Wireless communications systems and methods related to communicating a serving cell dormancy indication field and acknowledgement. In some implementations, a wireless communication device (e.g., user equipment), may detect a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) with a secondary cell (Scell) dormancy indication field. The user equipment can change states from an initial state to another state (e.g., a dormancy-like state to a non-dormancy like state) based on detecting Scell indicator field in the PDCCH. The user equipment may also transmit a hybrid-ARQ acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) in response to the detecting the PDCCH with the Scell dormancy indication field. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.