Bouncing Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new dark matter production mechanism called 'bouncing,' where the dark matter abundance transitions from decreasing to increasing, significantly boosting the freezeout abundance and enhancing indirect detection prospects.

Contribution

It proposes a novel 'bouncing' mechanism for thermal dark matter production, enabling larger annihilation cross sections and improved detection prospects.

Findings

The bounce causes a dramatic increase in dark matter abundance.

Enhanced annihilation cross sections improve indirect detection signals.

Multiple realizations of bouncing dark matter are discussed.

Abstract

We present a novel mechanism for thermal dark matter production, characterized by a "bounce": the dark matter equilibrium distribution transitions from the canonical exponentially falling abundance to an exponentially rising one, resulting in an enhancement of the freezeout abundance by many orders of magnitude. We discuss several realizations of bouncing dark matter. The bounce allows the present day dark matter annihilation cross section to be significantly larger than the canonical thermal target, improving the prospects for indirect detection signals.