arXiv subjects

Martti Raidal

Publications and source records attributed to Martti Raidal.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Boosted dark particles and the LZ nuclear recoil event

The LZ experiment reported one anomalous event with nuclear recoil energy of 248 keV. Galactic halo dark matter (DM) cannot produce such a large energy unless heavier than 74 GeV, and heavy DM with spin-independent interactions would have produced unseen recoils at lower energy. Inelastic DM has been proposed as a way out. We consider, instead, an elastic collision of a dark sector particle with a momentum of at least 123~MeV and mass in the range 1-74 GeV as deuteron break-up in SNO disfavors sub-GeV masses. The absence of accompanying lower-energy recoils favours interactions whose rate grows with the momentum transfer, such as a pseudoscalar-pseudoscalar nucleon operator. This implies no leading-order signal in argon, an annual modulation below 1 %, and recoils in spinful light nuclei where inelastic halo DM gives nothing.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Quintessence and phantoms in light of DESI 2025

We analyse DESI BAO, CMB, and supernova data to explore the physical origin of the DESI indication for dynamical dark energy. Beyond the standard CPL parametrization, we explore truncated alternatives and quintessence models. We conclude that there is compelling evidence for dark energy to be decaying in the late universe, but the evidence for a phantom behaviour is less significant. Models without phantom behaviour are compatible with the data at the $2\sigma$ CL. Furthermore, we examine a concrete quintessence scenario with a Higgs-like potential, allowing for a direct comparison with parametrized approaches and testing its consistency with current observations. This framework enables a broader investigation of late-time cosmic evolution and reveals a $93.8\%$ preference for a future transition into an anti-de Sitter space, which may ultimately lead to a cosmological collapse of our Universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Has ACT measured radiative corrections to the tree-level Higgs-like inflation?

Starobinsky inflation and nonminimally coupled (NMC) Higgs inflation have been among the most favored models of the early Universe, as their predictions for the scalar spectral index $n_s$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ fall comfortably within the constraints set by Planck and BICEP/Keck. However, new results from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) suggest a preference for higher values of $n_s$, introducing tension with the simplest realizations of these models. In this work, being agnostic about the nature of the inflaton, we show that incorporating one-loop corrections to a quartic NMC inflationary scenario leads to a shift in the predicted value of $n_s$, which brings NMC inflation into better agreement with ACT observations. The effect is even more significant when the model is formulated in the Palatini approach, where the modified field-space structure naturally enhances deviations from the metric case. These findings highlight the importance of quantum corrections and gravitational degrees of freedom in refining inflationary predictions in light of new data.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Interpreting DESI 2024 BAO: late-time dynamical dark energy or a local effect?

We perform fits to DESI, CMB and supernova data to understand the physical origin of the DESI hint for dynamical dark energy. We find that the linear parametrization of the equation of state $w$ may guide to misleading interpretations, such as the hint for a phantom Universe, which are not preferred by the data. Instead, physical quintessence models fit the data well. Model-independently, present observations prefer deviations from the constant dark energy, $w=-1$, only at very low redshifts, $z < \mathcal{O}(0.1)$. We find that this result is driven by low-$z$ supernova data. Therefore, either the fundamental properties of our Universe, characterised by the equation of state $w$ and the Hubble parameter $H$, underwent dramatic changes very recently or, alternatively, we do not fully understand the systematics of our local Universe in a radius of about $300\,h^{-1}\rm Mpc$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Formation of primordial black hole binaries and their merger rates

We review the theory behind the formation of primordial black hole binaries and their merger rates. We consider the binary formation in the early and late Universe, emphasising the former as it gives the dominant contribution of the present primordial black hole merger rate. The binaries formed in the early Universe are highly eccentric so their interactions with other primordial black holes can significantly increase their coalescence times and thereby suppress the merger rate. We discuss in detail how the suppression of the merger rate arising from such interactions can be estimated and how such interactions lead to the formation of another, much harder, binary population that contributes to the present merger rate if more than 10% of dark matter consists of primordial black holes with a relatively narrow mass distribution. When the primordial abundance is below 1%, encounters between primordial black holes are unlikely and their effect on the merger rate becomes negligible.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Probing sterile neutrino freeze-in at stronger coupling

The regime of dark matter (DM) freeze-in at stronger coupling interpolates between freeze-in and freeze-out. It relies on Boltzmann-suppressed dark matter production, implying that the Standard Model bath temperature never exceeds the dark matter mass. In this work, we study this regime in the context of sterile neutrino dark matter, which can be sufficiently long-lived for a tiny sterile-active mixing. The sterile neutrino is assumed to couple to a real singlet scalar, providing for a thermal production mechanism of the former. We find that DM mass can range from GeV to tens of TeV consistently with all the constraints. The most interesting aspect of the consequent freeze-in phenomenology is that the sterile neutrino dark matter can be probed efficiently by both direct detection experiments and invisible Higgs decay at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

What is the source of the PTA GW signal?

