Dark matter scenarios with multiple spin-2 fields

TL;DR

This paper explores multimetric theories with multiple spin-2 fields, identifying a potential dark matter candidate among the massive modes, and analyzing their interactions, spectra, and phenomenology.

Contribution

It introduces ghost-free multimetric theories with multiple spin-2 fields, computes their perturbative actions, and proposes the lighter massive mode as a dark matter candidate.

Findings

The lighter massive spin-2 mode does not couple to matter.

Massive spin-2 particles can be produced via freeze-in or gravitational particle production.

Parameter regions differ significantly from single massive spin-2 scenarios, offering new experimental prospects.

Abstract

We study ghost-free multimetric theories for $(N+1)$ tensor fields with a coupling to matter and maximal global symmetry group $S_N\times(Z_2)^N$. Their mass spectra contain a massless mode, the graviton, and $N$ massive spin-2 modes. One of the massive modes is distinct by being the heaviest, the remaining $(N-1)$ massive modes are simply identical copies of each other. All relevant physics can therefore be understood from the case $N=2$. Focussing on this case, we compute the full perturbative action up to cubic order and derive several features that hold to all orders in perturbation theory. The lighter massive mode does not couple to matter and neither of the massive modes decay into massless gravitons. We propose the lighter massive particle as a candidate for dark matter and investigate its phenomenology in the parameter region where the matter coupling is dominated by the massless graviton. The relic density of massive spin-2 can originate from a freeze-in mechanism or from gravitational particle production, giving rise to two different dark matter scenarios. The allowed parameter regions are very different from those in scenarios with only one massive spin-2 field and more accessible to experiments.