Very heavy dark Skyrmions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dick, Rainer

2017-12-01

A dark sector with a solitonic component provides a means to circumvent the problem of generically low annihilation cross sections of very heavy dark matter particles. At the same time, enhanced annihilation cross sections are necessary for indirect detection of very heavy dark matter components beyond 100 TeV. Non-thermally produced dark matter in this mass range could therefore contribute to the cosmic γ -ray and neutrino flux above 100 TeV, and massive Skyrmions provide an interesting framework for the discussion of these scenarios. Therefore a Higgs portal and a neutrino portal for very heavy Skyrmion dark matter are discussed. The Higgs portal model demonstrates a dark mediator bottleneck, where limitations on particle annihilation cross sections will prevent a signal from the potentially large soliton annihilation cross sections. This problem can be avoided in models where the dark mediator decays. This is illustrated by the neutrino portal for Skyrmion dark matter.

Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation in the Smith High-Velocity Cloud

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Gomez-Vargas, German A.; Hewitt, John W.; Linden, Tim; Tibaldo, Luigi

2014-01-01

Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use gamma-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant gamma-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (approximately 3 x 10 (sup -26) cubic centimeters per second) for dark matter masses less than or approximately 30 gigaelectronvolts annihilating via the B/B- bar oscillation or tau/antitau channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

Searching For Dark Matter Annihilation In The Smith High-Velocity Cloud

DOE PAGES

Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Gómez-Vargas, Germán A.; Hewitt, John W.; ...

2014-06-27

Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use γ-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant γ-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation crossmore » section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (~3 × 10 -26 cm3 s -1) for dark matter masses . 30 GeV annihilating via the b¯b or τ⁺τ⁻ channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.« less

Dark Matter Elastic Scattering Through Higgs Loops [Everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask

DOE PAGES

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; McDermott, Samuel D.

2015-12-28

We consider a complete list of simplifieed models in which Majorana dark matter particles annihilate at tree level to hh or hZ finnal states, and calculate the loop-induced elastic scattering cross section with nuclei in each case. Expressions for these annihilation and elastic scattering cross sections are provided, and can be easily applied to a variety of UV complete models. We identify several phenomenologically viable scenarios, including dark matter that annihilates through the s-channel exchange of a spin-zero mediator or through the t-channel exchange of a fermion. Although the elastic scattering cross sections predicted in this class of models aremore » generally quite small, XENON1Tand LZ should be sensitive to significant regions of this parameter space. Models in which the dark matter annihilates to hh or hZ can also generate a gamma-ray signal that is compatible with the excess observed from the Galactic Center.« less

Dark Matter Elastic Scattering Through Higgs Loops [Everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; McDermott, Samuel D.

We consider a complete list of simplifieed models in which Majorana dark matter particles annihilate at tree level to hh or hZ finnal states, and calculate the loop-induced elastic scattering cross section with nuclei in each case. Expressions for these annihilation and elastic scattering cross sections are provided, and can be easily applied to a variety of UV complete models. We identify several phenomenologically viable scenarios, including dark matter that annihilates through the s-channel exchange of a spin-zero mediator or through the t-channel exchange of a fermion. Although the elastic scattering cross sections predicted in this class of models aremore » generally quite small, XENON1Tand LZ should be sensitive to significant regions of this parameter space. Models in which the dark matter annihilates to hh or hZ can also generate a gamma-ray signal that is compatible with the excess observed from the Galactic Center.« less

Model-independent constraints on dark matter annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boddy, Kimberly K.; Kumar, Jason; Marfatia, Danny; Sandick, Pearl

2018-05-01

We present a general, model-independent formalism for determining bounds on the production of photons in dwarf spheroidal galaxies via dark matter annihilation, applicable to any set of assumptions about dark matter particle physics or astrophysics. As an illustration, we analyze gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to constrain a variety of nonstandard dark matter models, several of which have not previously been studied in the context of dwarf galaxy searches.

Indirect searches of dark matter via polynomial spectral features

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garcia-Cely, Camilo; Heeck, Julian

2016-08-11

We derive the spectra arising from non-relativistic dark matter annihilations or decays into intermediary particles with arbitrary spin, which subsequently produce neutrinos or photons via two-body decays. Our approach is model independent and predicts spectral features restricted to a kinematic box. The overall shape within that box is a polynomial determined by the polarization of the decaying particle. We illustrate our findings with two examples. First, with the neutrino spectra arising from dark matter annihilations into the massive Standard Model gauge bosons. Second, with the gamma-ray and neutrino spectra generated by dark matter annihilations into hypothetical massive spin-2 particles. Ourmore » results are in particular applicable to the 750 GeV diphoton excess observed at the LHC if interpreted as a spin-0 or spin-2 particle coupled to dark matter. We also derive limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section into this resonance from the non-observation of the associated gamma-ray spectral features by the H.E.S.S. telescope.« less

Possible Dark Matter Annihilation Signal in the AMS-02 Antiproton Data.

PubMed

Cui, Ming-Yang; Yuan, Qiang; Tsai, Yue-Lin Sming; Fan, Yi-Zhong

2017-05-12

Using the latest AMS-02 cosmic-ray antiproton flux data, we search for a potential dark matter annihilation signal. The background parameters about the propagation, source injection, and solar modulation are not assumed a priori but based on the results inferred from the recent B/C ratio and proton data measurements instead. The possible dark matter signal is incorporated into the model self-consistently under a Bayesian framework. Compared with the astrophysical background-only hypothesis, we find that a dark matter signal is favored. The rest mass of the dark matter particles is ∼20-80  GeV, and the velocity-averaged hadronic annihilation cross section is about (0.2-5)×10^{-26}  cm^{3} s^{-1}, in agreement with that needed to account for the Galactic center GeV excess and/or the weak GeV emission from dwarf spheroidal galaxies Reticulum 2 and Tucana III. Tight constraints on the dark matter annihilation models are also set in a wide mass region.

Probing dark matter annihilation in the Galaxy with antiprotons and gamma rays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cuoco, Alessandro; Heisig, Jan; Korsmeier, Michael

2017-10-01

A possible hint of dark matter annihilation has been found in Cuoco, Korsmeier and Krämer (2017) from an analysis of recent cosmic-ray antiproton data from AMS-02 and taking into account cosmic-ray propagation uncertainties by fitting at the same time dark matter and propagation parameters. Here, we extend this analysis to a wider class of annihilation channels. We find consistent hints of a dark matter signal with an annihilation cross-section close to the thermal value and with masses in range between 40 and 130 GeV depending on the annihilation channel. Furthermore, we investigate in how far the possible signal is compatiblemore » with the Galactic center gamma-ray excess and recent observation of dwarf satellite galaxies by performing a joint global fit including uncertainties in the dark matter density profile. As an example, we interpret our results in the framework of the Higgs portal model.« less

Perturbative unitarity constraints on gauge portals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Hedri, Sonia; Shepherd, William; Walker, Devin G. E.

2017-12-01

Dark matter that was once in thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model is generally prohibited from obtaining all of its mass from the electroweak phase transition. This implies a new scale of physics and mediator particles to facilitate dark matter annihilation. In this work, we focus on dark matter that annihilates through a generic gauge boson portal. We show how partial wave unitarity places upper bounds on the dark gauge boson, dark Higgs and dark matter masses. Outside of well-defined fine-tuned regions, we find an upper bound of 9 TeV for the dark matter mass when the dark Higgs and dark gauge bosons both facilitate the dark matter annihilations. In this scenario, the upper bound on the dark Higgs and dark gauge boson masses are 10 TeV and 16 TeV, respectively. When only the dark gauge boson facilitates dark matter annihilations, we find an upper bound of 3 TeV and 6 TeV for the dark matter and dark gauge boson, respectively. Overall, using the gauge portal as a template, we describe a method to not only place upper bounds on the dark matter mass but also on the new particles with Standard Model quantum numbers. We briefly discuss the reach of future accelerator, direct and indirect detection experiments for this class of models.

Updated collider and direct detection constraints on Dark Matter models for the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess

DOE PAGES

Escudero, Miguel; Hooper, Dan; Witte, Samuel J.

2017-02-20

Utilizing an exhaustive set of simplified models, we revisit dark matter scenarios potentially capable of generating the observed Galactic Center gamma-ray excess, updating constraints from the LUX and PandaX-II experiments, as well as from the LHC and other colliders. We identify a variety of pseudoscalar mediated models that remain consistent with all constraints. In contrast, dark matter candidates which annihilate through a spin-1 mediator are ruled out by direct detection constraints unless the mass of the mediator is near an annihilation resonance, or the mediator has a purely vector coupling to the dark matter and a purely axial coupling tomore » Standard Model fermions. Furthermore, all scenarios in which the dark matter annihilates through t-channel processes are now ruled out by a combination of the constraints from LUX/PandaX-II and the LHC.« less

SIMP dark matter and its cosmic abundances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Soo-Min; Lee, Hyun Min; Seo, Min-Seok

2018-01-01

We give a review on the thermal average of the annihilation cross-sections for 3 → 2 and general higher-order processes. Thermal average of higher order annihilations highly depend on the velocity of dark matter, especially, for the case with resonance poles. We show such examples for scalar dark matter in gauged Z3 models.

Perturbative unitarity constraints on gauge portals

DOE PAGES

El Hedri, Sonia; Shepherd, William; Walker, Devin G. E.

2017-10-03

Dark matter that was once in thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model is generally prohibited from obtaining all of its mass from the electroweak phase transition. This implies a new scale of physics and mediator particles to facilitate dark matter annihilation. In this work, we focus on dark matter that annihilates through a generic gauge boson portal. We show how partial wave unitarity places upper bounds on the dark gauge boson, dark Higgs and dark matter masses. Outside of well-defined fine-tuned regions, we find an upper bound of 9 TeV for the dark matter mass when the dark Higgs andmore » dark gauge bosons both facilitate the dark matter annihilations. In this scenario, the upper bound on the dark Higgs and dark gauge boson masses are 10 TeV and 16 TeV, respectively. When only the dark gauge boson facilitates dark matter annihilations, we find an upper bound of 3 TeV and 6 TeV for the dark matter and dark gauge boson, respectively. Overall, using the gauge portal as a template, we describe a method to not only place upper bounds on the dark matter mass but also on the new particles with Standard Model quantum numbers. Here, we briefly discuss the reach of future accelerator, direct and indirect detection experiments for this class of models.« less

Perturbative unitarity constraints on gauge portals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

El Hedri, Sonia; Shepherd, William; Walker, Devin G. E.

Dark matter that was once in thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model is generally prohibited from obtaining all of its mass from the electroweak phase transition. This implies a new scale of physics and mediator particles to facilitate dark matter annihilation. In this work, we focus on dark matter that annihilates through a generic gauge boson portal. We show how partial wave unitarity places upper bounds on the dark gauge boson, dark Higgs and dark matter masses. Outside of well-defined fine-tuned regions, we find an upper bound of 9 TeV for the dark matter mass when the dark Higgs andmore » dark gauge bosons both facilitate the dark matter annihilations. In this scenario, the upper bound on the dark Higgs and dark gauge boson masses are 10 TeV and 16 TeV, respectively. When only the dark gauge boson facilitates dark matter annihilations, we find an upper bound of 3 TeV and 6 TeV for the dark matter and dark gauge boson, respectively. Overall, using the gauge portal as a template, we describe a method to not only place upper bounds on the dark matter mass but also on the new particles with Standard Model quantum numbers. Here, we briefly discuss the reach of future accelerator, direct and indirect detection experiments for this class of models.« less

Search for right-handed neutrinos from dark matter annihilation with gamma-rays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Campos, Miguel D.; Queiroz, Farinaldo S.; Yaguna, Carlos E.

Several extensions of the Standard Model contain right-handed (sterile) neutrinos in the GeV-TeV mass range. Due to their mixing with the active neutrinos, they may give rise to novel effects in cosmology, neutrino physics, and collider searches. In addition, right-handed neutrinos can also appear as final states from dark matter annihilations, with important implications for dark matter indirect detection searches. In this paper, we use current data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (6-year observation of dwarf spheroidal galaxies) and H.E.S.S. (10-year observation of the Galactic center) to constrain the annihilation of dark matter into right-handed neutrinos. We consider right-handedmore » neutrino with masses between 10 GeV and 1 TeV, including both two-body and three-body decays, to derive bounds on the dark matter annihilation rate, ( σ v ), as a function of the dark matter mass. Our results show, in particular, that the thermal dark matter annihilation cross section, 3× 10{sup −26} cm{sup 3} s {sup −1} , into right-handed neutrinos is excluded for dark matter masses smaller than 200 GeV.« less

Investigation of matter-antimatter interaction for possible propulsion applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morgan, D. L., Jr.

