Supersymmetric Sub-Electroweak Scale Dark Matter, the Galactic Center Gamma-ray Excess, and Exotic Decays of the 125 GeV Higgs Boson

TL;DR

This paper explores a supersymmetric model with sub-electroweak scale dark matter, connecting it to the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess and proposing new exotic Higgs decay channels with potential LHC detection.

Contribution

It introduces a nearly Peccei-Quinn symmetric limit in singlet-extended MSSM, linking dark matter phenomenology to exotic Higgs decays and providing benchmark scenarios for experimental searches.

Findings

Benchmark points explaining the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess.

Identification of exotic Higgs decay modes with detectable signatures.

Connections established between dark matter detection and Higgs decay phenomenology.

Abstract

We continue our exploration of the nearly Peccei-Quinn symmetric limit shared by common singlet extensions of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. This limit has been established as a viable framework for studying sub-electroweak scale dark matter phenomenology and has interesting and direct connections to new exotic Higgs decay physics. We present analytic calculations to motivate the important phenomenological features mentioned above. We also discuss benchmark points in this model framework that accommodate the observed Galactic Center gamma ray excess. We emphasize connections between phenomenology of dark matter direct detection and indirect detection, and new exotic decay channels for the 125 GeV Higgs boson. We conclude by identifying two benchmark modes of exotic Higgs decays for $h \to \tau^+ \tau^- \mbox{${\not\! E}_{\rm T}$}$ and $h \to b \bar{b} \mbox{${\not\! E}_{\rm T}$}$ final states and estimate their sensitivity prospects at the LHC.