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  • Open Access

Electroweak right-handed neutrino portal dark matter

Wan-Zhe Feng*, Ao Li†, Zong-Huan Ye‡, and Zi-Hui Zhang§

  • Center for Joint Quantum Studies and Department of Physics, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, People’s Republic of China

  • *Contact author: vicf@tju.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: leo_6626@tju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: y2953083702@tju.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: zhangzh_@tju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 035008 – Published 7 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vhkf-rwf4

Abstract

We study dark matter coupled to the Standard Model via electroweak scale right-handed neutrinos in a type-I seesaw framework. We consider a minimal dark sector containing a fermion χ and a complex scalar ϕ whose only connection to the Standard Model is through renormalizable Yukawa interactions with right-handed Majorana neutrinos, thus realizing a neutrino portal after seesaw mixing. We discuss three representative realizations of electroweak right-handed neutrinos arising from the type-I seesaw mechanism, spanning small, tiny, and ultraweak couplings to the Standard Model sector, so that the dark particles can either undergo secluded freeze-out or be produced via freeze-in. Instead of merely estimating the order of magnitude of the seesaw couplings, we use the particle swarm optimization algorithm to obtain viable seesaw parameter sets consistent with neutrino data and other constraints, and then compute the coupled evolution of the dark particles and right-handed neutrinos, reproducing the observed dark matter relic abundance in representative benchmark scenarios. For freeze-out, dark matter depletion is controlled by coupled dark sector dynamics, requiring a full Boltzmann treatment for a reliable relic abundance. For freeze-in, internal dark interactions also alter the relic density: treating hidden particles as independent components with late decays added afterward can misestimate the abundance by 30% or even 95%, depending on the interaction structure. Electroweak right-handed neutrino portal dark matter thus provides a robust and predictive framework that tightly connects neutrino physics, heavy neutral lepton phenomenology, and the cosmological dark matter relic density, offering a well-motivated benchmark for complementary collider, neutrino, and cosmological probes at the high energy frontier.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 035008– Published 7 August, 2026
  • Received 17 December 2025
  • Accepted 29 June 2026
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