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Electroweak Symmetric Balls

Date:
Location:
CP 179
Speaker(s) / Presenter(s):
Dr. Mrunal Korwar (University of California, Berkeley)

In this seminar, I will talk about electroweak symmetric balls, which are macroscopic objects that exhibit restored electroweak symmetry within. These objects can arise in models featuring a dark sector containing monopoles or non-topological solitons that interact with the Standard Model through a Higgs portal. In the early universe, they could have emerged via a phase transition or preheating mechanism, accounting for all dark matter. Because of their electroweak symmetric cores, these objects have a large geometric cross-section relative to a nucleus, which generates a multi-hit signature in large-volume detectors. Furthermore, they can capture a nucleus through radiative means, releasing up to a GeV of energy for each interaction. This makes them excellent targets for large-volume neutrino detectors. The IceCube detector, in particular, provides a promising avenue for exploring the properties of these fascinating objects, with the potential to probe dark matter balls weighing up to one gram.

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