Abstract
We study phase transitions in a softly broken complex singlet scalar model in which the dark matter is the pseudoscalar part of a singlet whose direct detection coupling to matter is strongly suppressed. Our aim is to find ways to test this model with the stochastic gravitational wave background from the scalar phase transition. We find that the phase transition which induces vacuum expectation values for both the Higgs boson and the singlet—necessary to provide a realistic dark matter candidate—is always of the second order. If the stochastic gravitational wave background characteristic to a first order phase transition will be discovered by interferometers, the soft breaking of cannot be the explanation to the suppressed dark matter-baryon coupling, providing a conclusive negative test for this class of singlet models.
- Received 26 February 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.115010
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.
Published by the American Physical Society