Phase Transitions and Gravitational Wave Tests of Pseudo-Goldstone Dark Matter in the Softly Broken U(1) Scalar Singlet Model

Abstract: We study phase transitions in a softly broken $U(1)$ complex singlet scalar model in which the dark matter is the pseudo-scalar part of a singlet whose direct detection coupling to matter is strongly suppressed. Our aim is to find ways to test this model with the stochastic gravitational wave background from the scalar phase transition. We find that the phase transition which induces vacuum expectation values for both the Higgs boson and the singlet - necessary to provide a realistic dark matter candidate - is always of the second order. If the stochastic gravitational wave background characteristic to a first order phase transition will be discovered by interferometers, the soft breaking of $U(1)$ cannot be the explanation to the suppressed dark matter-baryon coupling, providing a conclusive negative test for this class of singlet models.