Eur. Phys. J. C (2011) 71: 1749
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-011-1749-4

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Enhancement of dark matter relic density from late time dark matter conversions

Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P.R. China

^* e-mail: zpliu@itp.ac.cn

Received: 14 June 2011
Revised: 9 August 2011
Published online: 5 October 2011

Abstract

We demonstrate that if the dark matter (DM) in the Universe contains multiple components, the possible interactions between the DM components may convert the heavier DM components into lighter ones. It is then possible that the lightest DM component with an annihilation cross section significantly larger than that of the typical weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) may lead to a relic density in agreement with cosmological observations, due to an enhancement of number density from the DM conversion process at late time after the thermal decoupling. This may provide an alternative source of boost factor relevant to the positron and electron excesses reported by the recent DM indirect search experiments.