other cosmological and astrophysical constraints. We discuss that a nonzero kinetic mixing between the U(1)$'$ gauge boson and the Hypercharge gauge boson is allowed and the temperature of the visible sector and the dark matter sector can be equal to each other.

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arXiv2019

Constraining FIMP from the structure formation of the Universe: analytic mapping from $m_{\mathrm{WDM}}$

A feebly interacting massive particle (FIMP), contrasting with a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), is an intriguing dark matter (DM) candidate. Light (keV-scale) FIMP DM is of particular interest: its radiative decay leaves a line signal in x-ray spectra; and it is warm dark matter (WDM) and alters the galactic-scale structure formation of the Universe from that with WIMP DM. Once a possible x-ray line is reported (e.g., $3.5 \,\mathrm{keV}$ line and $7 \,\mathrm{keV}$ FIMP DM is inferred), one has to check whether or not this FIMP DM is compatible with the structure formation. Here is an issue: the structure formation constraint on WDM is often reported in terms of the so-called thermal WDM mass $m_{\mathrm{WDM}}$, which cannot be directly applied to FIMP parameters. In this paper, we introduce a benchmark FIMP model that represents well a broad class of FIMP models. A big advantage of this benchmark is that we can derive the analytic formula of the non-thermal phase space distribution of FIMPs produced from freeze-in processes. By further deriving a certain "warmness" quantity, we can analytically map $m_{\mathrm{WDM}}$ to FIMP parameters. Our analytic map indicates that $7 \,\mathrm{keV}$ FIMP DM, without entropy production or a degenerate spectrum, is in tension with the latest Lyman-$α$ forest data. Our analytic map will be very useful for future updates of observational constraints and reports of x-ray lines. It is also very easy to incorporate our analytic formula into a Boltzmann solver so that a linear matter power spectrum is readily accessible. Our benchmark model will facilitate FIMP searches and particle physics model-building.

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arXiv2019

Baryon-Dark Matter Coincidence in Mirrored Unification

About 80\% of the mass of the present Universe is made up of the unknown (dark matter), while the rest is made up of ordinary matter. It is a very intriguing question why the {\it mass} densities of dark matter and ordinary matter (mainly baryons) are close to each other. It may be hinting the identity of dark matter and furthermore structure of a dark sector. A mirrored world provides a natural explanation to this puzzle. On the other hand, if mirror-symmetry breaking scale is low, it tends to cause cosmological problems. In this letter, we propose a mirrored unification framework, which breaks mirror-symmetry at the grand unified scale, but still addresses the puzzle. The dark matter mass is strongly related with the dynamical scale of QCD, which explains the closeness of the dark matter and baryon masses. Intermediate-energy portal interactions share the generated asymmetry between the visible and dark sectors. Furthermore, our framework is safe from cosmological issues by providing low-energy portal interactions to release the superfluous entropy of the dark sector into the visible sector.

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arXiv2019

Fingerprint matching of beyond-WIMP dark matter: neural network approach

Galactic-scale structure is of particular interest since it provides important clues to dark matter properties and its observation is improving. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) behave as cold dark matter on galactic scales, while beyond-WIMP candidates suppress galactic-scale structure formation. Suppression in the linear matter power spectrum has been conventionally characterized by a single parameter, the thermal warm dark matter mass. On the other hand, the shape of suppression depends on the underlying mechanism. It is necessary to introduce multiple parameters to cover a wide range of beyond-WIMP models. Once multiple parameters are introduced, it becomes harder to share results from one side to the other. In this work, we propose adopting neural network technique to facilitate the communication between the two sides. To demonstrate how to work out in a concrete manner, we consider a simplified model of light feebly interacting massive particles.

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arXiv2019

Unification of the Standard Model and Dark Matter Sectors in [SU(5)$\times$U(1)]$^4$

A simple model of dark matter contains a light Dirac field charged under a hidden U(1) gauge symmetry. When a chiral matter content in a strong dynamics satisfies the t'Hooft anomaly matching condition, a massless baryon is a natural candidate of the light Dirac field. One realization is the same matter content as the standard SU(5)$\times$U(1)$_{(B-L)}$ grand unified theory. We propose a chiral [SU(5)$\times$U(1)]$^4$ gauge theory as a unified model of the SM and DM sectors. The low-energy dynamics, which was recently studied, is governed by the hidden U(1)$_4$ gauge interaction and the third-family U(1)$_{(B-L)_3}$ gauge interaction. This model can realize self-interacting dark matter and alleviate the small-scale crisis of collisionless cold dark matter in the cosmological structure formation. The model can also address the semi-leptonic $B$-decay anomaly reported by the LHCb experiment.

