arXiv subjects

Yu-Feng Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Yu-Feng Zhou.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Antiprotons from dark matter annihilation through light mediators and a possible excess in AMS-02 $\bar{p}/p$ data

We show that in the scenario where dark matter (DM) particles annihilate through light mediators, the energy spectra of the final state cosmic-ray particles depend strongly on the mediator mass. For final state antiprotons, a spectrum with relatively narrow peak occurs when the mediator mass is comparable to the $\pbar p$ production threshold. Of interest, the latest AMS-02 data on the $\pbar/p$ flux ratio hint at a bump-like excess over the expected background in the energy range $\sim100-450$ GeV. We show that such a light mediator scenario is favoured by the latest AMS-02 data over the scenarios of DM direct annihilation into the standard model particles and that of antiprotons produced from inside supernova remnants (SNRs), and is consistent with the upper limits derived from the Fermi-LAT data on the gamma rays towards the dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The $\pbar/p$ flux ratio with energy above 450 GeV is predicted to fall with energy quickly, which can be easily distinguished from the other two scenarios as they predict the ratio to be flattening or rising up to multi-TeV region.

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arXiv2016

On the evaporation of solar dark matter: spin-independent effective operators

As a part of the effort to investigate the implications of dark matter (DM)-nucleon effective interactions on the solar DM detection, in this paper we focus on the evaporation of the solar DM for a set of the DM-nucleon spin-independent (SI) effective operators. In order to put the evaluation of the evaporation rate on a more reliable ground, we calculate the non-thermal distribution of the solar DM using the Monte Carlo methods, rather than adopting the Maxwellian approximation. We then specify relevant signal parameter spaces for the solar DM detection for various SI effective operators. Based on the analysis, we determine the minimum DM masses for which the DM-nucleon coupling strengths can be probed from the solar neutrino observations. As an interesting application, our investigation also shows that evaporation effect can not be neglectd in a recent proposal aiming to solve the solar abundance problem by invoking the momentum-dependent asymmetric DM in the Sun.

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arXiv2016

Connecting the LHC diphoton excess to the Galatic center gamma-ray excess

The recent LHC Run-2 data have shown a possible excess in diphoton events, suggesting the existence of a new resonance $ϕ$ with mass $M\sim 750$~GeV. If $ϕ$ plays the role of a portal particle connecting the Standard Model and the invisible dark sector, the diphoton excess should be correlated with another photon excess, namely, the excess in the diffuse gamma rays towards the Galactic center, which can be interpreted by the annihilation of dark matter(DM). We investigate the necessary conditions for a consistent explanation for the two photon excesses, especially the requirement on the width-to-mass ratio $Γ/M$ and $ϕ$ decay channels, in a collection of DM models where the DM particle can be scalar, fermionionic and vector, and $ϕ$ can be generated through $s$-channel $gg$ fusion or $q\bar q$ annihilation. We show that the minimally required $Γ/M$ is determined by a single parameter proportional to $(m_χ/M)^{n}$, where the integer $n$ depends on the nature of the DM particle. We find that for the scalar DM model with $ϕ$ generated from $q\bar q$ annihilation, the minimally required $Γ/M$ can be as low as $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$. For the scalar DM model with $ϕ$ generated from $gg$ fusion and fermionic DM model with $ϕ$ from $q\bar q$ annihilation, the required $Γ/M$ are typically of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$. The vector DM models, however, require very large $Γ/M$ of order one. For the DM models which can consistently explain both the excesses,the predicted cross sections for gamma-ray line are typically of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-31}-10^{-29})~\text{cm}^{3}\text{s}^{-1}$, which are close to the current limits from the Fermi-LAT experiment.

