Warm dark matter from freeze-in at stronger coupling

Abstract

We study warm Higgs portal dark matter (DM) in the framework of freeze-in at stronger coupling. This scenario assumes that the Standard Model thermal bath temperature has always been relatively low, which suppresses dark matter production. As a result, a significant DM-Higgs coupling is allowed, enabling warm dark matter detection via Higgs decay at colliders. We find that the Lyman-α bound on the DM mass is particularly strong, excluding masses below 50-100 keV, depending on further details. The shape of the DM momentum distribution is highly non-thermal, with low momenta being effectively cut off, and not captured by the common αβγ-parametrization.

19 pages, 7 figures To appear on Phys. Lett. B