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arXiv2019

On Scalaron Decay via the Trace of Energy-Momentum Tensor

In some inflation scenarios such as $R^{2}$ inflation, a gravitational scalar degrees of freedom called scalaron is identified as inflaton. Scalaron linearly couples to matter via the trace of energy-momentum tensor. We study scenarios with a sequestered matter sector, where the trace of energy-momentum tensor predominantly determines the scalaron coupling to matter. In a sequestered setup, heavy degrees of freedom are expected to decouple from low-energy dynamics. On the other hand, it is non-trivial to see the decoupling since scalaron couples to a mass term of heavy degrees of freedom. Actually, when heavy degrees of freedom carry some gauge charge, the amplitude of scalaron decay to two gauge bosons does not vanish in the heavy mass limit. Here the quantum contribution to the trace of energy-momentum tensor plays an essential role. This quantum contribution is known as trace anomaly or Weyl anomaly. The trace anomaly contribution from heavy degrees of freedom cancels with the contribution from the ${\it classical}$ scalaron coupling to a mass term of heavy degrees of freedom. We see how trace anomaly appears both in the Fujikawa method and in dimensional renormalization. In dimensional renormalization, one can evaluate the scalaron decay amplitude in principle at all orders, while it is unclear how to process it beyond the one-loop level in the Fujikawa method. We consider scalaron decay to two gauge bosons via the trace of energy-momentum tensor in quantum electrodynamics with scalars and fermions. We evaluate the decay amplitude at the leading order to demonstrate the decoupling of heavy degrees of freedom.

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arXiv2019

Self-interacting dark matter with a vector mediator: kinetic mixing with U(1)$_{(B-L)_3}$ gauge boson

A spontaneously broken hidden U(1)$_h$ gauge symmetry can explain both the dark matter stability and the observed relic abundance. In this framework, the light gauge boson can mediate the strong dark matter self-interaction, which addresses astrophysical observations that are hard to explain in collisionless cold dark matter. Motivated by flavoured grand unified theories, we introduce right-handed neutrinos and a flavoured $B - L$ gauge symmetry for the third family U(1)$_{(B-L)_3}$. The unwanted relic of the U(1)$_h$ gauge boson decays into neutrinos via the kinetic mixing with the U(1)$_{(B - L)_3}$ gauge boson. Indirect detection bounds on dark matter are systematically weakened, since dark matter annihilation results in neutrinos. However, the kinetic mixing between U(1)$_{(B - L)_3}$ and U(1)$_Y$ gauge bosons are induced by quantum corrections and leads to an observable signal in direct and indirect detection experiments of dark matter. This model can also explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe via the thermal leptogenesis. In addition, we discuss the possibility of explaining the lepton flavour universality violation in semi-leptonic $B$ meson decays that is recently found in the LHCb experiment.

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arXiv2019

Decaying axinolike dark matter: Discriminative solution to small-scale issues

The latest Lyman-$α$ forest data severely constrain the conventional warm dark matter solution to small-scale issues in the cold dark matter paradigm. It has been also reported that unconstrained astrophysical processes may address the issues. In response to this situation, we revisit the decaying dark matter solution to the issues, discussing possible signatures to discriminate decaying dark matter from astrophysical processes as a solution to small-scale issues. We consider an axinolike particle (ALPino) decaying into an axionlike particle (ALP) and gravitino with the lifetime around the age of the Universe. The ALPino mass is sub-PeV and slightly ($Δm/m\sim 10^{-4}$) larger than the gravitino mass, and thus the dark matter abundance does not alter virtually after the ALPino decays. On the other hand, the gravitino produced from the ALPino decay obtains a kick velocity of $\sim 30 \,{\rm km / s}$, which is sufficiently larger than a circular velocity of dwarf galaxies to impact their dark matter distributions. The Lyman-$α$ forest constraints are relieved since only a small fraction ($\sim10$%) of dark matter experiences the decay at that time. Decaying dark matter is thus promoted to a viable solution to small-scale issues. The ALPino relic abundance is determined predominantly by the decay of the lightest ordinary supersymmetric particle. The monochromatic ALP emission from the ALPino decay is converted to $\sim 50 \,{\rm GeV}$ photon under the Galactic magnetic field. The morphology of the gamma-ray flux shows a distinctive feature of the model when compared to decaying dark matter that directly decays into photons. Once detected, such distinctive signals discriminate the decaying dark matter solution to small-scale issues from unconstrained astrophysical processes.

