Constraints on Scalar Phantoms

TL;DR

This paper updates constraints on a minimal scalar dark matter model with a Higgs coupling, showing recent experimental data exclude light scalar masses below 50 GeV and highlighting future tests at direct detection experiments and the LHC.

Contribution

It provides updated experimental bounds on the scalar dark matter model, focusing on the parameter space constrained by recent data and future experimental prospects.

Findings

CDMS II data exclude scalar masses below ~50 GeV.

Large parameter regions remain testable with future experiments.

Model consistency can be checked with upcoming direct detection and LHC data.

Abstract

We update the constraints on the minimal model of dark matter, where a stable real scalar field is added to the standard model Lagrangian with a renormalizable coupling to the Higgs field. Once we fix the dark matter abundance, there are only two relevant model parameters, the mass of the scalar field and that of the Higgs boson. The recent data from the CDMS II experiment have excluded a parameter region where the scalar field is light such as less than about 50 GeV. In a large parameter region, the consistency of the model can be tested by the combination of future direct detection experiments and the LHC experiments.