Contatto di riferimento: Barbara Simoni
Partecipanti: Dr. Diego Redigolo: Tel Aviv university and Weitzmann Institute
Abstract: The existence of millicharged dark matter (mDM) can leave a measurable imprint on 21-cm cosmology through mDM-baryon scattering. However, the minimal scenario is severely constrained by existing cosmological bounds on both the fraction of dark matter that can be millicharged and the mass of mDM particles. I will discusshow introducing a long-range force between a millicharged subcomponent of dark matter and the dominant cold dark matter (CDM) component leads to efficient cooling of baryons in the early universe, while also significantly extending the range of viable mDM masses. Such a scenario can explain the anomalous absorption signal in the sky-averaged 21-cm spectrum observed by EDGES, and leads to a number of testable predictions for the properties of the dark sector. I will discuss the experimental prospects to test the mDM subcomponent and the CDM bath in low-threshold direct detection experiments and future colliders.