Producing and constraining self-interacting hidden sector dark matter

TL;DR

This thesis explores self-interacting dark matter models with light mediators, analyzing constraints, the Sommerfeld effect, and novel production regimes, to identify viable dark matter candidates that address small-scale structure issues.

Contribution

It introduces five dynamical regimes for dark matter production, including four new ones, and establishes the parameter space for thermally disconnected hidden sectors.

Findings

Identification of four new dark matter production regimes.

Allowed parameter space for hidden sector thermal candidates.

Models that alleviate small-scale structure tensions.

Abstract

In this thesis, we start by reviewing all constraints applying on self-interacting DM with a light mediator considering well-known Higgs portal and Kinetic Mixing portal models as concrete examples. Then, we elaborate on the Sommerfeld effect, and we study its many implications on self-interacting DM models with light mediator. Next, we investigate how to account for the DM relic abundance in such portal models which present a generic structure with three populations (Standard Model, DM and mediator particles) connected to each other through three interactions resulting from two coupling strengths. It appears that this can be done through five different dynamical ways which give rise to nine regimes among which four are new. Those new production regimes are relevant for a situation where the hidden sector particles are not thermally connected to the visible vector particles. We further study the possibility of a thermally disconnected Hidden Sector and establish the general allowed parameter space for DM thermal candidates in the hidden-to-visible temperature ratio versus DM mass plane. We show that, in this framework, simple portal models such as the two we consider can alleviate tensions at small scale while offering suitable DM candidates. Other minimal self-interacting DM with light mediator frameworks which consistently fulfil all constraints are also proposed and explored.