Dark matter, dark photon and primordial black holes

• Grant number: 22/04882-7
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Enrico Bertuzzo
• Grantee: Enrico Bertuzzo
• Visiting researcher: Yuber Ferney Perez-Gonzalez
• Visiting researcher institution: Durham University (DU), England
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/04837-9 - Particle Physics Phenomenology, AP.TEM

Abstract

New spin-1 states may be a good Dark Matter candidate, with many production mechanisms put forward in the literature to populate the correct relic abundance. The large majority of such mechanisms are of non-thermal nature, making the prediction somewhat dependent on the initial conditions of the universe. One such condition is the possible existence of primordial black holes which, through evaporation and entropy injection, can modify the dark photon relic abundance quite drastically. In this project we propose to study the interplay between the two dark sectors (the dark photon on one side, the black holes on the other) and determine how is the parameter space in which the dark photon is a good dark matter candidate affected by the existence of a primordial black hole population. (AU)