1974-01-01

Matter-antimatter annihilation is discussed as a means of rocket propulsion. The feasibility of different means of antimatter storage is shown to depend on how annihilation rates are affected by various circumstances. The annihilation processes are described, with emphasis on important features of atom-antiatom interatomic potential energies. A model is developed that allows approximate calculation of upper and lower bounds to the interatomic potential energy for any atom-antiatom pair. Formulae for the upper and lower bounds for atom-antiatom annihilation cross-sections are obtained and applied to the annihilation rates for each means of antimatter storage under consideration. Recommendations for further studies are presented.

Electroweak and Higgs boson internal bremsstrahlung. General considerations for Majorana dark matter annihilation and application to MSSM neutralinos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bringmann, Torsten; Calore, Francesca; Galea, Ahmad; Garny, Mathias

2017-09-01

It is well known that the annihilation of Majorana dark matter into fermions is helicity suppressed. Here, we point out that the underlying mechanism is a subtle combination of two distinct effects, and we present a comprehensive analysis of how the suppression can be partially or fully lifted by the internal bremsstrahlung of an additional boson in the final state. As a concrete illustration, we compute analytically the full amplitudes and annihilation rates of supersymmetric neutralinos to final states that contain any combination of two standard model fermions, plus one electroweak gauge boson or one of the five physical Higgs bosons that appear in the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We classify the various ways in which these three-body rates can be large compared to the two-body rates, identifying cases that have not been pointed out before. In our analysis, we put special emphasis on how to avoid the double counting of identical kinematic situations that appear for two-body and three-body final states, in particular on how to correctly treat differential rates and the spectrum of the resulting stable particles that is relevant for indirect dark matter searches. We find that both the total annihilation rates and the yields can be significantly enhanced when taking into account the corrections computed here, in particular for models with somewhat small annihilation rates at tree-level which otherwise would not be testable with indirect dark matter searches. Even more importantly, however, we find that the resulting annihilation spectra of positrons, neutrinos, gamma-rays and antiprotons differ in general substantially from the model-independent spectra that are commonly adopted, for these final states, when constraining particle dark matter with indirect detection experiments.

Search for scalar dark matter via pseudoscalar portal interactions in light of the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Kwei-Chou

2018-01-01

In light of the observed Galactic center gamma-ray excess, we investigate a simplified model, for which the scalar dark matter interacts with quarks through a pseudoscalar mediator. The viable regions of the parameter space, that can also account for the relic density and evade the current searches, are identified, if the low-velocity dark matter annihilates through an s -channel off shell mediator mostly into b ¯b , and/or annihilates directly into two hidden on shell mediators, which subsequently decay into the quark pairs. These two kinds of annihilations are s wave. The projected monojet limit set by the high luminosity LHC sensitivity could constrain the favored parameter space, where the mediator's mass is larger than the dark matter mass by a factor of 2. We show that the projected sensitivity of 15-year Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies can provide a stringent constraint on the most parameter space allowed in this model. If the on shell mediator channel contributes to the dark matter annihilation cross sections over 50%, this model with a lighter mediator can be probed in the projected PICO-500L experiment.

Distinguishing neutrino mass hierarchies using dark matter annihilation signals at IceCube

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allahverdi, Rouzbeh; Knockel, Bradley; Dutta, Bhaskar

2015-12-01

We explore the possibility of distinguishing neutrino mass hierarchies through the neutrino signal from dark matter annihilation at neutrino telescopes. We consider a simple extension of the standard model where the neutrino masses and mixing angles are obtained via the type-II seesaw mechanism as an explicit example. We show that future extensions of IceCube neutrino telescope may detect the neutrino signal from DM annihilation at the Galactic Center and inside the Sun, and differentiate between the normal and inverted mass hierarchies, in this model.

Search For Dark Matter Satellites Using Fermi-Lat

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.

2012-02-23

Numerical simulations based on the ΛCDM model of cosmology predict a large number of as yet unobserved Galactic dark matter satellites. We report the results of a Large Area Telescope (LAT) search for these satellites via the γ-ray emission expected from the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. Some dark matter satellites are expected to have hard γ-ray spectra, finite angular extents, and a lack of counterparts at other wavelengths. We sought to identify LAT sources with these characteristics, focusing on γ-ray spectra consistent with WIMP annihilation through themore » $$b \\bar{b}$$ channel. We found no viable dark matter satellite candidates using one year of data, and we present a framework for interpreting this result in the context of numerical simulations to constrain the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section for a conventional 100 GeV WIMP annihilating through the $$b \\bar{b}$$ channel.« less

Search for Dark Matter Satellites Using the Fermi-Lat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ackermann, M.; Albert, A.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.;

Upper bounds on asymmetric dark matter self annihilation cross sections

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ellwanger, Ulrich; Mitropoulos, Pantelis, E-mail: ulrich.ellwanger@th.u-psud.fr, E-mail: pantelis.mitropoulos@th.u-psud.fr

2012-07-01

Most models for asymmetric dark matter allow for dark matter self annihilation processes, which can wash out the asymmetry at temperatures near and below the dark matter mass. We study the coupled set of Boltzmann equations for the symmetric and antisymmetric dark matter number densities, and derive conditions applicable to a large class of models for the absence of a significant wash-out of an asymmetry. These constraints are applied to various existing scenarios. In the case of left- or right-handed sneutrinos, very large electroweak gaugino masses, or very small mixing angles are required.

Sterile neutrinos and indirect dark matter searches in IceCube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Argüelles, Carlos A.; Kopp, Joachim

2012-07-01

If light sterile neutrinos exist and mix with the active neutrino flavors, this mixing will affect the propagation of high-energy neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Sun. In particular, new Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein resonances can occur, leading to almost complete conversion of some active neutrino flavors into sterile states. We demonstrate how this can weaken IceCube limits on neutrino capture and annihilation in the Sun and how potential future conflicts between IceCube constraints and direct detection or collider data might be resolved by invoking sterile neutrinos. We also point out that, if the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section and the allowed annihilation channels are precisely measured in direct detection and collider experiments in the future, IceCube can be used to constrain sterile neutrino models using neutrinos from the dark matter annihilation.

Search for gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation in the large magellanic cloud with the fermi large area telescope

DOE PAGES

Buckley, Matthew R.; Charles, Eric; Gaskins, Jennifer M.; ...

2015-05-05

At a distance of 50 kpc and with a dark matter mass of ~10 10 M ⊙, the large magellanic cloud (LMC) is a natural target for indirect dark matter searches. We use five years of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and updated models of the gamma-ray emission from standard astrophysical components to search for a dark matter annihilation signal from the LMC. We perform a rotation curve analysis to determine the dark matter distribution, setting a robust minimum on the amount of dark matter in the LMC, which we use to set conservative bounds on the annihilationmore » cross section. The LMC emission is generally very well described by the standard astrophysical sources, with at most a 1–2σ excess identified near the kinematic center of the LMC once systematic uncertainties are taken into account. As a result, we place competitive bounds on the dark matter annihilation cross section as a function of dark matter particle mass and annihilation channel.« less

Impeded Dark Matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia; Slatyer, Tracy

Here, we consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario \\Impeded Dark Matter". We also demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may evenmore » be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. Furthermore, for positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.« less

Impeded Dark Matter

DOE PAGES

Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia; Slatyer, Tracy; ...

2016-12-12

Here, we consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario \\Impeded Dark Matter". We also demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may evenmore » be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. Furthermore, for positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.« less

X-Ray Lines from Dark Matter Annihilation at the keV Scale.

PubMed

Brdar, Vedran; Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia; Wang, Xiao-Ping

2018-02-09

In 2014, several groups reported hints for a yet unidentified line in astrophysical x-ray signals from galaxies and galaxy clusters at an energy of 3.5 keV. While it is not unlikely that this line is simply a reflection of imperfectly modeled atomic transitions, it has renewed the community's interest in models of keV-scale dark matter, whose decay would lead to such a line. The alternative possibility of dark matter annihilation into monochromatic photons is far less explored, a lapse that we strive to amend in this Letter. More precisely, we introduce a novel model of fermionic dark matter χ with O(keV) mass, annihilating to a scalar state ϕ which in turn decays to photons, for instance via loops of heavy vectorlike fermions. The resulting photon spectrum is box shaped, but if χ and ϕ are nearly degenerate in mass, it can also resemble a narrow line. We discuss dark matter production via two different mechanisms-misalignment and freeze-in-which both turn out to be viable in vast regions of parameter space. We constrain the model using astrophysical x-ray data, and we demonstrate that, thanks to the velocity dependence of the annihilation cross section, it has the potential to reconcile the various observations of the 3.5 keV line. We finally argue that the model can easily avoid structure formation constraints on keV-scale dark matter.

X-Ray Lines from Dark Matter Annihilation at the keV Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brdar, Vedran; Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia; Wang, Xiao-Ping

2018-02-01

In 2014, several groups reported hints for a yet unidentified line in astrophysical x-ray signals from galaxies and galaxy clusters at an energy of 3.5 keV. While it is not unlikely that this line is simply a reflection of imperfectly modeled atomic transitions, it has renewed the community's interest in models of keV-scale dark matter, whose decay would lead to such a line. The alternative possibility of dark matter annihilation into monochromatic photons is far less explored, a lapse that we strive to amend in this Letter. More precisely, we introduce a novel model of fermionic dark matter χ with O (keV ) mass, annihilating to a scalar state ϕ which in turn decays to photons, for instance via loops of heavy vectorlike fermions. The resulting photon spectrum is box shaped, but if χ and ϕ are nearly degenerate in mass, it can also resemble a narrow line. We discuss dark matter production via two different mechanisms—misalignment and freeze-in—which both turn out to be viable in vast regions of parameter space. We constrain the model using astrophysical x-ray data, and we demonstrate that, thanks to the velocity dependence of the annihilation cross section, it has the potential to reconcile the various observations of the 3.5 keV line. We finally argue that the model can easily avoid structure formation constraints on keV-scale dark matter.

Dark matter annihilation in the circumgalactic medium at high redshifts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schön, S.; Mack, K. J.; Wyithe, J. S. B.

2018-03-01

Annihilating dark matter (DM) models offer promising avenues for future DM detection, in particular via modification of astrophysical signals. However, when modelling such potential signals at high redshift, the emergence of both DM and baryonic structure, as well as the complexities of the energy transfer process, needs to be taken into account. In the following paper, we present a detailed energy deposition code and use this to examine the energy transfer efficiency of annihilating DM at high redshift, including the effects on baryonic structure. We employ the PYTHIA code to model neutralino-like DM candidates and their subsequent annihilation products for a range of masses and annihilation channels. We also compare different density profiles and mass-concentration relations for 105-107 M⊙ haloes at redshifts 20 and 40. For these DM halo and particle models, we show radially dependent ionization and heating curves and compare the deposited energy to the haloes' gravitational binding energy. We use the `filtered' annihilation spectra escaping the halo to calculate the heating of the circumgalactic medium and show that the mass of the minimal star-forming object is increased by a factor of 2-3 at redshift 20 and 4-5 at redshift 40 for some DM models.

Constraints on cosmological dark matter annihilation from the Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray measurement

DOE PAGES

Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; ...

2010-04-01

The first published Fermi large area telescope (Fermi-LAT) measurement of the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray emission is in good agreement with a single power law, and is not showing any signature of a dominant contribution from dark matter sources in the energy range from 20 to 100 GeV. Here, we use the absolute size and spectral shape of this measured flux to derive cross section limits on three types of generic dark matter candidates: annihilating into quarks, charged leptons and monochromatic photons. Predicted gamma-ray fluxes from annihilating dark matter are strongly affected by the underlying distribution of dark matter, and bymore » using different available results of matter structure formation we assess these uncertainties. We also quantify how the dark matter constraints depend on the assumed conventional backgrounds and on the Universe's transparency to high-energy gamma-rays. In reasonable background and dark matter structure scenarios (but not in all scenarios we consider) it is possible to exclude models proposed to explain the excess of electrons and positrons measured by the Fermi-LAT and PAMELA experiments. Derived limits also start to probe cross sections expected from thermally produced relics (e.g. in minimal supersymmetry models) annihilating predominantly into quarks. Finally, for the monochromatic gamma-ray signature, the current measurement constrains only dark matter scenarios with very strong signals.« less

Vector dark matter annihilation with internal bremsstrahlung

DOE PAGES

Bambhaniya, Gulab; Kumar, Jason; Marfatia, Danny; ...

