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Creators/Authors contains: "Tait, Tim M."

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  1. Abstract

    In this work we present : A package dedicated to efficient computations of observables in the Early Universe with the focus on the cosmological era of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). The code offers fast and precise evaluation of BBN light-element abundances together with the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, including non-instantaneous decoupling effects. is suitable for state-of-the-art analyses in the Standard Model as well as for general investigations into New Physics active during BBN. After reviewing the physics implemented in , we provide a short guide on how to use the code for applications in the Standard Model and beyond. The package is written in Python, but more advanced users can optionally take advantage of the open-source community for Julia. is publicly available on GitHub.

     
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  2. A bstract We study a renormalizable model of Dirac fermion dark matter (DM) that communicates with the Standard Model (SM) through a pair of mediators — one scalar, one fermion — in the representation ( 6 , 1 , $$ \frac{4}{3} $$ 4 3 ) of the SM gauge group SU(3) c × SU(2) L × U(1) Y . While such assignments preclude direct coupling of the dark matter to the Standard Model at tree level, we examine the many effective operators generated at one-loop order when the mediators are heavy, and find that they are often phenomenologically relevant. We reinterpret dijet and pair-produced resonance and jets + $$ {E}_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{miss}} $$ E T miss searches at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in order to constrain the mediator sector, and we examine an array of DM constraints ranging from the observed relic density Ω χ $$ {h}_{\mathrm{Planck}}^2 $$ h Planck 2 to indirect and direct searches for dark matter. Tree-level annihilation, available for DM masses starting at the TeV scale, is required in order to produce Ω χ $$ {h}_{\mathrm{Planck}}^2 $$ h Planck 2 through freeze-out, but loops — led by the dimension-five DM magnetic dipole moment — are nonetheless able to produce signals large enough to be constrained, particularly by the XENON1T experiment. In some benchmarks, we find a fair amount of parameter space left open by experiment and compatible with freeze-out. In other scenarios, however, the open space is quite small, suggesting a need for further model-building and/or non-standard cosmologies. 
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  3. A bstract We investigate a novel interplay between the decay and annihilation of a particle whose mass undergoes a large shift during a first order phase transition, leading to the particles becoming trapped in the false vacuum and enhancing their annihilation rates as the bubbles of true vacuum expand. This opens up a large region of the parameter space where annihilations can be important. We apply this scenario to baryogenesis, where we find that annihilations can be enhanced enough to generate the required baryon asymmetry even for relatively tiny annihilation cross sections with modest CP asymmetries. 
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  4. A bstract We explore the possibility that dark matter is a pair of vector-like fermionic SU(2) L doublets and propose a novel mechanism of dark matter production that proceeds through the confinement of the weak sector of the Standard Model. This confinement phase causes the Standard Model doublets and dark matter to confine into pions. The dark pions freeze-out before the weak sector deconfines and generate a relic abundance of dark matter. We solve the Boltzmann equations for this scenario to determine the scale of confinement and constituent dark matter mass required to produce the observed relic density. We determine which regions of this parameter space evade direct detection, collider bounds, and successfully produce the observed relic density of dark matter. For a TeV scale pair of vector-like fermionic SU(2) L doublets, we find the weak confinement scale to be ∼ 700 TeV. 
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  5. null (Ed.)