Multi-step phase transitions and gravitational waves in the inert doublet model

Abstract

The inert doublet model is a well-motivated extension of the Standard Model that contains a dark matter candidate and modifies the dynamics of the electroweak symmetry breaking. In order to detail its phenomenology, we perform a comprehensive study of cosmic phase transitions and gravitational wave signals implied by the framework, accounting for the latest results of collider experiments. We require the neutral inert scalar to constitute, at least, a subdominant part of the observed dark matter abundance. While most of the phase transitions proceed through a single step, we identify regions of the parameter space where the electroweak vacuum is reached after multiple phase transitions. The resulting gravitational wave spectrum is generally dominated by single-step transitions and, in part of the parameter space, falls within the reach of future gravitational wave detectors such as LISA, BBO or DECIGO. We find that direct detection experiments efficiently probe the part of parameter space associated with multi-step phase transitions, which remain unconstrained only in the Higgs resonance region testable with future monojet searches. The implications of the new determination of the $W$ boson mass are also discussed.

27 pages, 17 figures. Version accepted by JCAP

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• Testing Unification and Dark Matter with Gravitational Waves
• Prospecting bipartite Dark Matter through Gravitational Waves
• Asymmetric Dark Matter from Gravitational Waves
• Phase Transitions and Gravitational Waves in a Model of ${\mathbb{Z}}_3$ Scalar Dark Matter
• Bubble Trouble: a Review on Electroweak Baryogenesis
• Intermediate Charge-Breaking Phases and Symmetry Non-Restoration in the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model
• Gravitational Wave Signatures of Gauged Baryon and Lepton Number
• Primordial Black Holes and Gravitational Waves in the $U(1{)}_{B-L}$ Extended Inert Doublet Model: A First-Order Phase Transition Perspective
• Fate of the scalar quartic couplings in the inert models
• Gravitational Wave Production and Baryogenesis in a Simple Left-Right model
• Probing the Neutrino Seesaw Scale with Gravitational Waves