2017-01-10

We consider scenarios in which the annihilation of self-conjugate spin-1 dark matter to a Standard Model fermion-antifermion final state is chirality suppressed, but where this suppression can be lifted by the emission of an additional photon via internal bremsstrahlung. We find that this scenario can only arise if the initial dark matter state is polarized, which can occur in the context of self-interacting dark matter. In particular, this is possible if the dark matter pair forms a bound state that decays to its ground state before the constituents annihilate. We show that the shape of the resulting photon spectrum ismore » the same as for self-conjugate spin-0 and spin-1/2 dark matter, but the normalization is less heavily suppressed in the limit of heavy mediators.« less

Polarization of photons in matter–antimatter annihilation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moskaliuk, S.S.

2015-03-10

In this work we demonstrate the possibility of generation of linear polarization of the electromagnetic field (EMF) due to the quantum effects in matter-antimatter annihilation process for anisotropic space of the I type according to Bianchi. We study the dynamics of this process to estimate the degree of polarisation of the EMF in the external gravitational field of the anisotropic Bianchi I model. It has been established that the quantum effects in matter-antimatter annihilation process in the external gravitational field of the anisotropic Bianchi I model provide contribution to the degree of polarisation of the EMF in quadrupole harmonics.

On the Direct Detection of Dark Matter Annihilation

DOE PAGES

Cherry, John Francis Jr.; Frandsen, Mads T.; Shoemaker, Ian M.

2015-06-12

We investigate the direct detection phenomenology of a class of dark matter (DM) models in which DM does not directly interact with nuclei, but rather, the products of its annihilation do. When these annihilation products are very light compared to the DM mass, the scattering in direct detection experiments is controlled by relativistic kinematics. This results in a distinctive recoil spectrum, a nonstandard and/or even absent annual modulation, and the ability to probe DM masses as low as a ~ 10 MeV. Here, we use current LUX data to show that experimental sensitivity to thermal relic annihilation cross sections hasmore » already been reached in a class of models. Moreover, the compatibility of dark matter direct detection experiments can be compared directly in E min space without making assumptions about DM astrophysics, mass, or scattering form factors. Lastly, when DM has direct couplings to nuclei, the limit from annihilation to relativistic particlesin the Sun can be stronger than that of conventional nonrelativistic direct detection by more than 3 orders of magnitude for masses in a 2–7 GeV window.« less

Secretly asymmetric dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agrawal, Prateek; Kilic, Can; Swaminathan, Sivaramakrishnan; Trendafilova, Cynthia

2017-01-01

We study a mechanism where the dark matter number density today arises from asymmetries generated in the dark sector in the early Universe, even though the total dark matter number remains zero throughout the history of the Universe. The dark matter population today can be completely symmetric, with annihilation rates above those expected from thermal weakly interacting massive particles. We give a simple example of this mechanism using a benchmark model of flavored dark matter. We discuss the experimental signatures of this setup, which arise mainly from the sector that annihilates the symmetric component of dark matter.

Constraints on dark matter annihilation in clusters of galaxies with the Fermi large area telescope

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Allafort, A.; ...

2010-05-20

Nearby clusters and groups of galaxies are potentially bright sources of high-energy gamma-ray emission resulting from the pair-annihilation of dark matter particles. However, no significant gamma-ray emission has been detected so far from clusters in the first 11 months of observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We interpret this non-detection in terms of constraints on dark matter particle properties. In particular for leptonic annihilation final states and particle masses greater than ~ 200 GeV, gamma-ray emission from inverse Compton scattering of CMB photons is expected to dominate the dark matter annihilation signal from clusters, and our gamma-ray limits excludemore » large regions of the parameter space that would give a good fit to the recent anomalous Pamela and Fermi-LAT electron-positron measurements. We also present constraints on the annihilation of more standard dark matter candidates, such as the lightest neutralino of supersymmetric models. The constraints are particularly strong when including the fact that clusters are known to contain substructure at least on galaxy scales, increasing the expected gamma-ray flux by a factor of ~ 5 over a smooth-halo assumption. Here, we also explore the effect of uncertainties in cluster dark matter density profiles, finding a systematic uncertainty in the constraints of roughly a factor of two, but similar overall conclusions. Finally, in this work, we focus on deriving limits on dark matter models; a more general consideration of the Fermi-LAT data on clusters and clusters as gamma-ray sources is forthcoming.« less

On dark matter interactions with the Standard Model through an anomalous Z'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ismail, Ahmed; Katz, Andrey; Racco, Davide

2017-10-01

We study electroweak scale Dark Matter (DM) whose interactions with baryonic matter are mediated by a heavy anomalous Z'. We emphasize that when the DM is a Majorana particle, its low-velocity annihilations are dominated by loop suppressed annihilations into the gauge bosons, rather than by p-wave or chirally suppressed annihilations into the SM fermions. Because the Z ' is anomalous, these kinds of DM models can be realized only as effective field theories (EFTs) with a well-defined cutoff, where heavy spectator fermions restore gauge invariance at high energies. We formulate these EFTs, estimate their cutoff and properly take into account the effect of the Chern-Simons terms one obtains after the spectator fermions are integrated out. We find that, while for light DM collider and direct detection experiments usually provide the strongest bounds, the bounds at higher masses are heavily dominated by indirect detection experiments, due to strong annihilation into W + W -, ZZ, Zγ and possibly into gg and γγ. We emphasize that these annihilation channels are generically significant because of the structure of the EFT, and therefore these models are prone to strong indirect detection constraints. Even though we focus on selected Z' models for illustrative purposes, our setup is completely generic and can be used for analyzing the predictions of any anomalous Z'-mediated DM model with arbitrary charges.

Search for Dark Matter Annihilation in Galaxy Groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lisanti, Mariangela; Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth; Rodd, Nicholas L.; Safdi, Benjamin R.

2018-03-01

We use 413 weeks of publicly available Fermi Pass 8 gamma-ray data combined with recently developed galaxy group catalogs to search for evidence of dark matter annihilation in extragalactic halos. In our study, we use luminosity-based mass estimates and mass-to-concentration relations to infer the J factors and associated uncertainties for hundreds of galaxy groups within a redshift range z ≲0.03 . We employ a conservative substructure boost factor model, which only enhances the sensitivity by an O (1 ) factor. No significant evidence for dark matter annihilation is found, and we exclude thermal relic cross sections for dark matter masses below ˜30 GeV to 95% confidence in the b b ¯ annihilation channel. These bounds are comparable to those from Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies. The results of our analysis increase the tension but do not rule out the dark matter interpretation of the Galactic Center excess. We provide a catalog of the galaxy groups used in this study and their inferred properties, which can be broadly applied to searches for extragalactic dark matter.

Search for Dark Matter Annihilation in Galaxy Groups.

PubMed

Lisanti, Mariangela; Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth; Rodd, Nicholas L; Safdi, Benjamin R

2018-03-09

We use 413 weeks of publicly available Fermi Pass 8 gamma-ray data combined with recently developed galaxy group catalogs to search for evidence of dark matter annihilation in extragalactic halos. In our study, we use luminosity-based mass estimates and mass-to-concentration relations to infer the J factors and associated uncertainties for hundreds of galaxy groups within a redshift range z≲0.03. We employ a conservative substructure boost factor model, which only enhances the sensitivity by an O(1) factor. No significant evidence for dark matter annihilation is found, and we exclude thermal relic cross sections for dark matter masses below ∼30  GeV to 95% confidence in the bb[over ¯] annihilation channel. These bounds are comparable to those from Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies. The results of our analysis increase the tension but do not rule out the dark matter interpretation of the Galactic Center excess. We provide a catalog of the galaxy groups used in this study and their inferred properties, which can be broadly applied to searches for extragalactic dark matter.

Supersymmetric Dark Matter and Prospects for its Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamamoto, Takahiro

Dark matter is a prominent and dominant form of matter in the Universe. Yet, despite various intense efforts, its nongravitational effects have not been observed. In this dissertation, we explore the nature of such elusive particles within a supersymmetric SU(3)C ⊗ SU(2)L ⊗ U(1)Y gauge theory. Although large regions of parameter space within supersymmetric models have been excluded by recent results from collider experiments and direct and indirect dark matter searches, we find that there is a wide range of viable parameter space once the requirements of minimal flavor violation and mass universality are relaxed. In particular, we focus on a class of models in which electroweak-scale Majorana dark matter has interactions with the Standard Model sector via relatively light charged scalars with large chiral mixing and CP-violation. Our model is shown to lead to enhanced dark matter pair annihilation, and is constrained by precise measurements of the lepton dipole moments. We illustrate that our model satisfies all constraints, including the observed thermal relic density, and investigate prospects for the detection of dark matter annihilation products. We also examine the effects of chiral mixing and CP-violationn on the variation in the ratio of the flux of monoenergetic photons from annihilation to two photons relative to that from annihilation to a photon and a Z boson, as well as the helicity asymmetry in the diphoton final state. We also find the most general spectrum for internal bremsstrahlung, which interpolates between the regimes dominated by virtual internal bremsstrahlung and by final state radiation, and that it provides distinctive gamma-ray signals, which could potentially be observed in the near future.

Little Higgs dark matter after PandaX-II/LUX-2016 and LHC Run-1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Lei; Yang, Bingfang; Zhang, Mengchao

2016-12-01

In the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity (LHT), the T-odd heavy photon ( A H ) is weakly interacting and can play the role of dark matter. We investigate the lower limit on the mass of A H dark matter under the constraints from Higgs data, EWPOs, R b , Planck 2015 dark matter relic abundance, PandaX-II/LUX 2016 direct detections and LHC-8 TeV monojet results. We find that (1) Higgs data, EWPOs and R b can exclude the mass of A H up to 99 GeV. To produce the correct dark matter relic abundance, A H has to co-annihilate with T-odd quarks ( q H ) or leptons ( ℓ H ); (2) the LUX (PandaX-II) 2016 data can further exclude {m}_{A_H} < 380(270) GeV for ℓ H - A H co-annihilation and {m}_{A_H} < 350(240) GeV for q H - A H co-annihilation; (3) LHC-8 TeV monojet result can give a strong lower limit, {m}_{A_H} > 540 GeV, for q H - A H co-annihilation; (4) future XENON1T(2017) experiment can fully cover the parameter space of ℓ H - A H co-annihilation and will push the lower limit of {m}_{A_H} up to about 640 GeV for q H - A H co-annihilation.

Gamma rays from dark matter annihilation in three-loop radiative neutrino mass generation models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chowdhury, Talal Ahmed; Nasri, Salah

2018-07-01

We present the Sommerfeld enhanced Dark Matter (DM) annihilation into gamma ray for a class of three-loop radiative neutrino mass models with large electroweak multiplets where the DM mass is in O(TeV) range. We show that in this model, the DM annihilation rate becomes more prominent for larger multiplets and it is already within the reach of currently operating Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs), High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). Furthermore, Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), which will begin operating in 2030, will improve this sensitivity by a factor of O (10) and may exclude a large portion of parameter space of this radiative neutrino mass model with larger electroweak multiplet. This implies that the only viable option is the model with lowest electroweak multiplets i.e. singlets of SU(2)L where the DM annihilation rate is not Sommerfeld enhanced and hence it is not yet constrained by the indirect detection limits from H.E.S.S. or future CTA.

General calculation of the cross section for dark matter annihilations into two photons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garcia-Cely, Camilo; Rivera, Andres, E-mail: Camilo.Alfredo.Garcia.Cely@ulb.ac.be, E-mail: afelipe.rivera@udea.edu.co

2017-03-01

Assuming that the underlying model satisfies some general requirements such as renormalizability and CP conservation, we calculate the non-relativistic one-loop cross section for any self-conjugate dark matter particle annihilating into two photons. We accomplish this by carefully classifying all possible one-loop diagrams and, from them, reading off the dark matter interactions with the particles running in the loop. Our approach is general and leads to the same results found in the literature for popular dark matter candidates such as the neutralinos of the MSSM, minimal dark matter, inert Higgs and Kaluza-Klein dark matter.

