Precision calculations of dark matter relic abundance

Abstract

The dark matter annihilation channels sometimes involve sharp resonances. In such cases the usual momentum averaged approximations for computing the DM abundance may not be accurate. We develop an easily accessible momentum dependent framework for computing the DM abundance accurately and efficiently near such features. We apply the method to the case of a singlet scalar dark matter $s$ interacting with SM through higgs portal $\lambda_{\rm hs}s^2 h^2$ and compare the results with different momentum averaged methods. The accuracy of the latter depend strongly on the strength of the elastic interactions and corrections are large if WIMP has negligible interactions beyond the main annihilation channel. In the singlet scalar model however, the standard model scatterings induce an efficient kinetic equilibrium that validates the momentum averaged computation to 20 per cent accuracy. We update the current extent of the allowed region in the light singlet scalar dark matter to $m_{\rm S} \in [56,62.5]$ GeV.