Eur. Phys. J. C (2017) 77: 468
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5040-1

Regular Article - Theoretical Physics

Exceptional composite dark matter

¹ Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris Saclay, CEA, CNRS, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
² Theoretical Physics Department, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
³ Departament de Física Tèorica, Universitat de València and IFIC, Universitat de València-CSIC, Dr. Moliner 50, 46100, Burjassot, València, Spain

^* e-mail: guillermo.ballesteros@cea.fr
^** e-mail: adrian.carmona@cern.ch

Received: 2 May 2017
Accepted: 29 June 2017
Published online: 14 July 2017

Abstract

We study the dark matter phenomenology of non-minimal composite Higgs models with SO(7) broken to the exceptional group . In addition to the Higgs, three pseudo-Nambu–Goldstone bosons arise, one of which is electrically neutral. A parity symmetry is enough to ensure this resonance is stable. In fact, if the breaking of the Goldstone symmetry is driven by the fermion sector, this symmetry is automatically unbroken in the electroweak phase. In this case, the relic density, as well as the expected indirect, direct and collider signals are then uniquely determined by the value of the compositeness scale, f. Current experimental bounds allow one to account for a large fraction of the dark matter of the Universe if the dark matter particle is part of an electroweak triplet. The totality of the relic abundance can be accommodated if instead this particle is a composite singlet. In both cases, the scale f and the dark matter mass are of the order of a few TeV.