A Global Analysis of Scalar Dark Matter-neutrino Interactions at the 1-loop Level

Abstract

One of the biggest challenges of modern physics is the identification of a missing component of the Universe, Dark Matter (DM). In particular, we do not know how it interacts with the Standard Model (SM). In this thesis, we consider a model of real scalar DM coupled to the SM via a 1-loop level neutrino portal. The model contains interaction terms that can generate neutrino masses, another open question in physics. We perform a global analysis and find that this model can reproduce the observed relic abundance of DM and is consistent with observations from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, the Cosmic Microwave Background, the Lyman-alpha forest, and the mass of the lightest neutrino.