Abstract.
The particle nature of Dark Matter (DM) remains one of the biggest unsolved problems in modern physics. One handle we have to learn about the nature of DM is searching for annihilations of DM particles to Standard Model (SM) final states in the early universe. For example, DM annihilations around one minute after the Big Bang (at temperatures ~ 1 keV) would inject energy into the SM plasma, which would leave observable imprints. This energy can break the lightest elements, which have just formed during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) in a process called photodisintegration. Observations of the light element abundances thus provide a probe on the strength of DM annihilations. In this talk I will present bounds on a specific class of DM models, in which - in addition to the DM particle - there is a resonant state in the spectrum. Such models provide interesting phenomenology, but can run into stringent BBN bounds, as I will show.
(The slides will be available here)