Dark matter, bound states and unitarity

by Prof. Kallia Petraki (Sorbonne University and LPENS (FR))

Wednesday 29 Oct 2025, 17:00 → 18:00 Europe/Athens

B228 (ΘΕΕ02)

Abstract: If dark matter couples to force mediators that are much lighter than itself, then its interactions manifest as long-ranged. This gives rise to non-perturbative effects, including the existence of bound states. The formation of stable or metastable dark matter bound states can affect the dark matter phenomenology very significantly, including the dark matter relic density and indirect detection signals, as well as the dark-matter self-scattering inside galaxies. I will give an overview of these effects in the context of dark matter production in the early universe, emphasizing the important role of the Higgs, as well as the connection to unitarity.

Speaker: Kallia Petraki is a professor of Physics at Sorbonne University, and works at the Laboratory of Physics of École Normale Supérieure (LPENS), in the axis of Fundamental Interactions.  Her research is on theoretical particle physics, particularly physics beyond the Standard Model in the context of dark matter, the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe and neutrinos. Prof. Petraki's recent work has focused on dark matter bound states,  self-interacting dark matter, and  asymmetric dark matter.
website: https://sites.google.com/view/kalliapetraki

Petraki_Poster.pdf