Cosmological Bounds on an Invisibly Decaying Higgs Boson

Abstract

We derive bounds on the Higgs boson coupling $g^{\prime}$ to a stable light scalar which is regarded as a collisional dark matter candidate. We study the behaviour of this scalar, that we refer to as phion ($ϕ$), in the early Universe for different ranges of its mass. We find that a phion in the mass range of $100 \mev$ is excluded, while if its mass is about $1 \gev$, a rather large coupling constant, $g^{\prime} \gsim 2$, and $m_h \lsim 130 \gev$ are required in order to avoid overabundance. In the latter case, the invisible decay mode of the Higgs boson is dominant.