Prospects for indirect dark matter searches with MeV photons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bartels, Richard; Gaggero, Daniele; Weniger, Christoph, E-mail: r.t.bartels@uva.nl, E-mail: d.gaggero@uva.nl, E-mail: c.weniger@uva.nl

2017-05-01

Over the past decade, extensive studies have been undertaken to search for photon signals from dark matter annihilation or decay for dark matter particle masses above ∼1 GeV. However, due to the lacking sensitivity of current experiments at MeV–GeV energies, sometimes dubbed the 'MeV gap', dark matter models with MeV to sub-GeV particle masses have received little attention so far. Various proposed MeV missions (like, e.g., e-ASTROGAM or AMEGO) are aimed at closing this gap in the mid- or long-term future. This, and the absence of clear dark matter signals in the GeV–TeV range, makes it relevant to carefully reconsidermore » the expected experimental instrumental sensitivities in this mass range. The most common two-body annihilation channels for sub-GeV dark matter are to neutrinos, electrons, pions or directly to photons. Among these, only the electron channel has been extensively studied, and almost exclusively in the context of the 511 keV line. In this work, we study the prospects for detecting MeV dark matter annihilation in general in future MeV missions, using e-ASTROGAM as reference, and focusing on dark matter masses in the range 1 MeV–3 GeV. In the case of leptonic annihilation, we emphasise the importance of the often overlooked bremsstrahlung and in-flight annihilation spectral features, which in many cases provide the dominant gamma-ray signal in this regime.« less

Multicomponent Dark Matter in Radiative Seesaw Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoki, Mayumi; Kaneko, Daiki; Kubo, Jisuke

2017-11-01

We discuss radiative seesaw models, in which an exact Z_2¥times Z_2' symmetry is imposed. Due to the exact Z_2¥times Z_2' symmetry, neutrino masses are generated at a two-loop level and at least two extra stable electrically neutral particles are predicted. We consider two models: one has a multi-component dark matter system and the other one has a dark radiation in addition to a dark matter. In the multi-component dark matter system, non-standard dark matter annihilation processes exist. We find that they play important roles in determining the relic abundance and also responsible for the monochromatic neutrino lines resulting from the dark matter annihilation process. In the model with the dark radiation, the structure of the Yukawa coupling is considerably constrained and gives an interesting relationship among cosmology, lepton flavor violating decay of the charged leptons and the decay of the inert Higgs bosons.

Highlights on gamma rays, neutrinos and antiprotons from TeV Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gammaldi, Viviana

2016-07-01

It has been shown that the gamma-ray flux observed by HESS from the J1745-290 Galactic Center source is well fitted as the secondary gamma-rays photons generated from Dark Matter annihilating into Standard Model particles in combination with a simple power law background. The neutrino flux expected from such Dark Matter source has been also analyzed. The main results of such analyses for 50 TeV Dark Matter annihilating into W+W- gauge boson and preliminary results for antiprotons are presented.

A New Target Object for Constraining Annihilating Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Man Ho

2017-07-01

In the past decade, gamma-ray observations and radio observations of our Milky Way and the Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies put very strong constraints on annihilation cross sections of dark matter. In this paper, we suggest a new target object (NGC 2976) that can be used for constraining annihilating dark matter. The radio and X-ray data of NGC 2976 can put very tight constraints on the leptophilic channels of dark matter annihilation. The lower limits of dark matter mass annihilating via {e}+{e}-, {μ }+{μ }-, and {τ }+{τ }- channels are 200 GeV, 130 GeV, and 110 GeV, respectively, with the canonical thermal relic cross section. We suggest that this kind of large nearby dwarf galaxy with a relatively high magnetic field can be a good candidate for constraining annihilating dark matter in future analyses.

Improved limits on dark matter annihilation in the Sun with the 79-string IceCube detector and implications for supersymmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Ahrens, M.; Altmann, D.; Anderson, T.; Ansseau, I.; Anton, G.; Archinger, M.; Arguelles, C.; Arlen, T. C.; Auffenberg, J.; Bai, X.; Barwick, S. W.; Baum, V.; Bay, R.; Beatty, J. J.; Becker Tjus, J.; Becker, K.-H.; Beiser, E.; BenZvi, S.; Berghaus, P.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Bernhard, A.; Besson, D. Z.; Binder, G.; Bindig, D.; Bissok, M.; Blaufuss, E.; Blumenthal, J.; Boersma, D. J.; Bohm, C.; Börner, M.; Bos, F.; Bose, D.; Böser, S.; Botner, O.; Braun, J.; Brayeur, L.; Bretz, H.-P.; Buzinsky, N.; Casey, J.; Casier, M.; Cheung, E.; Chirkin, D.; Christov, A.; Clark, K.; Classen, L.; Coenders, S.; Collin, G. H.; Conrad, J. M.; Cowen, D. F.; Cruz Silva, A. H.; Danninger, M.; Daughhetee, J.; Davis, J. C.; Day, M.; de André, J. P. A. M.; De Clercq, C.; del Pino Rosendo, E.; Dembinski, H.; De Ridder, S.; Desiati, P.; de Vries, K. D.; de Wasseige, G.; de With, M.; DeYoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; di Lorenzo, V.; Dumm, J. P.; Dunkman, M.; Eberhardt, B.; Edsjö, J.; Ehrhardt, T.; Eichmann, B.; Euler, S.; Evenson, P. A.; Fahey, S.; Fazely, A. R.; Feintzeig, J.; Felde, J.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Fösig, C.-C.; Fuchs, T.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gaior, R.; Gallagher, J.; Gerhardt, L.; Ghorbani, K.; Gier, D.; Gladstone, L.; Glagla, M.; Glüsenkamp, T.; Goldschmidt, A.; Golup, G.; Gonzalez, J. G.; Góra, D.; Grant, D.; Griffith, Z.; Groß, A.; Ha, C.; Haack, C.; Haj Ismail, A.; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Hansen, E.; Hansmann, B.; Hanson, K.; Hebecker, D.; Heereman, D.; Helbing, K.; Hellauer, R.; Hickford, S.; Hignight, J.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Hoffmann, R.; Holzapfel, K.; Homeier, A.; Hoshina, K.; Huang, F.; Huber, M.; Huelsnitz, W.; Hulth, P. O.; Hultqvist, K.; In, S.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobi, E.; Japaridze, G. S.; Jeong, M.; Jero, K.; Jones, B. J. P.; Jurkovic, M.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Katz, U.; Kauer, M.; Keivani, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kemp, J.; Kheirandish, A.; Kiryluk, J.; Klein, S. R.; Kohnen, G.; Koirala, R.; Kolanoski, H.; Konietz, R.; Köpke, L.; Kopper, C.; Kopper, S.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Krings, K.; Kroll, G.; Kroll, M.; Krückl, G.; Kunnen, J.; Kurahashi, N.; Kuwabara, T.; Labare, M.; Lanfranchi, J. L.; Larson, M. J.; Lesiak-Bzdak, M.; Leuermann, M.; Leuner, J.; Lu, L.; Lünemann, J.; Madsen, J.; Maggi, G.; Mahn, K. B. M.; Mandelartz, M.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Matis, H. S.; Maunu, R.; McNally, F.; Meagher, K.; Medici, M.; Meier, M.; Meli, A.; Menne, T.; Merino, G.; Meures, T.; Miarecki, S.; Middell, E.; Mohrmann, L.; Montaruli, T.; Morse, R.; Nahnhauer, R.; Naumann, U.; Neer, G.; Niederhausen, H.; Nowicki, S. C.; Nygren, D. R.; Obertacke Pollmann, A.; Olivas, A.; Omairat, A.; O'Murchadha, A.; Palczewski, T.; Pandya, H.; Pankova, D. V.; Paul, L.; Pepper, J. A.; Pérez de los Heros, C.; Pfendner, C.; Pieloth, D.; Pinat, E.; Posselt, J.; Price, P. B.; Przybylski, G. T.; Quinnan, M.; Raab, C.; Rädel, L.; Rameez, M.; Rawlins, K.; Reimann, R.; Relich, M.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Richman, M.; Richter, S.; Riedel, B.; Robertson, S.; Rongen, M.; Rott, C.; Ruhe, T.; Ryckbosch, D.; Sabbatini, L.; Sander, H.-G.; Sandrock, A.; Sandroos, J.; Sarkar, S.; Savage, C.; Schatto, K.; Schimp, M.; Schlunder, P.; Schmidt, T.; Schoenen, S.; Schöneberg, S.; Schönwald, A.; Schulte, L.; Schumacher, L.; Scott, P.; Seckel, D.; Seunarine, S.; Silverwood, H.; Soldin, D.; Song, M.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stahlberg, M.; Stamatikos, M.; Stanev, T.; Stasik, A.; Steuer, A.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stößl, A.; Ström, R.; Strotjohann, N. L.; Sullivan, G. W.; Sutherland, M.; Taavola, H.; Taboada, I.; Tatar, J.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Terliuk, A.; Te{š}ić, G.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Tobin, M. N.; Toscano, S.; Tosi, D.; Tselengidou, M.; Turcati, A.; Unger, E.; Usner, M.; Vallecorsa, S.; Vandenbroucke, J.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vanheule, S.; van Santen, J.; Veenkamp, J.; Vehring, M.; Voge, M.; Vraeghe, M.; Walck, C.; Wallace, A.; Wallraff, M.; Wandkowsky, N.; Weaver, Ch.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whelan, B. J.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wille, L.; Williams, D. R.; Wills, L.; Wissing, H.; Wolf, M.; Wood, T. R.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, D. L.; Xu, X. W.; Xu, Y.; Yanez, J. P.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.; Zoll, M.

2016-04-01

We present an improved event-level likelihood formalism for including neutrino telescope data in global fits to new physics. We derive limits on spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering by employing the new formalism in a re-analysis of data from the 79-string IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the Sun, including explicit energy information for each event. The new analysis excludes a number of models in the weak-scale minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) for the first time. This work is accompanied by the public release of the 79-string IceCube data, as well as an associated computer code for applying the new likelihood to arbitrary dark matter models.

Antimatter cosmic rays from dark matter annihilation: First results from an N-body experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lavalle, J.; Nezri, E.; Athanassoula, E.

2008-11-15

While the particle hypothesis for dark matter may be very soon investigated at the LHC, and as the PAMELA and GLAST satellites are currently taking new data on charged and gamma cosmic rays, the need of controlling the theoretical uncertainties affecting the possible indirect signatures of dark matter annihilation is of paramount importance. The uncertainties which originate from the dark matter distribution are difficult to estimate because current astrophysical observations provide rather weak dynamical constraints and because, according to cosmological N-body simulations, dark matter is neither smoothly nor spherically distributed in galactic halos. Some previous studies made use of N-bodymore » simulations to compute the {gamma}-ray flux from dark matter annihilation, but such a work has never been performed for the antimatter (positron and antiproton) primary fluxes, for which transport processes complicate the calculations. We take advantage of the galaxylike 3D dark matter map extracted from the Horizon Project results to calculate the positron and antiproton fluxes from dark matter annihilation, in a model-independent approach as well as for dark matter particle benchmarks relevant at the LHC scale (from supersymmetric and extradimensional theories). We find that the flux uncertainties arise mainly from fluctuations of the local dark matter density, and are of {approx}1 order of magnitude. We compare our results to analytic descriptions of the dark matter halo, showing how the latter can well reproduce the former. The overall antimatter predictions associated with our benchmark models are shown to lie far below the existing measurements and, in particular, that of the positron fraction recently reported by PAMELA, and far below the background predictions as well. Finally, we stress the limits of the use of an N-body framework in this context.« less

WIMPs at the galactic center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agrawal, Prateek; Batell, Brian; Fox, Patrick J.

2015-05-07

Simple models of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) predict dark matter annihilations into pairs of electroweak gauge bosons, Higgses or tops, which through their subsequent cascade decays produce a spectrum of gamma rays. Intriguingly, an excess in gamma rays coming from near the Galactic center has been consistently observed in Fermi data. A recent analysis by the Fermi collaboration confirms these earlier results. Taking into account the systematic uncertainties in the modelling of the gamma ray backgrounds, we show for the first time that this excess can be well fit by these final states. In particular, for annihilations to (WW,more » ZZ, hh, tt{sup -bar}), dark matter with mass between threshold and approximately (165, 190, 280, 310) GeV gives an acceptable fit. The fit range for bb{sup -bar} is also enlarged to 35 GeV≲m{sub χ}≲165 GeV. These are to be compared to previous fits that concluded only much lighter dark matter annihilating into b, τ, and light quark final states could describe the excess. We demonstrate that simple, well-motivated models of WIMP dark matter including a thermal-relic neutralino of the MSSM, Higgs portal models, as well as other simplified models can explain the excess.« less

WIMPs at the galactic center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agrawal, Prateek; Batell, Brian; Fox, Patrick J.