The most conservative interpretation of the nHz stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) discovered by NANOGrav and other Pulsar Timing Array (PTA) Collaborations is astrophysical, namely that it originates from supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. However, alternative cosmological models have been proposed, including cosmic strings, phase transitions, domain walls, primordial fluctuations and "audible" axions. We perform a multi-model analysis (MMA) to compare how well these different hypotheses fit the NANOGrav data, both in isolation and in combination with SMBH binaries, and address the questions: Which interpretations fit the data best, and which are disfavoured? We also discuss experimental signatures that can help discriminate between different sources of the PTA GW signal, including fluctuations in the signal strength between frequency bins, individual sources and how the PTA signal extends to higher frequencies.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Prospects for Future Binary Black Hole GW Studies in Light of PTA Measurements

NANOGrav and other Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) have discovered a common-spectrum process in the nHz range that may be due to gravitational waves (GWs): if so, they are likely to have been generated by black hole (BH) binaries with total masses $> 10^9 M_{\odot}$. Using the Extended Press-Schechter formalism to model the galactic halo mass function and a simple relation between the halo and BH masses suggests that these binaries have redshifts $z = {O}(1)$ and mass ratios $\gtrsim 10$, and that the GW signal at frequencies above ${O}(10)$~nHz may be dominated by relatively few binaries that could be distinguished experimentally and would yield observable circular polarization. Extrapolating the model to higher frequencies indicates that future GW detectors such as LISA and AEDGE could extend the PTA observations to lower BH masses $\in (10^6, 10^9 ) M_{\odot}$ and $\in (10^3, 10^9) M_{\odot}$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Did JWST observe imprints of axion miniclusters or primordial black holes?

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected surprisingly luminous early galaxies that indicate a tension with the $Λ$CDM. Motivated by scenarios including axion miniclusters or primordial black holes, we consider power-law modifications of the matter power spectrum. We show that the tension could be resolved if dark matter consists of $2\times 10^{-18}{\rm eV}$ axions or if a fraction $f_{\rm PBH} > 0.005$ of dark matter is composed of compact heavy $4\times 10^6 M_\odot (f_{\rm PBH}/0.005)^{-1}$ structures such as primordial black hole clusters. However, in both cases, the star formation efficiency needs to be significantly enhanced.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Production and decays of 146 GeV flavons into $eμ$ final state at the LHC

The CMS experiment at CERN has reported a possible signal for a resonance at 146 GeV decaying into the $eμ$ final state which, presently, is the only experimental hint for lepton flavour violation in any low- and high-energy experiment. The Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism naturally predicts the existence of new scalars, the flavons, with flavour off-diagonal couplings. We study this framework in the context of the CMS result and find that the minimal, purely leptophilic model is too restricted to match the claimed signal. Thereafter we show how models with additional flavon couplings to quarks can explain the claimed signal while satisfying all the existing constraints on lepton flavour violation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Non-supersymmetric SO(10) models with Gauge and Yukawa coupling unification

We study a non-supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unification Theory with a very high energy intermediate symmetry breaking scale in which not only gauge but also Yukawa coupling unification are enforced via suitable threshold corrections and matching conditions. For gauge unification, we focus on a few symmetry breaking patterns with the intermediate gauge groups ${\rm SU(4)_C \times SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R}$ (Pati-Salam) and ${\rm SU(3)_C \times SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R\times U(1)_{B-L}}$ (minimal left-right symmetry) assuming an additional global U(1) Peccei--Quinn symmetry, and having the Standard Model supplemented by a second Higgs doublet field at the electroweak scale. We derive the conditions as well as the approximate analytical solutions for the unification of the gauge coupling constants at the two-loop level and discuss the constraints from proton decay on the resulting high scale. Specializing to the case of the Pati-Salam intermediate breaking pattern, we then impose also the unification of the Yukawa couplings of third generation fermions at the high scale, again at the two-loop level. In the considered context, Yukawa unification implies a relation between the fermion couplings to the 10- and 126-dimensional scalar representations of the SO(10) group. We consider one such possible relation which is obtainable in an ${\rm E_6}$ model where the previous two scalar fields are part of a single multiplet. Taking into account some phenomenological features such as the absence of flavor changing neutral currents at tree-level, we derive constraints on the parameters of the low energy model, in particular on the ratio of the two Higgs doublets vacuum expectation values $\tanβ$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Yukawa coupling unification in non-supersymmetric SO(10) models with an intermediate scale