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arXiv2018

Ultraviolet Completion of a Composite Asymmetric Dark Matter Model with a Dark Photon Portal

Composite asymmetric dark matter scenarios naturally explain why the dark matter mass density is comparable with the visible matter mass density. Such scenarios generically require some entropy transfer mechanism below the composite scale; otherwise, their late-time cosmology is incompatible with observations. A tiny kinetic mixing between a dark photon and the visible photon is a promising example of the low-energy portal. In this paper, we demonstrate that grand unifications in the dark and the visible sectors explain the origin of the tiny kinetic mixing. We particularly consider an ultraviolet completion of a simple composite asymmetric dark matter model, where asymmetric dark matter carries a $B-L$ charge. In this setup, the longevity of asymmetric dark matter is explained by the $B-L$ symmetry, while the dark matter asymmetry originates from the $B-L$ asymmetry generated by thermal leptogenesis. In our minimal setup, the Standard Model sector and the dark sector are unified into $SU(5)_\mathrm{GUT} \times SU(4)_\mathrm{DGUT}$ gauge theories, respectively. This model generates required $B-L$ portal operators while suppressing unwanted higher-dimensional operators that could wash out the generated $B-L$ asymmetry.

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arXiv2018

Composite Asymmetric Dark Matter with a Dark Photon Portal

Asymmetric dark matter (ADM) is an attractive framework relating the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe to the dark matter density. A composite particle in a new strong dynamics is a promising candidate for ADM as the strong dynamics naturally explains the ADM mass in the GeV range. Its large annihilation cross section due to the strong dynamics leaves the asymmetric component to be dominant over the symmetric component. In such composite ADM scenarios, the dark sector has a relatively large entropy density in the early Universe. The large dark sector entropy results in the overclosure of the Universe or at best contradicts with the observations of the cosmic microwave background and the successful Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis. Thus, composite ADM models generically require some portal to transfer the entropy of the dark sector into the Standard Model sector. In this paper, we consider a dark photon portal with a mass in the sub-GeV range and kinetic mixing with the Standard Model photon. We investigate the viable parameter space of the dark photon in detail, which can find broad applications to dark photon portal models. We also provide a simple working example of composite ADM with a dark photon portal. Our model is compatible with thermal leptogenesis and $B - L$ symmetry. By taking into account the derived constraints, we show that the parameter space is largely tested by direct detection experiments.

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arXiv2018

An X-ray spectroscopic search for dark matter and unidentified line signatures in the Perseus cluster with Hitomi

We present results of a search for unidentified line emission and absorption signals in the 2-12keV energy band of spectra extracted from Perseus Cluster core region observations obtained with the 5eV energy resolution Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer. No significant unidentified line emission or absorption is found. Line flux upper limits (1 sigma per resolution element) vary with photon energy and assumed intrinsic width, decreasing from 100 photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr $^{-1}$ at 2keV to $<10$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr $^{-1}$ over most of the 5-10 keV energy range for a Gaussian line with Doppler broadening of 640 km/s. Limits for narrower and broader lines have a similar energy dependence and are systematically smaller and larger, respectively. These line flux limits are used to constrain the decay rate of hypothetical dark matter candidates. For the sterile neutrino decay rate, new constraints over the the mass range of 4-24 keV with mass resolution better than any previous X-ray analysis are obtained. Additionally, the accuracy of relevant thermal spectral models and atomic data are evaluated. The Perseus cluster spectra may be described by a composite of multi-temperature thermal and AGN power-law continua. Superposed on these, a few line emission signals possibly originating from unmodeled atomic processes (including Si XIV and Fe XXV) are marginally detected and tabulated. Comparisons with previous X-ray upper limits and future prospects for dark matter searches using high-energy resolution spectroscopy are discussed.