Simple models of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) predict dark matter annihilations into pairs of electroweak gauge bosons, Higgses or tops, which through their subsequent cascade decays produce a spectrum of gamma rays. Intriguingly, an excess in gamma rays coming from near the Galactic center has been consistently observed in Fermi data. A recent analysis by the Fermi collaboration confirms these earlier results. Taking into account the systematic uncertainties in the modelling of the gamma ray backgrounds, we show for the first time that this excess can be well fit by these final states. In particular, for annihilations to (WW,more » ZZ, hh, tt¯), dark matter with mass between threshold and approximately (165, 190, 280, 310) GeV gives an acceptable fit. The fit range for bb¯ is also enlarged to 35 GeV ≲ m χ ≲ 165 GeV. These are to be compared to previous fits that concluded only much lighter dark matter annihilating into b, τ, and light quark final states could describe the excess. We demonstrate that simple, well-motivated models of WIMP dark matter including a thermal-relic neutralino of the MSSM, Higgs portal models, as well as other simplified models can explain the excess.« less

WIMPs at the galactic center

DOE PAGES

Agrawal, Prateek; Batell, Brian; Fox, Patrick J.; ...

2015-05-07

Simple models of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) predict dark matter annihilations into pairs of electroweak gauge bosons, Higgses or tops, which through their subsequent cascade decays produce a spectrum of gamma rays. Intriguingly, an excess in gamma rays coming from near the Galactic center has been consistently observed in Fermi data. A recent analysis by the Fermi collaboration confirms these earlier results. Taking into account the systematic uncertainties in the modelling of the gamma ray backgrounds, we show for the first time that this excess can be well fit by these final states. In particular, for annihilations to (WW,more » ZZ, hh, tt¯), dark matter with mass between threshold and approximately (165, 190, 280, 310) GeV gives an acceptable fit. The fit range for bb¯ is also enlarged to 35 GeV ≲ m χ ≲ 165 GeV. These are to be compared to previous fits that concluded only much lighter dark matter annihilating into b, τ, and light quark final states could describe the excess. We demonstrate that simple, well-motivated models of WIMP dark matter including a thermal-relic neutralino of the MSSM, Higgs portal models, as well as other simplified models can explain the excess.« less

Dark matter annihilation at the galactic center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linden, Tim

Observations by the WMAP and PLANCK satellites have provided extraordinarily accurate observations on the densities of baryonic matter, dark matter, and dark energy in the universe. These observations indicate that our universe is composed of approximately five times as much dark matter as baryonic matter. However, efforts to detect a particle responsible for the energy density of dark matter have been unsuccessful. Theoretical models have indicated that a leading candidate for the dark matter is the lightest supersymmetric particle, which may be stable due to a conserved R-parity. This dark matter particle would still be capable of interacting with baryons via weak-force interactions in the early universe, a process which was found to naturally explain the observed relic abundance of dark matter today. These residual annihilations can persist, albeit at a much lower rate, in the present universe, providing a detectable signal from dark matter annihilation events which occur throughout the universe. Simulations calculating the distribution of dark matter in our galaxy almost universally predict the galactic center of the Milky Way Galaxy (GC) to provide the brightest signal from dark matter annihilation due to its relative proximity and large simulated dark matter density. Recent advances in telescope technology have allowed for the first multiwavelength analysis of the GC, with suitable effective exposure, angular resolution, and energy resolution in order to detect dark matter particles with properties similar to those predicted by the WIMP miracle. In this work, I describe ongoing efforts which have successfully detected an excess in gamma-ray emission from the region immediately surrounding the GC, which is difficult to describe in terms of standard diffuse emission predicted in the GC region. While the jury is still out on any dark matter interpretation of this excess, I describe several related observations which may indicate a dark matter origin. Finally, I discuss the role of future telescopes in differentiating a dark matter model from astrophysical emission.

On the effective operators for Dark Matter annihilations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simone, Andrea De; Thamm, Andrea; Monin, Alexander

2013-02-01

We consider effective operators describing Dark Matter (DM) interactions with Standard Model fermions. In the non-relativistic limit of the DM field, the operators can be organized according to their mass dimension and their velocity behaviour, i.e. whether they describe s- or p-wave annihilations. The analysis is carried out for self-conjugate DM (real scalar or Majorana fermion). In this case, the helicity suppression at work in the annihilation into fermions is lifted by electroweak bremsstrahlung. We construct and study all dimension-8 operators encoding such an effect. These results are of interest in indirect DM searches.

Asymmetric thermal-relic dark matter: Sommerfeld-enhanced freeze-out, annihilation signals and unitarity bounds

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baldes, Iason; Petraki, Kalliopi, E-mail: iason.baldes@desy.de, E-mail: kpetraki@lpthe.jussieu.fr

Dark matter that possesses a particle-antiparticle asymmetry and has thermalised in the early universe, requires a larger annihilation cross-section compared to symmetric dark matter, in order to deplete the dark antiparticles and account for the observed dark matter density. The annihilation cross-section determines the residual symmetric component of dark matter, which may give rise to annihilation signals during CMB and inside haloes today. We consider dark matter with long-range interactions, in particular dark matter coupled to a light vector or scalar force mediator. We compute the couplings required to attain a final antiparticle-to-particle ratio after the thermal freeze-out of themore » annihilation processes in the early universe, and then estimate the late-time annihilation signals. We show that, due to the Sommerfeld enhancement, highly asymmetric dark matter with long-range interactions can have a significant annihilation rate, potentially larger than symmetric dark matter of the same mass with contact interactions. We discuss caveats in this estimation, relating to the formation of stable bound states. Finally, we consider the non-relativistic partial-wave unitarity bound on the inelastic cross-section, we discuss why it can be realised only by long-range interactions, and showcase the importance of higher partial waves in this regime of large inelasticity. We derive upper bounds on the mass of symmetric and asymmetric thermal-relic dark matter for s -wave and p -wave annihilation, and exhibit how these bounds strengthen as the dark asymmetry increases.« less

Weak annihilation cusp inside the dark matter spike about a black hole.

PubMed

Shapiro, Stuart L; Shelton, Jessie

2016-06-15

We reinvestigate the effect of annihilations on the distribution of collisionless dark matter (DM) in a spherical density spike around a massive black hole. We first construct a very simple, pedagogic, analytic model for an isotropic phase space distribution function that accounts for annihilation and reproduces the "weak cusp" found by Vasiliev for DM deep within the spike and away from its boundaries. The DM density in the cusp varies as r -1/2 for s -wave annihilation, where r is the distance from the central black hole, and is not a flat "plateau" profile. We then extend this model by incorporating a loss cone that accounts for the capture of DM particles by the hole. The loss cone is implemented by a boundary condition that removes capture orbits, resulting in an anisotropic distribution function. Finally, we evolve an initial spike distribution function by integrating the Boltzmann equation to show how the weak cusp grows and its density decreases with time. We treat two cases, one for s -wave and the other for p -wave DM annihilation, adopting parameters characteristic of the Milky Way nuclear core and typical WIMP models for DM. The cusp density profile for p -wave annihilation is weaker, varying like ~ r -0.34 , but is still not a flat plateau.

Pick-off annihilation of positronium in matter using full correlation single particle potentials: solid He.

PubMed

Zubiaga, A; Tuomisto, F; Puska, M J

2015-01-29

We investigate the modeling of positronium (Ps) states and their pick-off annihilation trapped at open volumes pockets in condensed molecular matter. Our starting point is the interacting many-body system of Ps and a He atom because it is the smallest entity that can mimic the energy gap between the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals of molecules, and yet the many-body structure of the HePs system can be calculated accurately enough. The exact-diagonalization solution of the HePs system enables us to construct a pairwise full-correlation single-particle potential for the Ps-He interaction, and the total potential in solids is obtained as a superposition of the pairwise potentials. We study in detail Ps states and their pick-off annihilation rates in voids inside solid He and analyze experimental results for Ps-induced voids in liquid He obtaining the radii of the voids. More importantly, we generalize our conclusions by testing the validity of the Tao-Eldrup model, widely used to analyze ortho-Ps annihilation measurements for voids in molecular matter, against our theoretical results for the solid He. Moreover, we discuss the influence of the partial charges of polar molecules and the strength of the van der Waals interaction on the pick-off annihilation rate.

Constraints on the Galactic Halo Dark Matter from Fermi-LAT Diffuse Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Atwood, W. B.; Baldini, L.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.;

Constraints on dark matter models from a Fermi LAT search for high-energy cosmic-ray electrons from the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ajello, M.; Atwood, W. B.; Baldini, L.

During its first year of data taking, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has collected a large sample of high-energy cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs). We present the results of a directional analysis of the CRE events, in which we searched for a flux excess correlated with the direction of the Sun. Two different and complementary analysis approaches were implemented, and neither yielded evidence of a significant CRE flux excess from the Sun. Here, we derive upper limits on the CRE flux from the Sun’s direction, and use these bounds to constrain two classes ofmore » dark matter models which predict a solar CRE flux: (1) models in which dark matter annihilates to CREs via a light intermediate state, and (2) inelastic dark matter models in which dark matter annihilates to CREs.« less

Constraints on dark matter models from a Fermi LAT search for high-energy cosmic-ray electrons from the Sun

DOE PAGES

Ajello, M.; Atwood, W. B.; Baldini, L.; ...

2011-08-15

During its first year of data taking, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has collected a large sample of high-energy cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs). We present the results of a directional analysis of the CRE events, in which we searched for a flux excess correlated with the direction of the Sun. Two different and complementary analysis approaches were implemented, and neither yielded evidence of a significant CRE flux excess from the Sun. Here, we derive upper limits on the CRE flux from the Sun’s direction, and use these bounds to constrain two classes ofmore » dark matter models which predict a solar CRE flux: (1) models in which dark matter annihilates to CREs via a light intermediate state, and (2) inelastic dark matter models in which dark matter annihilates to CREs.« less

The cosmic-ray antiproton spectrum from dark matter annihilation and its astrophysical implications - A new look

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stecker, F. W.; Tylka, A. J.

1989-01-01

The spectrum of antiprotons from dark matter annihilation are calculated using the Lund Monte Carlo program, and simple analytic expressions for the spectrum and low-energy antiproton/proton ratio are derived. Comparing the results with recent upper limits on low energy antiprotons, it is concluded that the reported 4-13 GeV antiproton flux cannot be accounted for by dark matter annihilation. The new upper limits do not provide useful constraints on dark matter particles. They restrict the annihilation rate and imply that annihilation gamma ray and e(+) fluxes would be far below the fluxes produced by cosmic-ray collisions. It may be possible to look for a dark matter halo annihilation signal at antiprotons energies below 0.5 GeV, where the flux from cosmic-ray collisions is expected to be negligible.

Constraints on WIMP annihilation for contracted dark matter in the inner Galaxy with the Fermi-LAT

DOE PAGES

Gómez-Vargas, Germán A.; Sánchez-Conde, Miguel A.; Huh, Ji -Haeng; ...

2013-10-16

Here, we derive constraints on parameters of generic dark matter candidates by comparing theoretical predictions with the gamma-ray emission observed by the Fermi-LAT from the region around the Galactic Center. Our analysis is conservative since it simply requires that the expected dark matter signal does not exceed the observed emission. The constraints obtained in the likely case that the collapse of baryons to the Galactic Center is accompanied by the contraction of the dark matter are strong. In particular, we find that for b b¯ and τ +τ – or W +W – dark matter annihilation channels, the upper limitsmore » on the annihilation cross section imply that the thermal cross section is excluded for a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) mass smaller than about 700 and 500 GeV, respectively. For the μ +μ – channel, where the effect of the inverse Compton scattering is important, depending on models of the Galactic magnetic field the exclusion of the thermal cross-section is for a WIMP mass smaller than about 150 to 400 GeV. The upper limits on the annihilation cross section of dark matter particles obtained are two orders of magnitude stronger than without contraction. In the latter case our results are compatible with the upper limits from the Galactic halo analysis reported by the Fermi-LAT collaboration for the case in which the same conservative approach without modeling of the astrophysical background is employed.« less

Model-independent indirect detection constraints on hidden sector dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Elor, Gilly; Rodd, Nicholas L.; Slatyer, Tracy R.

2016-06-10

If dark matter inhabits an expanded “hidden sector”, annihilations may proceed through sequential decays or multi-body final states. We map out the potential signals and current constraints on such a framework in indirect searches, using a model-independent setup based on multi-step hierarchical cascade decays. While remaining agnostic to the details of the hidden sector model, our framework captures the generic broadening of the spectrum of secondary particles (photons, neutrinos, e{sup +}e{sup −} and p-barp) relative to the case of direct annihilation to Standard Model particles. We explore how indirect constraints on dark matter annihilation limit the parameter space for suchmore » cascade/multi-particle decays. We investigate limits from the cosmic microwave background by Planck, the Fermi measurement of photons from the dwarf galaxies, and positron data from AMS-02. The presence of a hidden sector can change the constraints on the dark matter by up to an order of magnitude in either direction (although the effect can be much smaller). We find that generally the bound from the Fermi dwarfs is most constraining for annihilations to photon-rich final states, while AMS-02 is most constraining for electron and muon final states; however in certain instances the CMB bounds overtake both, due to their approximate independence on the details of the hidden sector cascade. We provide the full set of cascade spectra considered here as publicly available code with examples at http://web.mit.edu/lns/research/CascadeSpectra.html.« less

Model-independent indirect detection constraints on hidden sector dark matter

DOE PAGES

Elor, Gilly; Rodd, Nicholas L.; Slatyer, Tracy R.; ...