We discuss the possibility of unifying in a simple and economical manner the Yukawa couplings of third generation fermions in a non-supersymmetric SO(10) model with an intermediate symmetry breaking, focusing on two possible patterns with intermediate Pati-Salam and minimal left-right groups. assume a minimal Yukawa sector at high energy, starting with two Higgs bi-doublets at the intermediate scale which then simply reduce to a two Higgs doublet model at the electroweak scale. We first enforce gauge coupling unification at the two-loop level by including the threshold corrections in the renormalisation group running which are generated by the heavy fields that appear at the intermediate symmetry breaking scale. We then study the running of the Yukawa couplings of the top quark, bottom quark and tau lepton at two-loops in these two breaking schemes, when the appropriate matching conditions are imposed. We find that the unification of the third family Yukawa couplings can be achieved while retaining a viable spectrum, provided that the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs doublet fields is large, $\tanβ\approx 60$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Two populations of LIGO-Virgo black holes

We analyse the LIGO-Virgo data, including the recently released GWTC-2 dataset, to test a hypothesis that the data contains more than one population of black holes. We perform a maximum likelihood analysis including a population of astrophysical black holes with a truncated power-law mass function whose merger rate follows from star formation rate, and a population of primordial black holes for which we consider log-normal and critical collapse mass functions. We find that primordial black holes alone are strongly disfavoured by the data, while the best fit is obtained for the template combining astrophysical and primordial merger rates. Alternatively, the data may hint towards two different astrophysical black hole populations. We also update the constraints on primordial black hole abundance from LIGO-Virgo observations finding that in the $2-400M_\odot$ mass range they must comprise less than 0.2% of dark matter.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Dark Matter-Induced Multi-Phase Dynamical Symmetry Breaking

We consider the classically scale invariant Higgs-dilaton model of dynamical symmetry breaking extended with an extra scalar field that plays the role of dark matter. The Higgs boson is light near a critical boundary between different symmetry breaking phases, where quantum corrections beyond the usual Gildener-Weinberg approximation become relevant. This implies a tighter connection between dark matter and Higgs phenomenology. The model has only three free parameters, yet it allows for the observed relic abundance of dark matter while respecting all constraints. The direct detection cross section mediated by the Higgs boson is determined by the dark matter mass alone and is testable at future experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Multi-phase critical Higgs boson at colliders

The recently proposed multi-phase criticality principle in Coleman-Weinberg models can provide a new explanation for the hierarchy between the electroweak and new physics scales. When applied to the Standard Model, a Higgs boson as light as the pseudo-Goldstone boson of broken scale invariance occurs. The suppressed mixing between the two light fields still carries information about the large scale of symmetry breaking, albeit up to logarithmic corrections. In this work we probe this scenario with the present LHC data and assess the impact of future lepton and hadron colliders. Our results show that the multi-phase criticality can easily explain the apparent absence of new physics at the energy scales tested in current experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Primordial black holes from spectator field bubbles

We study the evolution of light spectator fields in an asymmetric polynomial potential. During inflation, stochastic fluctuations displace the spectator field from the global minimum of its potential, populating the false vacuum state and thereby allowing for the formation of false vacuum bubbles. By using a lattice simulation, we show that these bubbles begin to contract once they re-enter the horizon and, if sufficiently large, collapse into black holes. This process generally results in the formation of primordial black holes, which, due to the specific shape of their mass function, are constrained to yield at most 1% of the total dark matter abundance. However, the resulting population can source gravitational wave signals observable at the LIGO-Virgo experiments, provide seeds for supermassive black holes or cause a transient matter-dominated phase in the early Universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Phenomenology of a Fake Inert Doublet Model

We introduce a new way of modeling the physics beyond the Standard Model by considering fake, strictly off-shell degrees of freedom: the fakeons. To demonstrate the approach and exemplify its reach, we re-analyze the phenomenology of the Inert Doublet Model under the assumption that the second doublet is a fakeon. Remarkably, the fake doublet avoids the most stringent $Z$-pole constraints regardless of the chosen mass scale, thereby allowing for the presence of new effects well below the electroweak scale. Furthermore, the absence of on-shell propagation prevents fakeons from inducing missing energy signatures in collider experiments. The distinguishing features of the model appear at the loop level, where fakeons modify the Higgs boson $h\toγγ$ decay width and the Higgs trilinear coupling. The running of Standard Model parameters proceeds as in the usual Inert Doublet Model case. Therefore, the fake doublet can also ensure the stability of the Standard Model vacuum. Our work shows that fakeons are a valid alternative to the usual tools of particle physics model building, with the potential to shape a new paradigm, where the significance of the existing experimental constraints towards new physics must necessarily be reconsidered.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Gravitational dark matter production in Palatini preheating

We study preheating in plateau inflation in the Palatini formulation of general relativity, in a special case that resembles Higgs inflation. It was previously shown that the oscillating inflaton field returns to the plateau repeatedly in this model, and this leads to tachyonic production of inflaton particles. We show that a minimally coupled spectator scalar field can be produced even more efficiently by a similar mechanism. The mechanism is purely gravitational, and the scalar field mass can be of order $10^{13}$ GeV, larger than the Hubble scale by many orders of magnitude, making this a candidate for superheavy dark matter.

astro-ph.CO↗