Dark Matter as a weakly coupled Dark Baryon

TL;DR

This paper explores the hypothesis that dark matter consists of a stable dark baryon formed by heavy dark quarks, leading to unique cosmological and phenomenological implications such as a two-stage cosmology and potential explanations for positron excess.

Contribution

It introduces a model where dark matter is a dark baryon with heavy quarks, resulting in novel cosmological scenarios and phenomenological features not previously studied.

Findings

Dark matter can be a dark baryon with heavy quarks.

The model predicts a two-stage cosmology involving freeze-out and dark condensation.

Enhanced dark matter annihilation cross section can explain positron excess.

Abstract

Dark Matter might be an accidentally stable baryon of a new confining gauge interaction. We extend previous studies exploring the possibility that the DM is made of dark quarks heavier than the dark confinement scale. The resulting phenomenology contains new unusual elements: a two-stage DM cosmology (freeze-out followed by dark condensation), a large DM annihilation cross section through recombination of dark quarks (allowing to fit the positron excess). Light dark glue-balls are relatively long lived and give extra cosmological effects; DM itself can remain radioactive.