Thermal keV dark matter in a gauged B-L model with cosmic inflation

TL;DR

This paper explores a gauged B-L model with cosmic inflation that can produce keV-scale thermal dark matter, explaining its relic abundance, neutrino masses, and baryon asymmetry through entropy dilution and decay processes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework linking keV-scale thermal dark matter, inflation, and neutrino physics within a gauged B-L model, with unique predictions for neutrino masses.

Findings

Entropy dilution can regulate dark matter abundance.

Model predicts extremely light active neutrino masses.

Framework accounts for baryon asymmetry via RHN decay.

Abstract

We investigate the possibility of keV scale thermal dark matter (DM) in a gauged $B - L$ extension of the standard model with three right-handed neutrinos (RHN) and one vector like fermion in the context of cosmic inflation. The complex singlet scalar field responsible for the spontaneous breaking of $B-L$ gauge symmetry is non-minimally coupled to gravity and serves the role of inflaton. The keV scale vector like fermion DM gives rise to the possibility of warm dark matter, but it gets overproduced thermally. The subsequent entropy dilution due to one of the RHN decay can bring the thermal abundance of DM within the observed limit. The dynamics of both the DM and the diluter are regulated by the $B-L$ model parameters which are also restricted by the requirement of successful inflationary dynamics.We constrain the model parameter space from the requirement of producing sufficient entropy dilution to obtain correct DM relic, inflationary observables along with other phenomenological constraints. Interestingly, we obtain unique predictions for the order of lightest active neutrino mass ($m_{\nu_l}\lesssim 10^{-14}$ eV) as function of $B-L$ gauge coupling for keV scale DM. The proposed framework also explains the origin of observed baryon asymmetry from the decay of other two heavier RHN by overcoming the entropy dilution effect.