Higgs sector extensions beyond the Standard Model (BSM) provide additional sources of CP violation and further scalar states that help to trigger a strong first order electroweak phase transition (SFOEWPT) required to generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe through electroweak baryogenesis. We investigate the CP-violating 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (C2HDM) and the Next-to-Minimal 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (N2HDM) with respect to their potential to generate an SFOEWPT while being compatible with all relevant and recent theoretical and experimental constraints. The implications of an SFOEWPT on the collider phenomenology of the two models are analysed in detail in particular with respect to Higgs pair production. We provide benchmark points for parameter points that are compatible with an SFOEWPT and provide distinct di-Higgs signatures.

Having so far only indirect evidence for the existence of Dark Matter a plethora of experiments aims at direct detection of Dark Matter through the scattering of Dark Matter particles off atomic nuclei. For the correct interpretation and identification of the underlying nature of the Dark Matter constituents higher-order corrections to the cross section of Dark Matter-nucleon scattering are important, in particular in models where the tree-level cross section is negligibly small. In this work we revisit the electroweak corrections to the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section in a model with a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson as the Dark Matter candidate. Two calculations that already exist in the literature, apply different approaches resulting in different final results for the cross section in some regions of the parameter space leading us to redo the calculation and analyse the two approaches to clarify the situation. We furthermore update the experimental constraints and examine the regions of the parameter space where the cross section is above the neutrino floor but which can only be probed in the far future.

Although many astrophysical and cosmological observations point towards the existence of Dark Matter (DM), the nature of the DM particle has not been clarified to date. In this paper, we investigate a minimal model with a vector DM (VDM) candidate. Within this model, we compute the cross section for the scattering of the VDM particle with a nucleon. We provide the next-to-leading order (NLO) cross section for the direct detection of the DM particle. Subsequently, we study the phenomenological implications of the NLO corrections, in particular with respect to the sensitivity of the direct detection DM experiments. We further investigate more theoretical questions such as the gauge dependence of the results and the remaining theoretical uncertainties due to the applied approximations. *

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Recently we presented the upgrade of our code BSMPT for the calculation of the electroweak phase transition (EWPT) to BSMPT v2 which now includes the computation of the baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU) in the CP-violating 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (C2HDM). In this paper we use BSMPT v2 to investigate the size of the BAU that is obtained in the C2HDM with the two implemented approaches FH and VIA to derive the transport equations, by taking into account all relevant theoretical and experimental constraints. We identify similarities and differences in the results computed with the two methods. In particular, we analyse the dependence of the obtained BAU on the parameters relevant for successful baryogenesis. Our investigations allow us to pinpoint future directions for improvements both in the computation of the BAU and in possible avenues taken for model building.