Photonic Freeze-In
arXiv:2412.17308 · doi:10.1103/4w66-9tqz
Abstract
We present a new scenario of freeze-in, where the dark matter is produced exclusively via the annihilation of photons. We study fermionic and scalar dark matter models with a focus on cosmological histories with low reheat temperatures. Photonic freeze-in can be probed via direct detection, dark matter production in SN1987A, and via the production of new electromagnetically charged states at the Large Hadron Collider. We briefly discuss UV-complete models that can realise this scenario.
11 pages, 4 figures; v2: journal version