Dark Matter as the signal of Grand Unification

TL;DR

This paper proposes that dark matter naturally arises from grand unification theories like SO(10), predicting a specific mass range and detectable signals, linking GUT symmetry breaking to dark matter properties.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal non-SUSY SO(10) model with a scalar 16 as dark matter, predicting its mass range and detection prospects based on GUT symmetry considerations.

Findings

Dark matter mass predicted to be 0.1-1 TeV

Radiative electroweak symmetry breaking occurs due to dark matter interactions

Predicted direct detection cross section within future experimental reach

Abstract

We argue that the existence of Dark Matter (DM) is a possible consequence of GUT symmetry breaking. In GUTs like SO(10), discrete Z_2 matter parity (-1)^{3(B-L)} survives despite of broken B-L, and group theory uniquely determines that the only possible Z_2-odd matter multiplets belong to representation 16. We construct the minimal non-SUSY SO(10) model containing one scalar 16 for DM and study its predictions below M_{G}. We find that EWSB occurs radiatively due to DM couplings to the SM Higgs boson. For thermal relic DM the mass range M_{DM}\sim (0.1-1) TeV is predicted by model perturbativity up to M_{G}. For M_{DM}\sim (1) TeV to explain the observed cosmic ray anomalies with DM decays, there exists a lower bound on the spin-independent direct detection cross section within the reach of planned experiments.