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arXiv2016

A 750 GeV dark matter messenger at the Galactic Center

The first data from the LHC Run-2 have shown a possible excess in diphoton events with invariant mass $\sim 750$ GeV, suggesting the existence of a new resonance which may decay dominantly into dark matter (DM) particles. We show in a simple model that the reported diphoton excess at the LHC is consistent with another photon excess, the $2$ GeV excess in cosmic gamma-ray fluxes towards the Galactic Center observed by the Fermi-LAT. Both the excesses can be simultaneously explained by a $\sim 60$ GeV scalar DM particle annihilating dominantly into two gluons with a typical thermal annihilation cross section, which leads to the prediction of a large width to mass ratio $Γ/M\approx \mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ of the resonance. The upper limit on the dijet search at LHC Run-1 leads to a $lower$ limit on the predicted cross section for DM annihilating into $γγ$ final states $\langleσv\rangle_{γγ} \gtrsim\mathcal{O}(10^{-30})~\mbox{cm}^{3}\mbox{s}^{-1}$. Both the predictions can be tested by the LHC, Fermi-LAT and future experiments.

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arXiv2015

Long-range self-interacting dark matter in the Sun

We investigate the implications of the long-rang self-interaction on both the self-capture and the annihilation of the self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) trapped in the Sun. Our discussion is based on a specific SIDM model in which DM particles self-interact via a light scalar mediator, or Yukawa potential, in the context of quantum mechanics. Within this framework, we calculate the self-capture rate across a broad region of parameter space. While the self-capture rate can be obtained separately in the Born regime with perturbative method, and the classical limits with the Rutherford formula, our calculation covers the gap between in a non-perturbative fashion. Besides, the phenomelogy of both the Sommerfeld-enhanced s- and p-wave annihilation of the solar SIDM is also involved in our discussion. Moreover, by combining the analysis of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) data and the observed DM relic density, we constrain the nuclear capture rate of the DM particles in the presence of the dark Yukawa potential. The consequence of the long-range dark force on probing the solar SIDM turns out to be significant if the force-carrier is much lighter than the DM particle, and a quantitative analysis is provided.

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arXiv2015

Implications of the first AMS-02 antiproton data for dark matter

The implications of the first AMS-02 $\bar p/p$ data for the propagation of cosmic rays and the properties of dark matter (DM) are discussed. Using various diffusive re-acceleration (DR) propagation models, one can derive very conservative upper limits on the DM annihilation cross sections. The limits turned out to be compatible with that from the Ferm-LAT gamma-ray data on the dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies. The flattening of the $\bar p/p$ spectrum above $\sim 100$~GeV in the current data still leaves some room for TeV scale DM particles. More antiproton data at high kinetic energies are needed to constrain the properties of the DM particles.

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arXiv2015

Upper limits on DM annihilation cross sections from the first AMS-02 antiproton data

The first measurement on the antiproton to proton ratio made by the AMS-02 collaboration agrees with the expection from conventional cosmic-ray secondaries in the kinetic energy range $\sim 10-100$ GeV, which can be turned into stringent upper limits on the dark matter (DM) annihilation cross sections above $\sim 300$ GeV. Using the GALPROP code, we derive the upper limits in various propagation models and DM profiles. We show that in the "conventional" propagation model, for the $q\bar q$, $b\bar b$, and $WW$ final states, the constraints can be more stringent than that derived from the recent Ferm-LAT gamma-ray data on the dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies. Making use of the typical minimal, median and maximal models obtained from a previous global fit, we show that the variation of the upper limits is around a factor of five. The possibility of DM contribution to the high energy $\bar p/p$ data is discussed.

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arXiv2015

Cosmic ray propagation and dark matter in light of the latest AMS-02 data

The AMS-02 experiment is measuring the high energy charged cosmic rays with unprecedented accuracy. We explore the possibility of determining the cosmic-ray propagation models using the AMS-02 data $alone$. A global Bayesian analysis of the constraints on the cosmic-ray propagation models from the latest AMS-02 data on the Boron to Carbon nuclei flux ratio and proton flux is performed, with the assumption that the primary nucleon source is a broken power law in rigidity. The ratio of the diffusion coefficient $D_{0}$ to the diffusive halo height $Z_{h}$ is found to be determined with high accuracy $D_{0}/Z_{h}\simeq 2.00\pm0.07\text{cm}^{2}\text{s}^{-1}\text{kpc}^{-1}$. The best-fit value of the halo width is $Z_{h}\simeq 3.3$ kpc with uncertainty less than $50\$. As a consequence, the typical uncertainties in the positron fraction is within a factor of two, and that in the antiproton flux is within an order of magnitude. Both of them are significantly smaller than that from the analyses prior to AMS-02. Taking into account all the uncertainties and correlations in the propagation parameters we derive conservative upper limits on the cross sections for DM annihilating into various standard model final states from the current PAMELA antiproton data. We also investigate the reconstruction capability of the future AMS-02 antiproton data on the DM properties. The result shows that for DM particles lighter than 100 GeV and with typical thermal annihilation cross section, the cross section can be well reconstructed with uncertainties about a factor of two for the AMS-02 three-year data taking.

