arXiv subjects

María Olalla Olea-Romacho

Publications and source records attributed to María Olalla Olea-Romacho.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Wide binaries in ultra-faint dwarf galaxies as a probe of extended dark objects

Wide stellar binaries are sensitive dynamical probes of dark matter substructure. We generalize existing point-mass disruption constraints to spherical extended dark objects and apply the resulting framework to the population of wide-binary candidates identified in the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Bootes I. We derive 95% confidence limits on the dark matter fraction as a function of the perturber mass, the radius enclosing 90% of the mass, and the density profile, considering Navarro-Frenk-White, r^-3/2, and r^-9/4 models. Sufficiently compact objects converge to the point-mass limit, whereas finite size suppresses binary disruption when the perturber becomes comparable to the relevant encounter and binary scales. The constraints remain sensitive to dark matter fractions well below unity over a broad region of the mass-radius plane and extend to objects substantially larger than those accessible to conventional microlensing searches. As an application, we map the r^-3/2 results onto ultracompact minihalos and derive an illustrative constraint on the primordial curvature power spectrum. Ultra-faint-dwarf wide binaries therefore offer a purely gravitational probe of the abundance of extended dark matter objects and of the small-scale primordial curvature power spectrum.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Running of the spectral index: Reconciling the CMB with the Lyman-$α$ Forest

We investigate the scale dependence of the primordial power spectrum by combining \Planck, ACT DR6, SPT-3G, and eBOSS Lyman-$α$ forest data, extending sensitivity to smaller comoving scales than those probed by the CMB alone. Within a parametrisation based on a Taylor expansion around the pivot scale, we constrain the running of the spectral index $α_s$ and its running $β_s$. By using eBOSS likelihoods exhibiting a suppression of small-scale power either in amplitude or spectral index, we show that the latter can be accommodated by correlated variations of $(α_s,β_s)$, leading to a preference for non-zero running. We show that inflationary potentials with localised features -- such as Gaussian dips, bumps, or axion-monodromy modulations -- can reproduce the inferred scale dependence while remaining compatible with current CMB constraints. We release the public {\tt PIPE} code to enable systematic tests of inflationary potentials against current CMB datasets.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

JWST Constraints on Primordial Magnetic Fields

Primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) enhance small-scale structure formation through the Lorentz force acting on baryons, boosting the abundance of low-mass halos and their hosted galaxies. We show that the reionisation history calibrated with the UV luminosity function (UVLF) provides stringent bounds: strong PMFs induce a characteristic double reionisation at $z \approx 24$ that is incompatible with CMB measurements of the optical depth, yielding $\sqrt{\left\langle B^2 \right\rangle} < 0.27\,{\rm nG}$ and $< 0.18\,{\rm nG}$ for $n_B = -2$ and $n_B = 2$ respectively at $95\%\,{\rm CL}$ using Planck priors on $τ$. This establishes early galaxy observables as among the most sensitive probes of PMFs in Gaussian, non-helical scenarios.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Inflationary Particle Production and Implications for WIMP Substructure

We explore the observational consequences of resonant particle production during inflation, focusing on its impact on dark matter annihilation signals today. A transient burst of particle production generates localised features in the primordial power spectrum, enhancing the formation of compact small-scale dark matter structures known as prompt cusps. If dark matter consists of thermal WIMPs, the resulting small-scale structures substantially boost annihilation rates, leaving potentially detectable imprints in gamma-ray observations. Using 15 years of Fermi-LAT data targeting the Virgo cluster, we derive upper limits on the thermally averaged annihilation cross section $\langle σv \rangle$, connecting inflationary particle production in the early universe with present-day observations constraining dark matter annihilation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Benchmarking a fading window: electroweak baryogenesis in the C2HDM, LHC constraints after Run 2 and prospects for LISA

