How scalar-field dark matter may conspire to facilitate baryogenesis at the electroweak scale

Abstract

The cosmic evolution of a dark matter model which behaves relativistically in the early Universe is explored. Dark matter is described as a complex scalar field, whose earliest evolution is characterized by a stiff equation of state ($p\simeq \rho$). In this phase, it is the dominant component in the Universe. We present constraints from Big Bang nucleosynthesis and primordial gravity waves from inflation. Also, we study how the associated enhanced expansion rate due to the stiff phase might facilitate a first-order electroweak symmetry breaking phase transition, in light of the recently measured value of the Higgs boson mass.

Comments: Presentation at the DPF2015 Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields, Ann Arbor, Michigan, August 4-8, 2015; 8 pages; 3 figures