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arXiv · 1107.4564

Sub-GeV dark matter as pseudo-Goldstone from the seesaw scale

Michele Frigerio·Thomas Hambye·Eduard Masso
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Abstract

Pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons (pNGBs) are naturally light spin-zero particles, which can be interesting dark matter (DM) candidates. We study the phenomenology of a pNGB theta associated with an approximate symmetry of the neutrino seesaw sector. A small coupling of theta to the Higgs boson is induced radiatively by the neutrino Yukawa couplings. By virtue of this Higgs portal interaction (i) the pNGB acquires a mass m_theta proportional to the electroweak scale, and (ii) the observed DM relic density can be generated by the freeze-in of theta-particles with mass m_theta ~ 3 MeV. Alternatively, the coupling of theta to heavy sterile neutrinos can account for the DM relic density, in the 1 keV-3 MeV window. The decays of theta into light fermions are suppressed by the seesaw scale, making such pNGB sufficiently stable to play the role of DM.

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Michele Frigerio, Thomas Hambye, Eduard Masso. 2011-12-22. Sub-GeV dark matter as pseudo-Goldstone from the seesaw scale. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.1.021026

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