2016-06-10

If dark matter inhabits an expanded ``hidden sector'', annihilations may proceed through sequential decays or multi-body final states. We map out the potential signals and current constraints on such a framework in indirect searches, using a model-independent setup based on multi-step hierarchical cascade decays. While remaining agnostic to the details of the hidden sector model, our framework captures the generic broadening of the spectrum of secondary particles (photons, neutrinos, e +e - andmore » $$\\overline{p}$$ p) relative to the case of direct annihilation to Standard Model particles. We explore how indirect constraints on dark matter annihilation limit the parameter space for such cascade/multi-particle decays. We investigate limits from the cosmic microwave background by Planck, the Fermi measurement of photons from the dwarf galaxies, and positron data from AMS-02. The presence of a hidden sector can change the constraints on the dark matter by up to an order of magnitude in either direction (although the effect can be much smaller). We find that generally the bound from the Fermi dwarfs is most constraining for annihilations to photon-rich final states, while AMS-02 is most constraining for electron and muon final states; however in certain instances the CMB bounds overtake both, due to their approximate independence on the details of the hidden sector cascade. We provide the full set of cascade spectra considered here as publicly available code with examples at http://web.mit.edu/lns/research/CascadeSpectra.html.« less

Dark matter vs. astrophysics in the interpretation of AMS-02 electron and positron data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mauro, Mattia Di; Donato, Fiorenza; Fornengo, Nicolao

We perform a detailed quantitative analysis of the recent AMS-02 electron and positron data. We investigate the interplay between the emission from primary astrophysical sources, namely Supernova Remnants and Pulsar Wind Nebulae, and the contribution from a dark matter annihilation or decay signal. Our aim is to assess the information that can be derived on dark matter properties when both dark matter and primary astrophysical sources are assumed to jointly contribute to the leptonic observables measured by the AMS-02 experiment. We investigate both the possibility to set robust constraints on the dark matter annihilation/decay rate and the possibility to lookmore » for dark matter signals within realistic models that take into account the full complexity of the astrophysical background. Our results show that AMS-02 data enable to probe efficiently vast regions of the dark matter parameter space and, in some cases, to set constraints on the dark matter annihilation/decay rate that are comparable or even stronger than the ones derived from other indirect detection channels.« less

Dark gamma-ray bursts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brdar, Vedran; Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia

2017-03-01

Many theories of dark matter (DM) predict that DM particles can be captured by stars via scattering on ordinary matter. They subsequently condense into a DM core close to the center of the star and eventually annihilate. In this work, we trace DM capture and annihilation rates throughout the life of a massive star and show that this evolution culminates in an intense annihilation burst coincident with the death of the star in a core collapse supernova. The reason is that, along with the stellar interior, also its DM core heats up and contracts, so that the DM density increases rapidly during the final stages of stellar evolution. We argue that, counterintuitively, the annihilation burst is more intense if DM annihilation is a p -wave process than for s -wave annihilation because in the former case, more DM particles survive until the supernova. If among the DM annihilation products are particles like dark photons that can escape the exploding star and decay to standard model particles later, the annihilation burst results in a flash of gamma rays accompanying the supernova. For a galactic supernova, this "dark gamma-ray burst" may be observable in the Čerenkov Telescope Array.

MadDM: Computation of dark matter relic abundance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Backović, Mihailo; Kong, Kyoungchul; McCaskey, Mathew

2017-12-01

MadDM computes dark matter relic abundance and dark matter nucleus scattering rates in a generic model. The code is based on the existing MadGraph 5 architecture and as such is easily integrable into any MadGraph collider study. A simple Python interface offers a level of user-friendliness characteristic of MadGraph 5 without sacrificing functionality. MadDM is able to calculate the dark matter relic abundance in models which include a multi-component dark sector, resonance annihilation channels and co-annihilations. The direct detection module of MadDM calculates spin independent / spin dependent dark matter-nucleon cross sections and differential recoil rates as a function of recoil energy, angle and time. The code provides a simplified simulation of detector effects for a wide range of target materials and volumes.

Significant gamma lines from inert Higgs dark matter.

PubMed

Gustafsson, Michael; Lundström, Erik; Bergström, Lars; Edsjö, Joakim

2007-07-27

One way to unambiguously confirm the existence of particle dark matter and determine its mass would be to detect its annihilation into monochromatic gamma-rays in upcoming telescopes. One of the most minimal models for dark matter is the inert doublet model, obtained by adding another Higgs doublet with no direct coupling to fermions. For a mass between 40 and 80 GeV, the lightest of the new inert Higgs particles can give the correct cosmic abundance of cold dark matter in agreement with current observations. We show that for this scalar dark matter candidate, the annihilation signal of monochromatic gammagamma and Zgamma final states would be exceptionally strong. The energy range and rates for these gamma-ray line signals make them ideal to search for with the soon upcoming GLAST satellite.

New Models and Methods for the Electroweak Scale

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carpenter, Linda

2017-09-26

This is the Final Technical Report to the US Department of Energy for grant DE-SC0013529, New Models and Methods for the Electroweak Scale, covering the time period April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2017. The goal of this project was to maximize the understanding of fundamental weak scale physics in light of current experiments, mainly the ongoing run of the Large Hadron Collider and the space based satellite experiements searching for signals Dark Matter annihilation or decay. This research program focused on the phenomenology of supersymmetry, Higgs physics, and Dark Matter. The properties of the Higgs boson are currently beingmore » measured by the Large Hadron collider, and could be a sensitive window into new physics at the weak scale. Supersymmetry is the leading theoretical candidate to explain the natural nessof the electroweak theory, however new model space must be explored as the Large Hadron collider has disfavored much minimal model parameter space. In addition the nature of Dark Matter, the mysterious particle that makes up 25% of the mass of the universe is still unknown. This project sought to address measurements of the Higgs boson couplings to the Standard Model particles, new LHC discovery scenarios for supersymmetric particles, and new measurements of Dark Matter interactions with the Standard Model both in collider production and annihilation in space. Accomplishments include new creating tools for analyses of Dark Matter models in Dark Matter which annihilates into multiple Standard Model particles, including new visualizations of bounds for models with various Dark Matter branching ratios; benchmark studies for new discovery scenarios of Dark Matter at the Large Hardon Collider for Higgs-Dark Matter and gauge boson-Dark Matter interactions; New target analyses to detect direct decays of the Higgs boson into challenging final states like pairs of light jets, and new phenomenological analysis of non-minimal supersymmetric models, namely the set of Dirac Gaugino Models.« less

The fraternal WIMP miracle

DOE PAGES

Craig, Nathaniel; Katz, Andrey

2015-10-27

We identify and analyze thermal dark matter candidates in the fraternal twin Higgs model and its generalizations. The relic abundance of fraternal twin dark matter is set by twin weak interactions, with a scale tightly tied to the weak scale of the Standard Model by naturalness considerations. As such, the dark matter candidates benefit from a "fraternal WIMP miracle'', reproducing the observed dark matter abundance for dark matter masses between 50 and 150 GeV . However, the couplings dominantly responsible for dark matter annihilation do not lead to interactions with the visible sector. The direct detection rate is instead setmore » via fermionic Higgs portal interactions, which are likewise constrained by naturalness considerations but parametrically weaker than those leading to dark matter annihilation. Finally, the predicted direct detection cross section is close to current LUX bounds and presents an opportunity for the next generation of direct detection experiments.« less

The inert doublet model in the light of Fermi-LAT gamma-ray data: a global fit analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eiteneuer, Benedikt; Goudelis, Andreas; Heisig, Jan

2017-09-01

We perform a global fit within the inert doublet model taking into account experimental observables from colliders, direct and indirect dark matter searches and theoretical constraints. In particular, we consider recent results from searches for dark matter annihilation-induced gamma-rays in dwarf spheroidal galaxies and relax the assumption that the inert doublet model should account for the entire dark matter in the Universe. We, moreover, study in how far the model is compatible with a possible dark matter explanation of the so-called Galactic center excess. We find two distinct parameter space regions that are consistent with existing constraints and can simultaneously explain the excess: One with dark matter masses near the Higgs resonance and one around 72 GeV where dark matter annihilates predominantly into pairs of virtual electroweak gauge bosons via the four-vertex arising from the inert doublet's kinetic term. We briefly discuss future prospects to probe these scenarios.

On the observability of the gamma-ray line flux from dark matter annihilation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rudaz, S.; Stecker, F. W.

1991-01-01

The limits on the possible cosmic gamma-ray line flux from the two-photon annihilation of dark matter in the Galaxy are discussed. These limits are derived using both particle physics and cosmological constraints on dark matter candidates which arise in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Results are given in terms of allowed and prescribed areas in the flux-energy plane. Then these bounds are used to consider the observability of the line flux above continuum background fluxes using future high-resolution gamma-ray telescopes.

Constraints on dark matter annihilations from diffuse gamma-ray emission in the Galaxy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tavakoli, Maryam; Evoli, Carmelo; Cholis, Ilias

2014-01-01

Recent advances in γ-ray cosmic ray, infrared and radio astronomy have allowed us to develop a significantly better understanding of the galactic medium properties in the last few years. In this work using the DRAGON code, that numerically solves the CR propagation equation and calculating γ-ray emissivities in a 2-dimensional grid enclosing the Galaxy, we study in a self consistent manner models for the galactic diffuse γ-ray emission. Our models are cross-checked to both the available CR and γ-ray data. We address the extend to which dark matter annihilations in the Galaxy can contribute to the diffuse γ-ray flux towardsmore » different directions on the sky. Moreover we discuss the impact that astrophysical uncertainties of non DM nature, have on the derived γ-ray limits. Such uncertainties are related to the diffusion properties on the Galaxy, the interstellar gas and the interstellar radiation field energy densities. Light ∼ 10 GeV dark matter annihilating dominantly to hadrons is more strongly constrained by γ-ray observations towards the inner parts of the Galaxy and influenced the most by assumptions of the gas distribution; while TeV scale DM annihilating dominantly to leptons has its tightest constraints from observations towards the galactic center avoiding the galactic disk plane, with the main astrophysical uncertainty being the radiation field energy density. In addition, we present a method of deriving constraints on the dark matter distribution profile from the diffuse γ-ray spectra. These results critically depend on the assumed mass of the dark matter particles and the type of its end annihilation products.« less

Constraining particle dark matter using local galaxy distribution

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ando, Shin’ichiro; Ishiwata, Koji

It has been long discussed that cosmic rays may contain signals of dark matter. In the last couple of years an anomaly of cosmic-ray positrons has drawn a lot of attentions, and recently an excess in cosmic-ray anti-proton has been reported by AMS-02 collaboration. Both excesses may indicate towards decaying or annihilating dark matter with a mass of around 1–10 TeV. In this article we study the gamma rays from dark matter and constraints from cross correlations with distribution of galaxies, particularly in a local volume. We find that gamma rays due to inverse-Compton process have large intensity, and hencemore » they give stringent constraints on dark matter scenarios in the TeV scale mass regime. Taking the recent developments in modeling astrophysical gamma-ray sources as well as comprehensive possibilities of the final state products of dark matter decay or annihilation into account, we show that the parameter regions of decaying dark matter that are suggested to explain the excesses are excluded. We also discuss the constrains on annihilating scenarios.« less

Cogenerating and pre-annihilating dark matter by a new gauge interaction in a unified model

DOE PAGES

Barr, S. M.; Scherrer, Robert J.

