TY - JOUR
T1 - Despicable dark relics
T2 - Generated by gravity with unconstrained masses
AU - Fairbairn, Malcolm
AU - Kainulainen, Kimmo
AU - Markkanen, Tommi
AU - Nurmi, Sami
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - We demonstrate the existence of a generic, efficient and purely gravitational channel producing a significant abundance of dark relics during reheating after the end of inflation. The mechanism is present for any inert scalar with the non-minimal curvature coupling ξ Rχ2 and the relic production is efficient for modest values ξ = (1). The observed dark matter abundance can be reached for a broad range of relic masses extending from m ∼ 1 k eV to m ∼ 108 GeV, depending on the scale of inflation and the dark sector couplings. Frustratingly, such relics escape direct, indirect and collider searches since no non-gravitational couplings to visible matter are needed.
AB - We demonstrate the existence of a generic, efficient and purely gravitational channel producing a significant abundance of dark relics during reheating after the end of inflation. The mechanism is present for any inert scalar with the non-minimal curvature coupling ξ Rχ2 and the relic production is efficient for modest values ξ = (1). The observed dark matter abundance can be reached for a broad range of relic masses extending from m ∼ 1 k eV to m ∼ 108 GeV, depending on the scale of inflation and the dark sector couplings. Frustratingly, such relics escape direct, indirect and collider searches since no non-gravitational couplings to visible matter are needed.
KW - dark matter theory
KW - ination
KW - quantum field theory on curved space
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068485311&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/1475-7516/2019/04/005
DO - 10.1088/1475-7516/2019/04/005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068485311
SN - 1475-7516
VL - 2019
JO - Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
JF - Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
IS - 4
M1 - 005
ER -