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arXiv2015

Direct detection of dark matter with resonant annihilation

In the scenario where the dark matter (DM) particles $χ\barχ$ pair annihilate through a resonance particle $R$, the constraint from DM relic density makes the corresponding cross section for DM-nuclei elastic scattering extremely small, and can be below the neutrino background induced by the coherent neutrino-nuclei scattering, which makes the DM particle beyond the reach of the conventional DM direct detection experiments. We present an improved analytical calculation of the DM relic density in the case of resonant DM annihilation for $s$- and $p$-wave cases and invesitgate the condition for the DM-nuclei scattering cross section to be above the neutrino background. We show that in Higgs-portal type models, for DM particles with $s$-wave annihilation, the spin-independent DM-nucleus scattering cross section is proportional to $Γ_{R}/m_{R}$, the ratio of the decay width and the mass of $R$. For a typical DM particle mass $\sim50$ GeV, the condition leads to $Γ_{R}/m_{R} \gtrsim \mathcal{O}(10^{-4})$. In $p$-wave annihilation case, the spin-independent scattering cross section is insensitive to $Γ_{R}/m_{R}$, and is always above the neutrino background, as long as the DM particle is lighter than the top quark. The real singlet DM model is discussed as a concrete example.

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arXiv2015

Light mediators in dark matter direct detections

In an extended effective operator framework, we investigate in detail the effects of light mediators on the event spectra of dark matter (DM)-nucleus scatterings. The presence of light mediators changes the interpretation of the current experimental data, especially the determination of DM particle mass. We show by analytic and numerical illustrations that for all the operators relevant to spin-independent scatterings, the DM particle mass allowed by the data increases significantly when the mediator particle becomes lighter. For the data of CDMS-II-Si, the allowed DM particle mass can reach $\sim 50$ GeV, depending on the type of operators, and the increase of DM particle mass saturates when the mediator mass is below $\mathcal{O}(10)$ MeV. The upper limits from other experiments such as SuperCDMS, CDMSlite, CDEX, XENON10/100, LUX, PandaX etc. all tend to be weaker toward high DM mass regions. In a combined analysis, we show that the presence of light mediators can partially relax the tension in the current results of CDMS-II-Si, SuperCDMS and LUX.

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arXiv2014

Strongly first order phase transition in the singlet fermionic dark matter model after LUX

We investigate an extension of the standard model (SM) with a singlet fermionic dark matter (DM) particle which interacts with the SM sector through a real singlet scalar. The presence of a new scalar provides the possibility of generating a strongly first order phase transition needed for electroweak baryogenesis. Taking into account the latest Higgs search results at the LHC and the upper limits from the DM direct detection experiments especially that from the LUX experiment, and combining the constraints from the LEP experiment and the electroweak precision test, we explore the parameter space of this model which can lead to the strongly first order phase transition. Both the tree- and loop-level barriers are included in the calculations. We find that the allowed mass of the second Higgs particle is in the range $\sim 30-350\hbox{ GeV}$. The allowed mixing angle $α$ between the SM-like Higgs particle and the second Higgs particle is constrained to $α\lesssim 28^{\circ}$. The DM particle mass is predicted to be in the range $\sim 15-350\hbox{ GeV}$. The future XENON1T experiment can rule out a significant proportion of the parameter space of this model. The constraint can be relaxed only when the mass of the SM-like Higgs particle is degenerate with that of the second Higgs particle, or the mixing angle is small enough.

