A theory for scotogenic dark matter stabilised by residual gauge symmetry

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new scotogenic dark matter model within an extended gauge symmetry framework, where residual symmetry ensures dark matter stability and links neutrino mass properties to observable decay rates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gauge extension-based dark matter stabilization mechanism using residual symmetry and a triplet scalar, predicting a massless neutrino and a lower bound on neutrinoless double beta decay.

Findings

Dark matter stability from residual gauge symmetry.

Neutrino massless state due to scalar coupling structure.

Lower bound on neutrinoless double beta decay rate.

Abstract

Dark matter stability can result from a residual matter-parity symmetry, following naturally from the spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry. Here we explore this idea in the context of the $\mathrm{SU(3)_c \otimes SU(3)_L \otimes U(1)_X \otimes U(1)_{N}}$ electroweak extension of the standard model. The key feature of our new scotogenic dark matter theory is the use of a triplet scalar boson with anti-symmetric Yukawa couplings. This naturally implies that one of the light neutrinos is massless and, as a result, there is a lower bound for the $\rm 0\nu\beta\beta$ decay rate.