Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Article number | 004 |
---|---|
<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 3/07/2013 |
<mark>Journal</mark> | Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics |
Issue number | 7 |
Volume | 2013 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
We show that late Q-ball decay in the MSSM with gauge-mediated SUSY breaking can provide a natural source of non-thermal NLSPs which subsequently decay to gravitino dark matter without violating nucleosynthesis constraints. To show this, we perform a global analysis of Q-ball formation and decay in Affleck-Dine baryogenesis for a d = 6 (u(c)d(c)d(c))(2) flat direction of the gauge-mediated MSSM. A general phenomenological potential for the flat-direction is studied and the Q-ball decay properties are obtained as a function of its parameters. The corresponding gravitino mass necessary to account for dark matter is then determined for the case of stau NLSPs. The decay temperature depends on the charge of the Q-balls, which is determined by the fragmentation of the AD condensate. Different fragmentation scenarios are considered, and the final non-thermal NLSP density from Q-ball decay and NLSP annihilation is determined. Particular care is taken to establish that NLSPs from Q-ball decay become homogeneous and non-relativistic prior to annihilation. The gravitino mass necessary for dark matter is naturally consistent with the theoretical gravitino mass in the gauge-mediation model.