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arXiv2014

Model-Independent Identification of Inelastic WIMPs from Direct Dark Matter Detection Experiments

In this paper, we introduce model-independent data analysis procedures for identifying inelastic WIMP-nucleus scattering as well as for reconstructing the mass and the mass splitting of inelastic WIMPs simultaneously and separately. Our simulations show that, with O(50) observed WIMP signals from one experiment, one could already distinguish the inelastic WIMP scattering scenarios from the elastic one. By combining two or more data sets with positive signals, the WIMP mass and the mass splitting could even be reconstructed with statistical uncertainties of less than a factor of two.

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arXiv2013

Implications of the first AMS-02 measurement for dark matter annihilation and decay

In light of the first measurement of the positron fraction by the AMS-02 experiment, we perform a detailed global analysis on the interpretation of the latest data of PAMELA, Fermi-LAT, and AMS-02 in terms of dark matter (DM) annihilation and decay in various propagation models. The allowed regions for the DM particle mass and annihilation cross section or decay life-time are obtained for channels with leptonic final states: $2e$, $2μ$, $2τ$, $4e$, $4μ$ and $4τ$. We show that for the conventional astrophysical background the AMS-02 positron fraction data alone favour a DM particle mass $\sim 500 \ (800)$ GeV if DM particles annihilate dominantly into $2μ\ (4μ)$ final states, which is significantly lower than that favoured by the Fermi-LAT data of the total flux of electrons and positrons. The allowed regions by the two experiments do not overlap at a high confidence level ($99.99999\%$C.L.). We consider a number of propagation models with different halo height $Z_{h}$, diffusion parameters $D_{0}$ and $δ_{1/2}$, and power indices of primary nucleon sources $γ_{p1/p2}$. The normalization and the slope of the electron background are also allowed to vary. We find that the tension between the two experiments can be only slightly reduced in the propagation model with large $Z_{h}$ and $D_{0}$. The consistency of fit is improved for annihilation channels with $2τ$ and $4τ$ final states which favour TeV scale DM particle with large cross sections above $\sim 10^{-23} \text{cm}^3\text{s}^{-1}$. In all the considered leptonic channels, the current data favour the scenario of DM annihilation over DM decay. In the decay scenario, the charge asymmetric DM decay is slightly favoured.

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arXiv2013

Fourth generation Majorana neutrino, dark matter and Higgs physics

We consider extensions of the standard model with fourth generation fermions (SM4) in which extra symmetries are introduced such that the transitions between the fourth generation fermions and the ones in the first three generations are forbidden. In these models, the stringent lower bounds on the masses of fourth generation quarks from direct searches are relaxed, and the lightest fourth neutrino is allowed to be stable and light enough to trigger the Higgs boson invisible decay. In addition, the fourth Majorana neutrino can be a subdominant but highly detectable dark matter component. We perform a global analysis of the current LHC data on the Higgs production and decay in this type of SM4. The results show that the mass of the lightest fourth Majorana neutrino is confined in the range $\sim 41-59$ GeV. Within the allowed parameter space, the predicted effective cross-section for spin-independent DM-nucleus scattering is $\sim 3\times 10^{-48}-6\times 10^{-46} \text{cm}^{2}$, which is close to the current Xenon100 upper limit and is within the reach of the Xenon1T experiment in the near future. The predicted spin-dependent cross sections can also reach $\sim 8\times 10^{-40}\text{cm}^{2}$.

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arXiv2013

Sommerfeld enhancements with vector, scalar and pseudoscalar force-carriers

The first AMS-02 measurement confirms the existence of an excess in the cosmic-ray positron fraction previously reported by the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT experiments. If interpreted in terms of thermal dark matter (DM) annihilation, the AMS-02 result still suggests that the DM annihilation cross section in the present day should be significantly larger than that at freeze out. The Sommerfeld enhancement of DM annihilation cross section as a possible explanation for the observed excesses is subject to constraint from the DM thermal relic density, mainly due to the annihilation of DM particles into force-carrier particles introduced by the mechanism. We show that the effect of the Sommerfeld enhancement and the relic density constraint depend significantly on the nature of the force-carrier. Three cases where the force-carrier is a vector boson, scalar and pseudoscalar particle are investigated and compared with each other. The results show that for the vector force-carrier, the Sommerfeld enhancement can marginally account for the AMS-02 data for $2μ$ final states, while for scalar force-carrier the allowed Sommerfeld enhancement can be larger by a factor of two. For the case with a pesudoscalar force-carrier, the Sommerfeld enhancement can be large enough to accommodate the AMS-02 and Fermi-LAT result for a variety of DM annihilation final states.