2016-05-31

Here, grand unified theories based on large groups (with rank ≥ 6) are a natural context for dark matter models. They contain Standard-Model-singlet fermions that could be dark matter candidates, and can contain new non-abelian interactions whose sphalerons convert baryons, leptons, and dark matter into each other, ''cogenerating" a dark matter asymmetry comparable to the baryon asymmetry. In this paper it is shown that the same non-abelian interactions can ''pre-annihilate" the symmetric component of heavy dark matter particles χ, which then decay late into light stable dark matter particles ζ that inherit their asymmetry. We derive cosmological constraints on themore » parameters of such models. The mass of χ must be < 3000 TeV and their decays must happen when 2 × 10 –7 < T dec/mχ < 10 –4. It is shown that such decays can come from d=5 operators with coefficients of order 1/MGUT or 1/M Pℓ. We present a simple realization of our model based on the group SU(7).« less

WIMPs at the galactic center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agrawal, Prateek; Fox, Patrick J.; Harnik, Roni

2015-05-01

Simple models of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) predict dark matter annihilations into pairs of electroweak gauge bosons, Higgses or tops, which through their subsequent cascade decays produce a spectrum of gamma rays. Intriguingly, an excess in gamma rays coming from near the Galactic center has been consistently observed in Fermi data. A recent analysis by the Fermi collaboration confirms these earlier results. Taking into account the systematic uncertainties in the modelling of the gamma ray backgrounds, we show for the first time that this excess can be well fit by these final states. In particular, for annihilations to (WW,more » ZZ, hh, t t-bar ), dark matter with mass between threshold and approximately (165, 190, 280, 310) GeV gives an acceptable fit. The fit range for b b-bar is also enlarged to 35 GeV ∼< m{sub χ} ∼< 165 GeV. These are to be compared to previous fits that concluded only much lighter dark matter annihilating into b, τ, and light quark final states could describe the excess. We demonstrate that simple, well-motivated models of WIMP dark matter including a thermal-relic neutralino of the MSSM, Higgs portal models, as well as other simplified models can explain the excess.« less

Constraints on the Galactic Halo Dark Matter From FERMI-LAT Diffuse Measurements

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Atwood, W. B.; ...

2012-11-28

For this study, we have performed an analysis of the diffuse gamma-ray emission with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) in the Milky Way halo region, searching for a signal from dark matter annihilation or decay. In the absence of a robust dark matter signal, constraints are presented. We consider both gamma rays produced directly in the dark matter annihilation/decay and produced by inverse Compton scattering of the e +/e – produced in the annihilation/decay. Conservative limits are derived requiring that the dark matter signal does not exceed the observed diffuse gamma-ray emission. A second set of more stringent limitsmore » is derived based on modeling the foreground astrophysical diffuse emission using the GALPROP code. Uncertainties in the height of the diffusive cosmic-ray halo, the distribution of the cosmic-ray sources in the Galaxy, the index of the injection cosmic-ray electron spectrum, and the column density of the interstellar gas are taken into account using a profile likelihood formalism, while the parameters governing the cosmic-ray propagation have been derived from fits to local cosmic-ray data. In conclusion, the resulting limits impact the range of particle masses over which dark matter thermal production in the early universe is possible, and challenge the interpretation of the PAMELA/Fermi-LAT cosmic ray anomalies as the annihilation of dark matter.« less

Concepts, Problems and Opportunities for Use of Annihilation Energy: An annotated Briefing on Near-Term RDT&E to Assess Feasibility,

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-06-01

released when matter and antimatter annihilate. It reviews some of the funiamental ’lifficulties in producing antimatter and moans for storing it. If...summer of 1983 Rand examined the possibilities for exploiting the high energy release resulting from matter -antimatter annihilation. The resultant...several issues inherent in exploiting the energy released when matter and antimatter annihilate. Some of the fundamental difficulties in producing

Revisit of cosmic ray antiprotons from dark matter annihilation with updated constraints on the background model from AMS-02 and collider data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Ming-Yang; Pan, Xu; Yuan, Qiang; Fan, Yi-Zhong; Zong, Hong-Shi

2018-06-01

We study the cosmic ray antiprotons with updated constraints on the propagation, proton injection, and solar modulation parameters based on the newest AMS-02 data near the Earth and Voyager data in the local interstellar space, and on the cross section of antiproton production due to proton-proton collisions based on new collider data. We use a Bayesian approach to properly consider the uncertainties of the model predictions of both the background and the dark matter (DM) annihilation components of antiprotons. We find that including an extra component of antiprotons from the annihilation of DM particles into a pair of quarks can improve the fit to the AMS-02 antiproton data considerably. The favored mass of DM particles is about 60~100 GeV, and the annihilation cross section is just at the level of the thermal production of DM (langleσvrangle ~ O(10‑26) cm3 s‑1).

Sub-TeV quintuplet minimal dark matter with left-right symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agarwalla, Sanjib Kumar; Ghosh, Kirtiman; Patra, Ayon

2018-05-01

A detailed study of a fermionic quintuplet dark matter in a left-right symmetric scenario is performed in this article. The minimal quintuplet dark matter model is highly constrained from the WMAP dark matter relic density (RD) data. To elevate this constraint, an extra singlet scalar is introduced. It introduces a host of new annihilation and co-annihilation channels for the dark matter, allowing even sub-TeV masses. The phenomenology of this singlet scalar is studied in detail in the context of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment. The production and decay of this singlet scalar at the LHC give rise to interesting resonant di-Higgs or diphoton final states. We also constrain the RD allowed parameter space of this model in light of the ATLAS bounds on the resonant di-Higgs and diphoton cross-sections.

A strong test of the dark matter origin of a TeV electron excess using icecube neutrinos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yue; Fang, Ke; Su, Meng; Miller, M. Coleman

2018-06-01

Due to the electroweak symmetry, high energy neutrinos and charged leptons are generically produced simultaneously in heavy dark matter decay or annihilation process. Correlating these two channels in dark matter indirect detections may provide important information on the intrinsic production mechanism. In this paper, we demonstrate this point by studying the tentative excess in the electron spectrum at 1.4 TeV reported by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE). A non-astrophysical scenario in which dark matter particles annihilate or decay in a local clump has been invoked to explain the excess. If e± annihilation channels in the final states are mediated by left-handed leptons as a component in the SU(2)L doublet, neutrinos with similar energies should have been simultaneously produced. We demonstrate that generic dark matter models can be decisively tested by the existing IceCube data. In case of a non-detection, such models would be excluded at the 5σ level by the five-year data for a point-like source and by the ten-year data for an extended source of dark matter particles with left-handed leptons. This serves as an example of the importance of correlating charged lepton and neutrino channels. It would be fruitful to conduct similar studies related to other approaches to the indirect detection of dark matter.

The Distribution and Annihilation of Dark Matter Around Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schnittman, Jeremy D.

2015-01-01

We use a Monte Carlo code to calculate the geodesic orbits of test particles around Kerr black holes, generating a distribution function of both bound and unbound populations of dark matter (DM) particles. From this distribution function, we calculate annihilation rates and observable gamma-ray spectra for a few simple DM models. The features of these spectra are sensitive to the black hole spin, observer inclination, and detailed properties of the DM annihilation cross-section and density profile. Confirming earlier analytic work, we find that for rapidly spinning black holes, the collisional Penrose process can reach efficiencies exceeding 600%, leading to a high-energy tail in the annihilation spectrum. The high particle density and large proper volume of the region immediately surrounding the horizon ensures that the observed flux from these extreme events is non-negligible.

Impact of Sommerfeld enhancement on helium reionization via WIMP dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandyopadhyay, Bidisha; Schleicher, Dominik R. G.

2018-03-01

Dark matter annihilation can have a strong impact on many astrophysical processes in the Universe. In the case of Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation cross sections, the annihilation rates are enhanced at late times, thus enhancing the potential annihilation signatures. We here calculate the Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation signatures during the epoch of helium reionization, the epoch where helium becomes fully ionized due to energetic photons. When considering the upper limits on the energy injection from the CMB, we find that the resulting abundance of He++ becomes independent of the dark matter particle mass. The resulting enhancement compared to a standard scenario is thus 1-2 orders of magnitude higher. For realistic scenarios compatible with CMB constraints, there is no significant shift in the epoch of helium reionization, which is completed between redshifts 3 and 4. While it is thus difficult to disentangle dark matter annihilation from astrophysical contributions (active galactic nuclei), a potential detection of dark matter particles and its interactions using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) would allow one to quantify the dark matter contribution.

Search for annihilating dark matter in the Sun with 3 years of IceCube data: IceCube Collaboration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.

© 2017, The Author(s). We present results from an analysis looking for dark matter annihilation in the Sun with the IceCube neutrino telescope. Gravitationally trapped dark matter in the Sun’s core can annihilate into Standard Model particles making the Sun a source of GeV neutrinos. IceCube is able to detect neutrinos with energies > 100 GeV while its low-energy infill array DeepCore extends this to > 10 GeV. This analysis uses data gathered in the austral winters between May 2011 and May 2014, corresponding to 532 days of livetime when the Sun, being below the horizon, is a source of up-going neutrinomore » events, easiest to discriminate against the dominant background of atmospheric muons. The sensitivity is a factor of two to four better than previous searches due to additional statistics and improved analysis methods involving better background rejection and reconstructions. The resultant upper limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section reach down to 1.46 × 10 - 5  pb for a dark matter particle of mass 500 GeV annihilating exclusively into τ + τ - particles. These are currently the most stringent limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section for WIMP masses above 50 GeV.« less

Search for annihilating dark matter in the Sun with 3 years of IceCube data: IceCube Collaboration

DOE PAGES

Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.; ...

2017-03-01

© 2017, The Author(s). We present results from an analysis looking for dark matter annihilation in the Sun with the IceCube neutrino telescope. Gravitationally trapped dark matter in the Sun’s core can annihilate into Standard Model particles making the Sun a source of GeV neutrinos. IceCube is able to detect neutrinos with energies > 100 GeV while its low-energy infill array DeepCore extends this to > 10 GeV. This analysis uses data gathered in the austral winters between May 2011 and May 2014, corresponding to 532 days of livetime when the Sun, being below the horizon, is a source of up-going neutrinomore » events, easiest to discriminate against the dominant background of atmospheric muons. The sensitivity is a factor of two to four better than previous searches due to additional statistics and improved analysis methods involving better background rejection and reconstructions. The resultant upper limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section reach down to 1.46 × 10 - 5  pb for a dark matter particle of mass 500 GeV annihilating exclusively into τ + τ - particles. These are currently the most stringent limits on the spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering cross section for WIMP masses above 50 GeV.« less

Constraints on small-scale primordial power by annihilation signals from extragalactic dark matter minihalos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakama, Tomohiro; Suyama, Teruaki; Kohri, Kazunori; Hiroshima, Nagisa

2018-01-01

We revisit constraints on small-scale primordial power from annihilation signals from dark matter minihalos. Using gamma rays and neutrinos from extragalactic minihalos and assuming the delta-function primordial spectrum, we show the dependence of the constraints on annihilation modes, the mass of dark matter, and the annihilation cross section. We report conservative constraints by assuming minihalos are fully destructed when becoming part of halos originating from the standard almost-scale invariant primordial spectrum and optimistic constraints by neglecting destruction.

