Mass dimension one fields with Wigner degeneracy: A theory of dark matter

TL;DR

This paper develops a formalism for mass dimension one fermions and bosons with Wigner degeneracy, proposing them as natural dark matter candidates that are Lorentz covariant, local, and have positive Hamiltonians.

Contribution

It introduces a novel formalism for mass dimension one fields with Wigner degeneracy, distinct from Dirac fields, and explores their potential as dark matter and dark energy candidates.

Findings

Fields are Lorentz covariant and local.

Wigner degeneracy doubles degrees of freedom.

Potential to address cosmological constant problem.

Abstract

Whatever dark matter is, it must be one irreducible unitary representation of the extended Lorentz group or another. We here develop a formalism of mass dimension one fermions and bosons of spin one half, and show that they provide natural dark matter candidates. By construction, they are covariant under space-time translations and boosts. However, incorporating the rotational symmetry is non-trivial and requires introducing a two-fold Wigner degeneracy thus doubling the degrees of freedom for particles and anti particles from two to four. With Wigner degeneracy, we have a well-defined theory of mass dimension one fields of spin one half that are physically distinct from the Dirac field. They are local, Lorentz covariant and have positive definite free Hamiltonians. The developed framework also has the potential to resolve the cosmological constant problem, and supply dark energy.