Jul 3 – 7, 2023
Europe/Rome timezone

WIMPs during reheating

Jul 3, 2023, 5:23 PM
3m
G-003

G-003

University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

Speaker

Nicolás Bernal (NYU Abu Dhabi)

Description

Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are among the best-motivated dark matter candidates. In the standard scenario where the freeze-out happens well after the end of inflationary reheating, they are in tension with severe experimental constraints. Here, we investigate the thermal freeze-out of WIMPs occurring during reheating, while the inflaton $\phi$ coherently oscillates in a generic potential $\propto \phi^n$. Depending on the value of n and the spin of the inflaton decay products, the evolution of the radiation and inflaton energy densities can show distinct features, therefore, having a considerable impact on the freeze-out behavior of WIMPs. As a result of the injection of entropy during reheating, the parameter space compatible with the observed DM relic abundance is enlarged. In particular, the WIMP thermally averaged annihilation cross-section can be several magnitudes lower than that in the standard case. Finally, we discuss the current bounds from dark matter indirect detection experiments and explore future challenges and opportunities.

Primary author

Nicolás Bernal (NYU Abu Dhabi)

Co-author

Dr Yong Xu (Mainz U., Inst. Phys.)

Presentation materials

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