Could the Higgs Boson Help Identify Dark Matter?

[Quds Akbar]

I have been looking into Dark Matter recently and how we know really little about it to even try to identify what it is clearly. But Dark Matter obiously has mass which means that in some way it must be interacting with the Higgs Field. So could studying the Higgs Boson and comparing its interaction to DM possiblities such as WIMPS and MACHOS help? If so, what aspect in particular should be studied in the Higgs Boson to help the DM "identification"?

 

[Orodruin]

But Dark Matter obiously has mass which means that in some way it must be interacting with the Higgs Field.

No, this is not necessarily true. There are models where dark matter is interacting with the Higgs field, but it is not always necessary.

 

[ohwilleke]

Something like 98% plus of the mass of the universe is not derived from the Higgs field, and instead arises from gluon field energy within protons and neutrons. A recent preprint did, however, put a maximum branching fraction of the Higgs boson to a dark sector at 23-25% (of course, all Higgs boson interactions with the dark matter are beyond the Standard Model). http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.00672

Moreover, to be clear, this finding does not affirmatively find any indication whatsoever for a Higgs-dark matter portal, it simply bounds what could be produced based upon experimental uncertainties in other measurements, all of which are consistent with the Standard Model Higgs boson that has no such interactions. The fact that the Higgs boson should get lighter at higher energies also doesn't help the cause of Higgs boson portal dark matter.

MACHOS in particular, which have largely been ruled out, would probably be composed of non-luminous matter made from protons and/or neutrons, rather than exotic dark matter.

 

[NickAtNight]

No, this is not necessarily true. There are models where dark matter is interacting with the Higgs field, but it is not always necessary.

Well, how about we say that 'something' appears to have mass that we cannot observe that causes the galaxy rotation to be different from the observed mass.

 

[Drakkith]

Well, how about we say that 'something' appears to have mass that we cannot observe that causes the galaxy rotation to be different from the observed mass.

I think what Orodruin was saying was that dark matter can have mass without interacting with the Higgs field, not that dark matter doesn't necessarily have mass.

 

[Orodruin]

I think what Orodruin was saying was that dark matter can have mass without interacting with the Higgs field, not that dark matter doesn't necessarily have mass.

Indeed. Having mass does not necessarily mean interacting with the Higgs field.