Asymmetric dark matter annihilation as a test of non-standard cosmologies

We show that the relic abundance of the minority component of asymmetric dark matter can be very sensitive to the expansion rate of the Universe and the temperature of transition between a non-standard pre-Big Bang Nucleosynthesis cosmological phase and the standard radiation dominated phase, if chemical decoupling happens before this transition. In particular, because the annihilation cross section of asymmetric dark matter is typically larger than that of symmetric dark matter in the standard cosmology, the decrease in relic density of the minority component in non-standard cosmologies with respect to the majority component may be compensated by the increase in annihilation cross section, so that the annihilation rate at present of asymmetric dark matter, contrary to general belief, could be larger than that of symmetric dark matter in the standard cosmology. Thus, if the annihilation cross section of the asymmetric dark matter candidate is known, the annihilation rate at present, if detectable, could be used to test the Universe before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, an epoch from which we do not yet have any data.