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arXiv2018

Self-interacting dark matter and muon $g-2$ in a gauged U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ model

We construct a self-interacting dark matter model that could simultaneously explain the observed muon anomalous magnetic moment. It is based on a gauged U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ extension of the standard model, where we introduce a vector-like pair of fermions as the dark matter candidate and a new Higgs boson to break the symmetry. The new gauge boson has a sizable contribution to muon $(g-2)$, while being consistent with other experimental constraints. The U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ Higgs boson acts as a light force carrier, mediating dark matter self-interactions with a velocity-dependent cross section. It is large enough in galaxies to thermalize the inner halo and explain the diverse rotation curves and diminishes towards galaxy clusters. Since the light mediator dominantly decays to the U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ gauge boson and neutrinos, the astrophysical and cosmological constraints are weak. We study the thermal evolution of the model in the early Universe and derive a lower bound on the gauge boson mass.

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arXiv2018

Self-heating of Strongly Interacting Massive Particles

It was recently pointed out that semi-annihilating dark matter (DM) may experience a novel temperature evolution dubbed as self-heating. Exothermic semi-annihilation converts the DM mass to the kinetic energy. This yields a unique DM temperature evolution, $T_χ \propto 1 / a$, in contrast to $ T_χ \propto 1 / a^{2}$ for free-streaming non-relativistic particles. Self-heating continues as long as self-scattering sufficiently redistributes the energy of DM particles. In this paper, we study the evolution of cosmological perturbations in self-heating DM. We find that sub-GeV self-heating DM leaves a cutoff on the subgalactic scale of the matter power spectrum when the self-scattering cross section is $σ_{\rm self} / m_χ \sim {\cal O} (1) \,{\rm cm}^{2} /{\rm g}$. Then we present a particle physics realization of the self-heating DM scenario. The model is based on recently proposed strongly interacting massive particles with pion-like particles in a QCD-like sector. Pion-like particles semi-annihilate into an axion-like particle, which is thermalized with dark radiation. The dark radiation temperature is smaller than the standard model temperature, evading the constraint from the effective number of neutrino degrees of freedom. It is easily realized when the dark sector is populated from the standard model sector through a small coupling.

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arXiv2018

Self-heating dark matter via semi-annihilation

The freeze-out of dark matter (DM) depends on the evolution of the DM temperature. The DM temperature does not have to follow the standard model one, when the elastic scattering is not sufficient to maintain the kinetic equilibrium. We study the temperature evolution of the semi-annihilating DM, where a pair of the DM particles annihilate into one DM particle and another particle coupled to the standard model sector. We find that the kinetic equilibrium is maintained solely via semi-annihilation until the last stage of the freeze-out. After the freeze-out, semi-annihilation converts the mass deficit to the kinetic energy of DM, which leads to non-trivial evolution of the DM temperature. We argue that the DM temperature redshifts like radiation as long as the DM self-interaction is efficient. We dub this novel temperature evolution as self-heating. Notably, the structure formation is suppressed at subgalactic scales like keV-scale warm DM but with GeV-scale self-heating DM if the self-heating lasts roughly until the matter-radiation equality. The long duration of the self-heating requires the large self-scattering cross section, which in turn flattens the DM density profile in inner halos. Consequently, self-heating DM can be a unified solution to apparent failures of cold DM to reproduce the observed subgalactic scale structure of the Universe.

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arXiv2018

Reannihilation of self-interacting dark matter

We explore the phenomenology of having a second epoch of dark matter annihilation into dark radiation long after the standard thermal freeze-out. Such a hidden reannihilation process could affect visible sectors only gravitationally. As a concrete realization we consider self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) with a light force mediator coupled to dark radiation. We demonstrate how resonantly Sommerfeld enhanced cross sections emerge to induce the reannihilation epoch. The effect is a temporally local modification of the Hubble expansion rate and we show that the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements -- as well as other observations -- have a high sensitivity to observe this phenomenon. Special attention is given to the model region where late kinetic decoupling and strong self-interactions can alleviate several small-scale problems in the cold dark matter paradigm at the same time. Interestingly, we find that reannihilation might here also simultaneously lower the tension between CMB and low-redshift astronomical observations of $H_{0}$ and $σ_{8}$. Moreover, we identify reannihilation as a clear signature to discriminate between the phenomenologically otherwise almost identical vector and scalar mediator realizations of SIDM.

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