arXiv subjects

Elaine C. F. S. Fortes

Publications and source records attributed to Elaine C. F. S. Fortes.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Dark matter Annihilation in the Most Luminous and the Most Massive Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxies (UCD)

In this paper, we explore the potential astrophysical signatures of dark matter (DM) annihilations in ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) considering two of the richest known galaxy clusters within 100 million light-years, nominally, Virgo and Fornax. Fornax UCD3 is the most luminous known UCD and M59 UCD3 is the most massive known UCD. With the detection of a 3.5 million solar mass black hole (BH) in Fornax UCD3, we carefully model several dark matter (DM) enhanced profile scenarios, considering the presence of both a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and DM. For Fornax UCD3, the comparison of the stellar and dynamical masses suggests that there is little content of DM in UCDs. M59 UCD3 did not receive the same attention in simulations as Fornax UCD3, however deep radio imaging and X-ray observations were performed for M59 UCD3 and can be used to place limits in DM content of these UCDs. We take an average estimate of dark matter content and used the Salpeter and Kroupa mass functions. We model Fornax UCD3 and M59 UCD3 to have a DM content that is the average of these mass functions. We then analyze the constraints for Fornax and M59 UCD3 coming from $γ$-ray and radio sources, considering a dark matter particle with a mass between 10 and 34 GeV in our simulations. In the absence of a strong $γ$-ray signature, we show that the synchrotron emission from electrons and positrons produced by DM annihilations can be very sensitive to indirect DM search. We find that DM parameters can be significantly constrained at radio frequencies and that the spike profiles play an interesting role in the deep study of the enhancements of DM & BH interactions in ultra-compact galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

What Could be the Observational Signature of Dark Matter in Globular Clusters?

Here we investigate the possibility that some globular clusters (GCs) harbor intermediate mass black holes (BH) in their centers and are also embedded in a low-mass dark matter (DM) halo. Up to date, there is no evidence on whether or not GCs have DM in their constitution. For standard cold DM cosmology, it is expected that GCs form with their own DM halos. Other studies investigate the possibility that GCs were initially embedded in massive DM halos that evolved during the cluster lifetime. An additional intriguing question is related to the existence of intermediate mass black holes (IMBH) in the of GCs. The determination of whether GCs hold IMBHs would be able to answer important questions about GCs formation and the circumstances that gave rise to the IMBHs. DM & IMBH in the context of GCs are interesting subjects to be studied and we will perform such studies here, assuming the coexistence of both of them in some GCs. Having such information, we perform the study possible DM signals from GCs. One important subject to be studied is the DM density profile. In the inner regions of GCs, the DM density profile is still an open question of fundamental importance to DM studies, specially for the study of radio and $γ$-ray emission from DM annihilation in such regions (abridged).

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Some Implications of the Leptonic Annihilation of Dark Matter: Possible Galactic Radio Emission Signatures and the Excess Radio Flux of Extragalactic Origin

We give theoretical predictions for the radio emission of a dark matter candidate annihilating into 2-lepton and 4-lepton final states. We then compare our results with the known radio measurements of the sky temperature as a function of the frequency. In particular, we calculate the radio emission for some dark matter candidates annihilating into intermediate bosons that subsequently decay into a 4-lepton channel with a thermal annihilation cross-section. We show that within the range of frequencies from $20\,{\rm MHz}$ to $5\,{\rm GHz}$, this channel can produce a stronger signature than direct annihilation into leptons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Skew-Flavored Dark Matter

We explore a novel flavor structure in the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model. We consider theories in which both the dark matter candidate, and the particles that mediate its interactions with the Standard Model fields, carry flavor quantum numbers. The interactions are skewed in flavor space, so that a dark matter particle does not directly couple to the Standard Model matter fields of the same flavor, but only to the other two flavors. This framework respects Minimal Flavor Violation, and is therefore naturally consistent with flavor constraints. We study the phenomenology of a benchmark model in which dark matter couples to right-handed charged leptons. In large regions of parameter space the dark matter can emerge as a thermal relic, while remaining consistent with the constraints from direct and indirect detection. The collider signatures of this scenario include events with multiple leptons and missing energy. These events exhibit a characteristic flavor pattern that may allow this class of models to be distinguished from other theories of dark matter.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Low Mass Pseudoscalar Dark Matter in an Extended B - L Model

We study an extended B-L model, which has in its structure four neutral scalars. In this model, a representative set of parameters enable us to conclude that one of these scalars is a promising candidate for low-mass dark matter. We introduce an Z_2 symmetry, which ensure the stability of the dark matter. The dominant annihilation process will be through $s$-channel exchange of a scalar in $b\overline{b}$. So, this is also a Higgs portal dark matter model, but the Higgs decay to dark matter is suppressed and meets the constraints from invisible decays of Higgs boson. The model is also in agreement with the constraints established by XENON100, CoGeNT and CDMS experiments, maching the relic abundance and the cross section with nucleon.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Flavor Physics Constraints on TeV Scale Color Sextet Scalars

In this work we present an analysis of flavor violating effects mediated by color sextet scalars, which arise naturally in left-right symmetric gauge theories based on SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R \times SU(4)_C group. The sextets, denoted here by Δ_{dd}, Delta_{ud} and Δ_{uu}, couple to right--handed quarks. We delineate the constraints on these couplings arising from meson--anti-meson transitions and flavor changing weak decays. The sextet Δ_{uu} mediates D^{0}-\bar{D}^{0} mixing via tree-level and box diagrams, and also mediates D --> K pi, pi pi decays. The sextets Δ_{ud} and Δ_{dd} mediate B_{d}^{0}-\bar{B}_{d}^{0}, B_{s}^{0}-\bar{B}_{s}^{0} and K^{0}-\bar{K}^{0} mixings as well as rare B and D meson decays. Our analysis shows that for coupling strengths of order 10^{-2}, the current experimental data requires the mass of these color sextets to exceed several TeV. These bounds are stronger than those obtained from direct LHC searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Post-Sphaleron Baryogenesis and an Upper Limit on the Neutron-Antineutron Oscillation Time

A recently proposed scenario for baryogenesis, called post--sphaleron baryogenesis (PSB) is discussed within a class of quark--lepton unified framework based on the gauge symmetry SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x SU(4)_c realized in the multi--TeV scale. The baryon asymmetry of the universe in this model is produced below the electroweak phase transition temperature after the sphalerons have decoupled from the Hubble expansion. These models embed naturally the seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses, and predict color-sextet scalar particles in the TeV range which may be accessible to the LHC experiments. A necessary consequence of this scenario is the baryon number violating ΔB=2 process of neutron--antineutron (n-\bar{n}) oscillations. In this paper we show that the constraints of PSB, when combined with the neutrino oscillation data and restrictions from flavor changing neutral currents mediated by the colored scalars imply an upper limit on the n-\bar{n} oscillation time of 5 x 10^{10} sec. regardless of the quark--lepton unification scale. If this scale is relatively low, in the (200-250) TeV range, τ_{n-\bar{n}} is predicted to be less than 10^{10} sec., which is accessible to the next generation of proposed experiments.

hep-ph↗