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arXiv2013

The 130 GeV gamma-ray line and Sommerfeld enhancements

Recently, possible indications of line spectral features in the Fermi-LAT photon spectrum towards the galactic center have been reported. If the distinct line features arise from dark matter (DM) annihilation into $γX (X=γ, Z^{0} or h^{0})$, the corresponding annihilation cross-section is unnaturally large for typical loop-induced radiative processes. On the other hand, it is still too small to be responsible for the observed DM relic density. We show that the mechanism of Sommerfeld enhancement with scalar force-carrier can provide a simple solution to these puzzles. The possibly large Sommerfeld enhancement of the cross-section for s-wave DM annihilation can significantly reduce the required effective couplings between DM and charged particles in typical loop diagrams. The DM particles necessarily annihilate into scalar force-carriers through tree-level p-wave process, which can dominate the total DM annihilation cross-section at freeze out, resulting in the correct thermal relic density, but has subdominant contributions to the DM annihilation today due to velocity suppression. We perform detailed analysis on the effects of p-wave Sommerfeld enhancement on freeze out. The results show that with the constraints from the thermal relic density, the required effective couplings can be reduced by an order of magnitude.

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arXiv2013

Implications of the latest XENON100 and cosmic ray antiproton data for isospin violating dark matter

In the scenario of isospin-violating dark matter (IVDM), the dark matter (DM) spin-independent couplings to protons and to neutrons are allowed to be different, which has been considered to relax the tensions between the results of DAMA, CoGeNT and XENON experiments. We explore the allowed values of DM-nucleon couplings favored and excluded by the current experiments under the assumption of IVDM. We find that the recently updated XENON100 result excludes the main part of the overlapping signal region between DAMA and CoGeNT. The mass of the IVDM is restricted to a narrow range near 7.5-8 GeV. We also show that the possible tensions between some experiments such as that between DAMA and SIMPLE are unlikely to be affected by isospin violating interactions. In an effective operator approach, we investigate conservative upper bounds on the DM-quark couplings required by the IVDM scenario from the cosmic ray antiproton fluxes measured recently by BESS-Polar II and PAMELA, and that from the relic density. The results show that the relatively large couplings favored by DAMA and CoGeNT are tightly constrained, if the operators contribute to velocity-independent annihilation cross sections. For thermal relic DM, the upper bounds from the relic density can also be stringent.

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arXiv2012

Direct detection of fourth generation Majorana neutrino dark matter

Heavy stable fourth generation Majorana neutrinos contribute to a small fraction of the relic density of dark matter (DM) in the Universe. Due to its relatively strong coupling to the standard model particles, it can be probed by the current direct and indirect DM detection experiments even it is a subdominant component of the halo DM. We show that the current Xenon100 data constrain the mass of the stable Majorana neutrino to be greater than the mass of the top quark. The effective spin-independent cross section for the neutrino elastic scattering off nucleon is predicted to be $\sim 1.5\times 10^{-44} cm^2$, which is insensitive to the neutrino mass and mixing and can be reached by the direct DM detection experiments in the near future. In the same mass region the predicted effective spin-dependent cross section for the heavy neutrino scattering off proton is in the range of $2\times 10^{-40} cm^2\sim 2\times 10^{-39} cm^2$, which is within the reach of the ongoing DM indirect search experiments. We demonstrate such properties of the heavy neutrino DM in a fourth generation model with the stability of the fourth Majorana neutrino protected by an anomaly-free U(1) gauge symmetry.

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