Extensions beyond the Standard Model allow for a gauge singlet scalar to be kinetically coupled with the Higgs. We consider kinetic mixing between a Dark scalar gauge singlet nearly degenerate with the Higgs, focusing on the dynamical aspects of the mixing phenomena. The renormalization program is carried out by obtaining the one-loop effective action which yields an effective non-hermitian Hamiltonian to study the dynamics of mixing. The scalar Higgs becomes a coherent superposition of the mass eigenstates, thus kinetic mixing leads to oscillations and common decay channels in striking similarity with neutral meson mixing. Near degeneracy yields an enhancement of the kinetic coupling. For small kinetic mixing we find that the mass eigenstates feature different lifetimes which result in a wide separation of time scales of evolution along with important coherence aspects from Dark scalar-Higgs interference. The wide separation of scales is manifest as displaced decay vertices which could potentially be a telltale experimental signal of kinetic mixing.
I. INTRODUCTION, MOTIVATION AND GOALSAlthough the Standard Model is successful as a description of particle physics on solid experimental grounds, it is clear that an explanation for Dark Matter must be sought in extensions beyond the Standard Model (SM). There are many different alternative proposals for such extensions postulating the existence of one or more new particles that could provide a suitable explanation for Dark matter. One such extension posits the existence of a dark sector, namely one or more new particles which are singlets under SU (3) c × SU (2) × U Y (1) and do not couple directly to the gauge bosons of the standard model. A sterile neutrino describes a simple dark sector, but there are many other possible alternatives (for recent reviews see [1,2]). While preliminary searches for dark sector signals at Babar[3] and BESIII[4] did not report evidence, search programs to probe dark sectors at the LHC are ongoing and various recent studies propose new search directions[1, 2, 5] along with * Electronic address: boyan@pitt.edu † Electronic address: juc44@pitt.edu