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.
122493100
SEARCHING FOR SIGNALS FROM THE DARK UNIVERSE
2644347
Investigating pseudoscalar and scalar Dark Matter
In this paper another class of Dark Matter candidate particles - the pseudoscalar and scalar light bosonic candidates - is discussed. Particular care is devoted to the study of the processes for their detection (which only involves electrons and photons/X-rays) in a suitable underground experimental setup. For this purpose the needed calculations are developed and various related aspects and phenomenologies are discussed. In particular, it is shown that - in addition to the WIMP cases already discussed elsewhere - there is also possibility for a bosonic candidate to account for the 6.3 sigma C.L. model independent evidence for the presence of a particle DM component in the galactic halo observed by DAMA/NaI. Allowed regions in these scenarios are presented also paying particular care on the cosmological interest of the bosonic candidate.
122909836
Particle dark matter: From DAMA/NaI to DAMA/LIBRA
DAMA is an observatory for rare processes and it is operative deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN. Several low background setups have been realized and many rare processes have been investigated. In particular, the DAMA/Nal setup (≃100 kg of highly radiopure NaI(Tl)) has effectively investigated the model-independent annual modulation signature over seven annual cycles (total exposure of 107 731 kg day), obtaining 6.3σ C.L. model-independent evidence for the presence of a dark matter particle component in the galactic halo. Some of the many possible corollary model-dependent quests for the candidate particle have been investigated and others are in progress. At present, the second generation DAMA/LIBRA setup (≃250 kg of highly radiopure NaI(T1)) is in data taking deep underground.
118080735
Atmospheric Cherenkov telescope.
120294115
Extended limits on neutral strongly interacting massive particles and nuclearites from NaI(Tl) scintillators
Neutral strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) were searched for at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory by using two "planes" of detectors in the similar or equal to 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(T1) DAMA setup. SIMP exclusion plots and model-independent limits on neutral nuclearites have been significantly improved.
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.
102507809
Natural electroweak symmetry breaking from scale invariant Higgs mechanism
We construct a minimal viable extension of the standard model (SM) with classical scale symmetry. Its scalar sector contains a complex singlet in addition to the SM Higgs doublet. The scale-invariant and CP-symmetric Higgs potential generates radiative electroweak symmetry breaking ` a la Coleman-Weinberg, and gives a natural solution to the hierarchy problem, free from fine-tuning. Besides the 125 GeV SM-like Higgs particle, it predicts a new CP-even Higgs (serving as the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of scale symmetry breaking) and a CP-odd scalar singlet (providing the dark matter candidate) at weak scale. We systematically analyze experimental constraints from direct LHC Higgs searches and electroweak precision tests, as well as theoretical bounds from unitarity, triviality and vacuum stability. We demonstrate the viable parameter space, and discuss implications for new Higgs and dark matter (DM) searches at the upcoming LHC runs and for the on-going direct detections of DM.
73581246
Unitarity of deconstructed five-dimensional Yang–Mills theory
Abstract The low-energy properties of a compactified five-dimensional gauge theory can be reproduced in a four-dimensional theory with a replicated gauge group and an appropriate gauge symmetry breaking pattern. The lightest vector bosons in these “deconstructed” or “remodeled” theories have masses and couplings approximately equal to those of the Kaluza–Klein tower of massive vector states present in a compactified higher-dimensional gauge theory. We analyze the unitarity of low-energy scattering of the massive vector bosons in a deconstructed theory, and examine the relationship between the scale of unitarity violation and the scale of the underlying chiral symmetry breaking dynamics which breaks the replicated gauge groups. As in the case of compactified five-dimensional gauge theories, low-energy unitarity is ensured through an interlacing cancellation among contributions from the tower of massive vector bosons. We show that the behavior of these scattering amplitudes is manifest without such intricate cancellations in the scattering of the would-be Goldstone bosons of the deconstructed theory. Unlike compactified five-dimensional gauge theories, the amplitude for longitudinal vector boson scattering in deconstructed theories does grow with energy, though this effect is suppressed by 1/( N +1), with N +1 being the number of replicated gauge groups.
17419673
Deconstruction and elastic {pi}{pi} scattering in Higgsless models
We study elastic pion-pion scattering in global linear moose models and apply the results to a variety of Higgsless models in flat and anti-de Sitter (AdS) space using the equivalence theorem. In order to connect the global moose to Higgsless models, we first introduce a block-spin transformation which corresponds, in the continuum, to the freedom to perform coordinate transformations in the Higgsless model. We show that it is possible to make an 'f-flat' deconstruction in which all of the f-constants f{sub j} of the linear moose model are identical; the phenomenologically relevant f-flat models are those in which the coupling constants of the groups at either end of the moose are small--corresponding to the global linear moose. In studying pion-pion scattering, we derive various sum rules, including one analogous to the Kawarabayashi-Suzuki-Riazuddin-Fayyazuddin (KSRF) relation, and use them in evaluating the low-energy and high-energy forms of the leading elastic partial-wave scattering amplitudes. We obtain elastic unitarity bounds as a function of the mass of the lightest KK mode and discuss their physical significance.
8104126
Structure of corrections to electroweak interactions in Higgsless models
Recently, Higgsless models of electroweak symmetry breaking have been proposed. Based on compactified five-dimensional gauge theories, these models achieve unitarity of electroweak boson self-interactions through the exchange of a tower of massive vector bosons rather than the exchange of a scalar Higgs boson. In this paper, using deconstruction, we analyze the form of the corrections to the electroweak interactions in a large class of these models, allowing for arbitrary 5-D geometry, position-dependent gauge coupling, and brane kinetic-energy terms. We show that many models considered in the literature, including those most likely to be phenomenologically viable, are in this class. By analyzing the asymptotic behavior of the correlation function of gauge currents at high momentum, we extract the exact form of the relevant correlation functions at tree level and compute the corrections to precision electroweak observables in terms of the spectrum of heavy vector bosons. We determine when nonoblique corrections due to the interactions of fermions with the heavy vector bosons become important, and specify the form such interactions can take. In particular, we find that in this class of models, so long as the theory remains unitary, S-4cos{sup 2}{theta}{sub W}T>O(1), where S and T are the usual oblique parameters. Wemore » concur with the result of Cacciapaglia et al. that small or negative S is possible--though only at the expense of substantial negative T at tree level. Although we stress our results as they apply to continuum 5-D models, they apply also to models of extended electroweak gauge symmetries motivated by models of hidden local symmetry.« less