Axion Portal to Scalar Dark Matter: Unveiling Stabilizing Symmetry Footprints

Abstract

We investigate the role of an axion-like particle (ALP) as a portal between the dark and visible sectors. Unlike conventional studies, which typically assume fermionic dark matter (DM), we explore the phenomenological implications of scalar DM within this ALP portal framework. A key challenge arises from the fact that the interaction between the ALP spacetime derivative and the spin-one current of the scalar DM can be a redundant operator, which may be removed via a field redefinition. However, this interaction reveals a profound connection to the underlying global symmetry that stabilizes the DM particle. We choose a non-Abelian discrete symmetry, ensuring the persistence of the DM-ALP interactions, and in doing so, unveil a rich phenomenology. Working within a general effective field theory approach, we identify the following hallmark features of our scenario: (i) a relic density determined by semi-annihilations, with an abundance independent of ALP couplings to the visible sector; (ii) direct detection rates naturally suppressed; (iii) indirect detection spectra enriched relative to pure annihilation scenarios, with rates also independent of ALP couplings to visible particles. Lastly, we discuss potential microscopic origins for this framework and highlight the broader implications of our results.

54 pages, 10 figures, 1 table; Version published in JHEP

References in corpus (40)

• Secluded WIMP Dark Matter
• Collider Probes of Axion-Like Particles
• General Constraints on Dark Matter Decay from the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Cosmological constraints on exotic injection of electromagnetic energy
• Gamma Ray Signals from Dark Matter: Concepts, Status and Prospects
• The Low-Energy Effective Theory of Axions and ALPs
• Flavor probes of axion-like particles
• Dark matter constraints from box-shaped gamma-ray features
• Fermi 130 GeV gamma-ray excess and dark matter annihilation in sub-haloes and in the Galactic centre
• Dark Matter Signals from Cascade Annihilations
• Dark Discrete Gauge Symmetries
• Connecting Dark Matter UV Complete Models to Direct Detection Rates via Effective Field Theory
• Multi-Step Cascade Annihilations of Dark Matter and the Galactic Center Excess
• Detecting Boosted Dark Matter from the Sun with Large Volume Neutrino Detectors
• Minimal semi-annihilating ${\mathbb{Z}}_N$ scalar dark matter
• Lower Mass Bounds on FIMP Dark Matter Produced via Freeze-In
• Portal Connecting Dark Photons and Axions
• QCD Running Couplings and Effective Charges
• Thermal axion production at low temperatures: a smooth treatment of the QCD phase transition
• Thermal QCD Axions across Thresholds
• The Waning of the WIMP: Endgame?
• Novel cosmological bounds on thermally-produced axion-like particles
• Cosmological constraints on decaying axion-like particles: a global analysis
• Production of Thermal Axions across the ElectroWeak Phase Transition
• Dark photon relic dark matter production through the dark axion portal
• Axion-like particles as mediators for dark matter: beyond freeze-out
• The Semi-Hooperon: Gamma-ray and anti-proton excesses in the Galactic Center
• Flavor Violating Axions in the Early Universe
• Big-bang nucleosynthesis with sub-GeV massive decaying particles
• Cosmic Imprints of XENON1T Axions
• A Leptonic ALP Portal to the Dark Sector
• Axion Dark Matter from Lepton flavor-violating Decays
• Axion-like ALPs
• Dark Matter Candidates and Searches
• ALP-portal majorana dark matter
• Back to the phase space: thermal axion dark radiation via couplings to standard model fermions
• Distinctive signals of boosted dark matter from its semi-annihilation
• Simultaneous detection of boosted dark matter and neutrinos from the semi-annihilation at DUNE
• Semi-annihilating dark matter coupled with Majorons
• Boosted dark matter from semi-annihilations in the galactic center