Can LLP detectors probe the reheating temperature? A case study of vector dark matter

Abstract

We study an extension of the singlet-scalar Higgs portal featuring a dark vector $V_\mu$ and a real scalar $\phi$. The vector is a dark matter (DM) candidate, while $\phi$ is long-lived and decays via higher-dimensional operators. We explore the DM production via freeze-in at low and high reheating temperatures. At colliders, the decay $\phi\to Z+V$ yields distinctive long-lived particle (LLP) signatures. We explore the interplay between cosmological constraints and LLP searches at the LHC and FCC-hh, showing that far detectors can probe otherwise inaccessible parameter space and place novel bounds on the reheating temperature.