The origin of the baryon asymmetry of the universe remains one of the most pressing open questions in particle physics and cosmology. Electroweak baryogenesis offers an experimentally testable explanation, requiring new sources of CP violation and a strong first-order electroweak phase transition. The Two Higgs doublet model (2HDM) is the simplest scalar extension of the Standard Model that can accommodate both ingredients. We critically assess the viability of the complex 2HDM (C2HDM) (a 2HDM with a softly broken $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry and a single source of explicit CP violation in the Higgs sector) as a framework for electroweak baryogenesis, incorporating for the first time a comprehensive set of LHC Run 2 results at 13 TeV. By defining CP-violating benchmark planes tailored for a strong first-order electroweak phase transition, we identify regions of parameter space motivated by electroweak baryogenesis that will be testable at the LHC, and at future space-based gravitational wave experiments. The benchmark planes are intended to guide ongoing efforts in defining representative scenarios for the exploration of CP-violation in extended scalar sectors at the LHC Run 3 and beyond, while also assessing the emerging synergy between the LHC and future gravitational wave observatories such as LISA. We also quantify the current tension between the realisation of electroweak baryogenesis and the non-observation of the electron electric dipole moment (EDM), finding that the predicted electron EDMs typically exceed the experimental limits by at least an order of magnitude.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Can WIMPs Survive the Legacy of a Magnetised Early Universe?

Primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) can seed additional small-scale matter fluctuations, leading to the formation of dense, early-collapsing dark matter structures known as minihalos. These minihalos may dramatically amplify the dark matter annihilation signal if dark matter is composed of self-annihilating thermal relic particles such as WIMPs. In this work, we analyse the annihilation signal from minihalos with prompt central cusps, $ρ\propto r^{-3/2}$, formed due to the enhanced power spectrum induced by PMFs, using gamma-ray observations of the Virgo cluster. We consider benchmarks motivated by cosmological phase transitions, focusing in particular on the electroweak and QCD transitions, where we assume maximal magnetic energy density and horizon-sized coherence length at generation (upper-limit scenarios). In addition, we include a data-driven case corresponding to the best-fit present-day PMF amplitude inferred from DESI BAO and Planck CMB measurements. Under these assumptions, we find that PMFs can place stringent bounds on WIMP annihilation. Magnetic fields with amplitudes matching the DESI-Planck best-fit values are in strong tension with self-annihilating WIMPs across a wide mass range extending beyond the TeV scale, while the electroweak- and QCD-phase-transition toy-model benchmarks would exclude thermal relics with masses below $300\,\mathrm{GeV}$ and $3\,\mathrm{TeV}$, respectively. Although weaker PMFs would yield weaker annihilation signals, our results demonstrate that whenever PMFs enhance small-scale structure, indirect-detection limits on dark matter must be revisited.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Primordial Magnetogenesis in the Two-Higgs-doublet Model

$γ$-ray emission of blazars infer the presence of large-scale magnetic fields in the intergalactic medium, but their origin remains a mystery. Using recent data from MAGIC, H.E.S.S. and $\textit{Fermi}$-LAT, we investigate whether the large-scale magnetic fields in the intergalactic medium could have been generated by a first-order electroweak phase transition in the two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM). We study two representative scenarios where we vary the initial conditions of the magnetic field and the plasma, assuming either a primordial magnetic field with maximal magnetic helicity or a primordial magnetic field with negligible magnetic helicity in a plasma with kinetic helicity. By considering a primordial magnetic field with maximal helicity and applying the conservative constraints derived from MAGIC and $\textit{Fermi}$-LAT data, we demonstrate that a first-order electroweak phase transition within the 2HDM may account for the observed intergalactic magnetic fields in the case of the strongest transitions. We show that this parameter space also predicts strong gravitational wave signals in the reach of space-based detectors such as LISA, providing a striking multi-messenger signal of the 2HDM.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Searching for a new light gauge boson with axial couplings in muon beam dump experiments

We present a formalism for new $U(1)$ interactions involving weak hypercharge, baryon, and lepton numbers, and a possible axial symmetry generator $F_A$ in the presence of a second Brout-Englert-Higgs doublet. The resulting $U$ boson, after mixing with the $Z$, interpolates between a generalised dark photon, a dark $Z$, and an axially coupled gauge boson. We especially focus on the axial couplings originating from $F_A$ or from mixing with the $Z$, determined by the scalar sector via parameters like $\tanβ$ and the v.e.v. of an extra dark singlet. We explore the distinctive features of axially coupled interactions, especially in the ultrarelativistic limit, where the $U$ boson behaves much as an axion-like particle, with enhanced interactions to quarks and leptons. This enhancement is particularly relevant for future muon beam dump experiments, since the muon mass considerably increases the effective coupling, proportional to $2m_μ/m_U$, compared to analogous experiments with electrons. We also analyse the shape of the expected beam dump exclusion or discovery regions, influenced by $U$ boson interactions and the experiment geometry. Different situations are considered, limited in particular by cases for which the $U$ decays before reaching the detector, or has too small couplings to produce detectable events. We also compare to vectorially coupled bosons and axion-like pseudoscalars, highlighting the importance of understanding the parameter space for future experiment design and optimisation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Primordial black holes as dark matter: Interferometric tests of phase transition origin

