Dark matter in (partially) composite Higgs models

Abstract

We construct composite and partially composite Higgs models with complex pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone (pNGB) dark matter states from four-dimensional gauge-Yukawa theories with strongly interacting fermions. The fermions are partially gauged under the electroweak symmetry, and the dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking sector is minimal.The pNGB dark matter particle is stable due to a U(1) technibaryon-like symmetry, also present in the technicolor limit of the models. However, the relic density is particle anti-particle symmetric and due to thermal freeze-out as opposed to the technicolor limit where it is typically due to an asymmetry.The pNGB Higgs is composite or partially composite depending on the origin of the Standard Model fermion masses, which impacts the dark matter phenomenology. We illustrate the important features with a model example invariant under an SU(4) × SU(2) × U(1) global symmetry.

Twin Higgs portal dark matter

“…1 This suppression of direct detection signatures due to pNGB dynamics is reminiscent of pNGB-DM models, which typically feature either the Higgs and the DM both as pNGBs as in [79][80][81][82][83][84][85], or with only the DM as a pNGB as in [86][87][88][89][90][91][92]. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to encounter this phenomenon due to the Higgs but not the DM being a pNGB (although simply adding a Higgs-portal DM candidate to any composite Higgs model would achieve the same effect).…”

Composite dark matter phenomenology in the presence of lighter degrees of freedom

“…Scalar dark matter (DM) in the context of composite Higgs models (CHM) [1][2][3] has received important attention in the last years [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. The reason is that both the Higgs boson and the DM are composite pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons (pNGBs) of the same new strongly interacting sector with global symmetry breaking pattern G/H at a scale f ∼ TeV.…”

Dark matter shifts away from direct detection

“…Other previous work on composite Higgs models with pNGB DM includes Refs. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], whereas Refs. [22][23][24][25] performed studies employing EFTs.…”

“…and the DM potential scales as in Eq (21),. where in the (crude) estimate of the DM mass we have taken a typical C QS ∼ 0.2 for this parameter region.For illustration a numerical scan of the model parameter space was performed, setting f = 1 TeV and requiring that the scalar potential generated by the top and bottom sectors gives the observed Higgs VEV and mass.…”