MeV Dark Matter Freeze-Out
Thermal Relic Cross Section from MeV Dark Matter Freeze-Out
Dark matter is typically assumed to be a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) in the mass range of GeV–TeV. The present day dark matter mass density then determines the self-annihilation cross section of WIMPs if they are thermal relics that froze out of the thermal bath of the early Universe. Many direct and indirect searches of dark matter have excluded a large range of thermally produced candidates which recently shifted the focus towards MeV dark matter candidates. However, the relic cross sections for these potential particles have not been properly calculated, i.e. taking into account the newest particle masses, potential scenarios for light dark matter particles, and towards the mass range of sub-MeV particles. In this context, also the so-called freeze-in mechanism comes into play as it avoids the constraints from thermal production via feeble interactions to produce the present-day abundance of dark matter.
More information:
Recent Publications:
- Steigman et al. 2012, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1204.3622
- Bernal et al. 2017, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.07442
Contact persons:
Dr. Thomas Siegert: thomas.siegert@uni-wuerzburg.de