We show that primordial black holes - in the observationally allowed mass window with $f_{\rm pbh}=1$ - formed from late nucleating patches in a first order phase transition imply upcoming gravitational wave interferometers will see a large stochastic background arising from the bubble collisions. As an example, we use a classically scale invariant $B-L$ model, in which the right handed neutrinos explain the neutrino masses and leptogenesis, and the dark matter consists of primordial black holes. The conclusion regarding the gravitational waves is, however, expected to hold model independently for black holes coming from such late nucleating patches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

The trap in the early Universe: impact on the interplay between gravitational waves and LHC physics in the 2HDM

We analyze the thermal history of the 2HDM and determine the parameter regions featuring a first-order electroweak phase transition (FOEWPT) and also much less studied phenomena like high-temperature electroweak (EW) symmetry non-restoration and the possibility of vacuum trapping (i.e. the Universe remains trapped in an EW-symmetric vacuum throughout the cosmological evolution, despite at $T=0$ the EW breaking vacuum is deeper). We show that the presence of vacuum trapping impedes a first-order EW phase transition in 2HDM parameter-space regions previously considered suitable for the realization of electroweak baryogenesis. Focusing then on the regions that do feature such a first-order transition, we show that the 2HDM parameter space that would yield a stochastic gravitational wave signal potentially detectable by the future LISA observatory is very contrived, and will be well probed by direct searches of 2HDM Higgs bosons at the HL-LHC, and (possibly) also via measurements of the self-coupling of the Higgs boson at 125 GeV. This has an important impact on the interplay between LISA and the LHC regarding the exploration of first-order phase transition scenarios in the 2HDM: the absence of new physics indications at the HL-LHC would severely limit the prospects of a detection by LISA. Finally, we demonstrate that as a consequence of the predicted enhancement of the self-coupling of the Higgs boson at 125 GeV the ILC would be able to probe the majority of the 2HDM parameter space yielding a FOEWPT through measurements of the self-coupling, with a large improvement in precision with respect to the HL-LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Direct detection of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone dark matter in a two Higgs doublet plus singlet extension of the SM

We calculate the leading radiative corrections to the dark-matter-nucleon scattering in the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone dark matter model augmented with a second Higgs doublet (S2HDM). In this model, the cross sections for the scattering of the dark-matter on nuclei vanishes at tree-level in the limit of zero momentum-transfer due to a U(1) symmetry. However, this symmetry is softly broken in order to give a mass to the dark-matter particle. As a consequence, non-vanishing scattering cross sections arise at the loop level. We find that the current cross-section limits from dark-matter direct-detection experiments can hardly constrain the parameter space of the S2HDM. However, the loop-corrected predictions for the scattering cross sections can be well within the reach of future direct-detection experiments. As a consequence, future phenomenological analyses of the S2HDM should take into account cross-section predictions beyond tree-level and the experimental constraints from dark-matter direct-detection experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Electroweak Asymmetric Early Universe via a Scalar Condensate

Finite temperature effects in the Standard Model tend to restore the electroweak symmetry in the early universe, but new fields coupled to the higgs field may as well reverse this tendency, leading to the so-called electroweak symmetry non-restoration (EW SNR) scenario. Previous works on EW SNR often assume that the reversal is due to the thermal fluctuations of new fields with negative quartic couplings to the higgs, and they tend to find that a large number of new fields are required. We observe that EW SNR can be minimally realized if the field(s) coupled to the higgs field develop(s) a stable condensate. We show that one complex scalar field with a sufficiently large global-charge asymmetry can develop a condensate as an outcome of thermalization and keep the electroweak symmetry broken up to temperatures well above the electroweak scale. In addition to providing a minimal benchmark model, our work hints on a class of models involving scalar condensates that yield electroweak symmetry non-restoration in the early universe.

hep-ph↗