Ultraheavy atomic dark matter freeze-out through rearrangement

Abstract

Atomic dark matter is usually considered to be produced asymmetrically in the early Universe. In this work, we first propose that the symmetric atomic dark matter can be thermally produced through the freeze-out mechanism. The dominant atom antiatom annihilation channel is the atomic rearrangement. It has a geometrical cross section much larger than that of elementary fermions. After the atomic formation, this annihilation process further depletes dark matter particles and finally freezes out. To give the observed dark matter relic, the dark atoms are naturally ultraheavy, ranging from 106 to 1010  GeV. Published by the American Physical Society 2024