120728841
Physics and astrophysics with dark matter particles
The DAMA/Nal set-up has investigated the annual modulation signature over seven annual cycles achieving 6.3 σ C.L. model independent evidence for the presence of a Dark Matter particle component in the galactic halo. Some of the Physics and Astrophysics topics which can be addressed by DAMA/LIBRA are also introduced
117048271
First DAMA/LIBRA Results and Beyond
The DAMA project is an observatory for rare processes and it is operative deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. Its main apparatus is the DAMA/LIBRA set-up, consisting of ≃250 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) detectors. Its first results — obtained by exploiting over four annual cycles the model independent annual modulation signature for Dark Matter (DM) particles — confirm by those of the former DAMA/NaI, supporting the evidence for Dark Matter presence in the galactic halo at 8.2 σ C.L.. The DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA data, in fact, satisfy all the many peculiarities of the DM annual modulation signature. Neither systematic effects nor side reactions able to account for the observed modulation amplitude and to contemporaneously satisfy all the several requirements of the DM signature are available. Future perspectives are also addressed.
119701812
Signals from dark Universe: DAMA/LIBRA at LNGS
The DAMA/LIBRA set-up (about 250 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) sensitive mass) is running at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN. The first DAMA/LIBRA results point out the presence of a dark matter particle component in the galactic halo, as well as the former DAMA/NaI set-up; cumulatively the data support such evidence at 8.2σ CL and satisfy all the peculiarities of the dark matter annual modulation signature.
17766827
Investigating electron interacting dark matter
Some extensions of the standard model provide dark matter candidate particles which can have a dominant coupling with the lepton sector of the ordinary matter. Thus, such dark matter candidate particles (chi(0)) can be directly detected only through their interaction with electrons in the detectors of a suitable experiment, while they are lost by experiments based on the rejection of the electromagnetic component of the experimental counting rate. These candidates can also offer a possible source of the 511 keV photons observed from the galactic bulge. In this paper this scenario is investigated. Some theoretical arguments are developed and related phenomenological aspects are discussed. Allowed intervals and regions for the characteristic phenomenological parameters of the considered model and of the possible mediator of the interaction are also derived considering the DAMA/NaI data.
17529257
Direct detection of dark-matter particles
In this conference the model-independent result on the presence of 
dark-matter particles in the galactic halo obtained over seven annual cycles by the 
 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) DAMA/NaI has been presented and several corollary 
investigations have also been discussed. More recently the model-independent 
result obtained over the first four annual cycles by the second generation 250 kg 
highly radiopure NaI(Tl) DAMA/LIBRA set-up at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory 
of the INFN has also been released. Both the experiments have the unique 
feature to effectively investigate the presence of dark-matter particles in the galactic 
halo by exploiting the model-independent annual modulation signature. The 
data collected by the two experiments over eleven annual cycles for a total exposure 
of 0.82 ton × y have pointed out at 8.2σ CL a positive result; several corollary 
model-dependent quests for the candidate particle(s) and related astrophysical, nuclear 
and particle physics scenarios are under updating. The future experimental 
activity can give rise to many new interesting results.
124862840
DIRECT DETECTION OF DARK MATTER PARTICLES
125847794
Soft supersymmetry breaking and radiative Higgs signatures
I review our recent formulation of the minimal FCNC schemes of the soft supersymmetry breaking via the squark mass-terms and scalar trilinear interactions, where the large O(1) mixings among scalar-tops and -charms are found to be consistent with all existing theoretical and experimental bounds. Such a feature is demonstrated in a class of attractive new models with horizontal U(1) symmetry which also explain the observed quark-mass pattern and solve the SUSY μ-problem. The soft SUSY breaking induced radiative H±bc and h0tc Higgs couplings are analyzed and are shown to provide exciting new discovery Higgs signatures at the Tevatron and LHC.
54201703
Higgs gravitational interaction, weak boson scattering, and Higgs inflation in Jordan and Einstein frames
We study gravitational interaction of Higgs boson through the unique dimension-4 operator xi(HHR)-H-dagger, with H the Higgs doublet and R the Ricci scalar curvature. We analyze the effect of this dimensionless nonminimal coupling xi on weak gauge boson scattering in both Jordan and Einstein frames. We explicitly establish the longitudinal-Goldstone equivalence theorem with nonzero xi coupling in both frames, and analyze the unitarity constraints. We study the xi-induced weak boson scattering cross sections at O(1 30) TeV scales, and propose to probe the Higgs-gravity coupling via weak boson scattering experiments at the LHC (14 TeV) and the next generation pp colliders (50 100 TeV). We further extend our study to Higgs inflation, and quantitatively derive the perturbative unitarity bounds via coupled channel analysis, under large field background at the inflation scale. We analyze the unitarity constraints on the parameter space in both the conventional Higgs inflation and the improved models in light of the recent BICEP2 data.
10448516
Neutrino Mass and Baryon Asymmetry from Dirac Seesaw
We extend the visible content of the standard model (SM) with a hidden sector composed of three right-handed singlet neutrinos and one singlet Higgs. These extra singlets are charged under a new U(1)X gauge symmetry while the SM particles are not. Two heavy scalar doublets are introduced to play the role of the messengers between the visible and hidden sectors. The neutrinos naturally acquire tiny Dirac masses because the ratio of weak scale over the heavy messenger masses is highly suppressed. Furthermore, the heavy messengers simultaneously generate baryon asymmetry of the universe through their out-of-equilibrium CP-violating decays.
119110715
GeV SCALE ASYMMETRIC DARK MATTER FROM MIRROR UNIVERSE: DIRECT DETECTION AND LHC SIGNATURES
Mirror universe is a fundamental way to restore parity symmetry in weak interactions. It naturally provides the lightest mirror nucleon as a unique GeV-scale asymmetric dark matter particle candidate. We conjecture that the mirror parity is respected by the fundamental interaction Lagrangian, and its possible soft breaking arises only from non-interaction terms in the gauge-singlet sector. We realize the spontaneous mirror parity violation by minimizing the vacuum Higgs potential, and derive the corresponding Higgs spectrum. We demonstrate that the common origin of CP violation in the visible and mirror neutrino seesaws can generate the right amount of matter and mirror dark matter via leptogenesis. We analyze the direct detections of GeV-scale mirror dark matter by TEXONO and CDEX experiments. We further study the predicted distinctive Higgs signatures at the LHC.
55815188
Probing Gravitational Dark Matter
So far all evidences of dark matter (DM) come from astrophysical and cosmological observations, due to gravitational interactions of the DM. It is possible that the true DM particle in the universe joins gravitational interactions only, but nothing else. Such a Gravitational DM (GDM) may act as a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), which is conceptually simple and attractive. In this work, we explore this direction by constructing the simplest scalar GDM particle s . It is a Z 2 odd singlet under the standard model (SM) gauge group, and naturally joins the unique dimension-4 interaction with Ricci curvature, s 2 R , where s is the dimensionless nonminimal coupling. We demonstrate that this gravitational interaction s 2 R , together with Higgs-curvature nonminimal coupling term h H y HR , induces eective couplings between 2 and SM elds, and can account for the observed DM thermal relic abundance. We analyze the annihilation cross sections of GDM particles and derive the viable parameter space for realizing the DM thermal relic density. We further study the direct/indirect detections and the collider signatures of such a scalar GDM. These turn out to be highly predictive and testable.