Search for neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilations in the center of the Milky Way with 3 years of IceCube/DeepCore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Ahrens, M.; Al Samarai, I.; Altmann, D.; Andeen, K.; Anderson, T.; Ansseau, I.; Anton, G.; Argüelles, C.; Auffenberg, J.; Axani, S.; Bagherpour, H.; Bai, X.; Barron, J. P.; Barwick, S. W.; Baum, V.; Bay, R.; Beatty, J. J.; Tjus, J. Becker; Becker, K.-H.; BenZvi, S.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Besson, D. Z.; Binder, G.; Bindig, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Blot, S.; Bohm, C.; Börner, M.; Bos, F.; Bose, D.; Böser, S.; Botner, O.; Bourbeau, J.; Bradascio, F.; Braun, J.; Brayeur, L.; Brenzke, M.; Bretz, H.-P.; Bron, S.; Burgman, A.; Carver, T.; Casey, J.; Casier, M.; Cheung, E.; Chirkin, D.; Christov, A.; Clark, K.; Classen, L.; Coenders, S.; Collin, G. H.; Conrad, J. M.; Cowen, D. F.; Cross, R.; Day, M.; de André, J. P. A. M.; De Clercq, C.; DeLaunay, J. J.; Dembinski, H.; De Ridder, S.; Desiati, P.; de Vries, K. D.; de Wasseige, G.; de With, M.; DeYoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; di Lorenzo, V.; Dujmovic, H.; Dumm, J. P.; Dunkman, M.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Eichmann, B.; Eller, P.; Evenson, P. A.; Fahey, S.; Fazely, A. R.; Felde, J.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Franckowiak, A.; Friedman, E.; Fuchs, T.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gallagher, J.; Gerhardt, L.; Ghorbani, K.; Giang, W.; Glauch, T.; Glüsenkamp, T.; Goldschmidt, A.; Gonzalez, J. G.; Grant, D.; Griffith, Z.; Haack, C.; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Hebecker, D.; Heereman, D.; Helbing, K.; Hellauer, R.; Hickford, S.; Hignight, J.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Hoffmann, R.; Hokanson-Fasig, B.; Hoshina, K.; Huang, F.; Huber, M.; Hultqvist, K.; In, S.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobi, E.; Japaridze, G. S.; Jeong, M.; Jero, K.; Jones, B. J. P.; Kalacynski, P.; Kang, W.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Katz, U.; Kauer, M.; Keivani, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kheirandish, A.; Kim, J.; Kim, M.; Kintscher, T.; Kiryluk, J.; Kittler, T.; Klein, S. R.; Kohnen, G.; Koirala, R.; Kolanoski, H.; Köpke, L.; Kopper, C.; Kopper, S.; Koschinsky, J. P.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Krings, K.; Kroll, M.; Krückl, G.; Kunnen, J.; Kunwar, S.; Kurahashi, N.; Kuwabara, T.; Kyriacou, A.; Labare, M.; Lanfranchi, J. L.; Larson, M. J.; Lauber, F.; Lennarz, D.; Lesiak-Bzdak, M.; Leuermann, M.; Liu, Q. R.; Lu, L.; Lünemann, J.; Luszczak, W.; Madsen, J.; Maggi, G.; Mahn, K. B. M.; Mancina, S.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Maunu, R.; McNally, F.; Meagher, K.; Medici, M.; Meier, M.; Menne, T.; Merino, G.; Meures, T.; Miarecki, S.; Micallef, J.; Momenté, G.; Montaruli, T.; Moore, R. W.; Moulai, M.; Nahnhauer, R.; Nakarmi, P.; Naumann, U.; Neer, G.; Niederhausen, H.; Nowicki, S. C.; Nygren, D. R.; Pollmann, A. Obertacke; Olivas, A.; O'Murchadha, A.; Palczewski, T.; Pandya, H.; Pankova, D. V.; Peiffer, P.; Pepper, J. A.; de los Heros, C. Pérez; Pieloth, D.; Pinat, E.; Plum, M.; Price, P. B.; Przybylski, G. T.; Raab, C.; Rädel, L.; Rameez, M.; Rawlins, K.; Reimann, R.; Relethford, B.; Relich, M.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Richman, M.; Riedel, B.; Robertson, S.; Rongen, M.; Rott, C.; Ruhe, T.; Ryckbosch, D.; Rysewyk, D.; Sälzer, T.; Sanchez Herrera, S. E.; Sandrock, A.; Sandroos, J.; Sarkar, S.; Sarkar, S.; Satalecka, K.; Schlunder, P.; Schmidt, T.; Schneider, A.; Schoenen, S.; Schöneberg, S.; Schumacher, L.; Seckel, D.; Seunarine, S.; Soldin, D.; Song, M.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stachurska, J.; Stanev, T.; Stasik, A.; Stettner, J.; Steuer, A.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stößl, A.; Strotjohann, N. L.; Sullivan, G. W.; Sutherland, M.; Taboada, I.; Tatar, J.; Tenholt, F.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Terliuk, A.; Tešić, G.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Tobin, M. N.; Toscano, S.; Tosi, D.; Tselengidou, M.; Tung, C. F.; Turcati, A.; Turley, C. F.; Ty, B.; Unger, E.; Usner, M.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Driessche, W. Van; Eijndhoven, N. van; Vanheule, S.; Santen, J. van; Vehring, M.; Vogel, E.; Vraeghe, M.; Walck, C.; Wallace, A.; Wallraff, M.; Wandler, F. D.; Wandkowsky, N.; Waza, A.; Weaver, C.; Weiss, M. J.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whelan, B. J.; Wickmann, S.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wille, L.; Williams, D. R.; Wills, L.; Wolf, M.; Wood, J.; Wood, T. R.; Woolsey, E.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, D. L.; Xu, X. W.; Xu, Y.; Yanez, J. P.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.; Yuan, T.; Zoll, M.

2017-09-01

We present a search for a neutrino signal from dark matter self-annihilations in the Milky Way using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube). In 1005 days of data we found no significant excess of neutrinos over the background of neutrinos produced in atmospheric air showers from cosmic ray interactions. We derive upper limits on the velocity averaged product of the dark matter self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the dark matter particles < σ _{ {A}}v> . Upper limits are set for dark matter particle candidate masses ranging from 10 GeV up to 1 TeV while considering annihilation through multiple channels. This work sets the most stringent limit on a neutrino signal from dark matter with mass between 10 and 100 GeV, with a limit of 1.18\\cdot 10^{-23} { cm}^3 {s}^{-1} for 100 GeV dark matter particles self-annihilating via τ ^+τ ^- to neutrinos (assuming the Navarro-Frenk-White dark matter halo profile).

Phases of cannibal dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farina, Marco; Pappadopulo, Duccio; Ruderman, Joshua T.; Trevisan, Gabriele

2016-12-01

A hidden sector with a mass gap undergoes an epoch of cannibalism if number changing interactions are active when the temperature drops below the mass of the lightest hidden particle. During cannibalism, the hidden sector temperature decreases only logarithmically with the scale factor. We consider the possibility that dark matter resides in a hidden sector that underwent cannibalism, and has relic density set by the freeze-out of two-to-two annihilations. We identify three novel phases, depending on the behavior of the hidden sector when dark matter freezes out. During the cannibal phase, dark matter annihilations decouple while the hidden sector is cannibalizing. During the chemical phase, only two-to-two interactions are active and the total number of hidden particles is conserved. During the one way phase, the dark matter annihilation products decay out of equilibrium, suppressing the production of dark matter from inverse annihilations. We map out the distinct phenomenology of each phase, which includes a boosted dark matter annihilation rate, new relativistic degrees of freedom, warm dark matter, and observable distortions to the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background.

Phases of cannibal dark matter

DOE PAGES

Farina, Marco; Pappadopulo, Duccio; Ruderman, Joshua T.; ...

2016-12-13

A hidden sector with a mass gap undergoes an epoch of cannibalism if number changing interactions are active when the temperature drops below the mass of the lightest hidden particle. During cannibalism, the hidden sector temperature decreases only logarithmically with the scale factor. We consider the possibility that dark matter resides in a hidden sector that underwent cannibalism, and has relic density set by the freeze-out of two-to-two annihilations. We identify three novel phases, depending on the behavior of the hidden sector when dark matter freezes out. During the cannibal phase, dark matter annihilations decouple while the hidden sector ismore » cannibalizing. During the chemical phase, only two-to-two interactions are active and the total number of hidden particles is conserved. During the one way phase, the dark matter annihilation products decay out of equilibrium, suppressing the production of dark matter from inverse annihilations. We map out the distinct phenomenology of each phase, which includes a boosted dark matter annihilation rate, new relativistic degrees of freedom, warm dark matter, and observable distortions to the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background.« less

Finite Inflation, Holography, and Dark Matter Annihilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scacco, Andrew Joseph

This thesis covers work on theoretical cosmology relating to inflation, de Sitter space, dark matter annihilation, and holography. A unifying feature of all these topics is that all of them occur in de Sitter space or focus on epochs of the Universe when the spacetime was close to de Sitter and that all of them have some connection to holography. Chapter 1 provides a pedagogical introduction to the fundamentals of cosmology, inflation, de Sitter space, dark matter annihilation and entanglement entropy. Chapter 2 covers the impact on the causal entropic principle of dark matter annihilation that we find to have the greatest relevance at late times in the future when the dark energy has driven the universe to be asymptotically de Sitter. In this chapter we estimate holographically preferred dark matter properties for a range of assumptions. Chapter 3 covers holographic bounds in models of finite inflation, specifically the Banks-Fischler bound and de Sitter equilibrium. The assumptions in each of these models are explored in detail and some interesting new connections are presented. Chapter 4 tests models of inflation with a fast-roll start that happen to satisfy the holographic bounds in Chapter 3 against cosmic microwave background data from Planck. We find a slight preference for a feature at the scale predicted by the Banks-Fischler bound though this preference is not found to be statistically significant. Chapter 5 contains a numerical computation of the holographic mutual information for an annular configuration of regions on a conformal field theory in de Sitter space using the AdS/CFT correspondence. This computation shows that the de Sitter space CFT entanglement entropy matches what would be expected from a Minkowski CFT and shows that the HRT conjecture works for this case.

X-ray lines and self-interacting dark matter.

PubMed

Mambrini, Yann; Toma, Takashi

We study the correlation between a monochromatic signal from annihilating dark matter and its self-interacting cross section. We apply our argument to a complex scalar dark sector, where the pseudo-scalar plays the role of a warm dark matter candidate while the scalar mediates its interaction with the Standard Model. We combine the recent observation of the cluster Abell 3827 for self-interacting dark matter and the constraints on the annihilation cross section for monochromatic X-ray lines. We also confront our model to a set of recent experimental analyses and find that such an extension can naturally produce a monochromatic keV signal corresponding to recent observations of Perseus or Andromeda, while in the meantime it predicts a self-interacting cross section of the order of [Formula: see text], as recently claimed in the observation of the cluster Abell 3827. We also propose a way to distinguish such models by future direct detection techniques.

Non-standard interactions and neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demidov, S. V.

2018-02-01

We perform an analysis of the influence of non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) on neutrino signal from dark matter annihilations in the Sun. Taking experimentally allowed benchmark values for the matter NSI parameters we show that the evolution of such neutrinos with energies at GeV scale can be considerably modified. We simulate propagation of neutrinos from the Sun to the Earth for realistic dark matter annihilation channels and find that the matter NSI can result in at most 30% correction to the signal rate of muon track events at neutrino telescopes. Still present experimental bounds on dark matter from these searches are robust in the presence of NSI within considerable part of their allowed parameter space. At the same time electron neutrino flux from dark matter annihilation in the Sun can be changed by a factor of few.

Constraining Dark Matter Models from a Combined Analysis of Milky Way Satellites with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; Atwood, W. B.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.;

Constraining Dark Matter Models from a Combined Analysis of Milky Way Satellites with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; Atwood, W. B.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Berenji, B.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.; Bonamente, E.; Borgland, A. W.; Bregeon, J.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Buehler, R.; Burnett, T. H.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Cañadas, B.; Caraveo, P. A.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cecchi, C.; Charles, E.; Chekhtman, A.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Conrad, J.; Cutini, S.; de Angelis, A.; de Palma, F.; Dermer, C. D.; Digel, S. W.; Do Couto E Silva, E.; Drell, P. S.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Falletti, L.; Favuzzi, C.; Fegan, S. J.; Ferrara, E. C.; Fukazawa, Y.; Funk, S.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Gehrels, N.; Germani, S.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, F.; Giroletti, M.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Grenier, I. A.; Guiriec, S.; Gustafsson, M.; Hadasch, D.; Hayashida, M.; Hays, E.; Hughes, R. E.; Jeltema, T. E.; Jóhannesson, G.; Johnson, R. P.; Johnson, A. S.; Kamae, T.; Katagiri, H.; Kataoka, J.; Knödlseder, J.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Latronico, L.; Lionetto, A. M.; Llena Garde, M.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lott, B.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Madejski, G. M.; Mazziotta, M. N.; McEnery, J. E.; Mehault, J.; Michelson, P. F.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Monte, C.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Naumann-Godo, M.; Norris, J. P.; Nuss, E.; Ohsugi, T.; Okumura, A.; Omodei, N.; Orlando, E.; Ormes, J. F.; Ozaki, M.; Paneque, D.; Parent, D.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Pierbattista, M.; Piron, F.; Pivato, G.; Porter, T. A.; Profumo, S.; Rainò, S.; Razzano, M.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Ritz, S.; Roth, M.; Sadrozinski, H. F.-W.; Sbarra, C.; Scargle, J. D.; Schalk, T. L.; Sgrò, C.; Siskind, E. J.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Strigari, L.; Suson, D. J.; Tajima, H.; Takahashi, H.; Tanaka, T.; Thayer, J. G.; Thayer, J. B.; Thompson, D. J.; Tibaldo, L.; Tinivella, M.; Torres, D. F.; Troja, E.; Uchiyama, Y.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Vasileiou, V.; Vianello, G.; Vitale, V.; Waite, A. P.; Wang, P.; Winer, B. L.; Wood, K. S.; Wood, M.; Yang, Z.; Zimmer, S.; Kaplinghat, M.; Martinez, G. D.

2011-12-01

Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are among the most promising targets for dark matter searches in gamma rays. We present a search for dark matter consisting of weakly interacting massive particles, applying a joint likelihood analysis to 10 satellite galaxies with 24 months of data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope. No dark matter signal is detected. Including the uncertainty in the dark matter distribution, robust upper limits are placed on dark matter annihilation cross sections. The 95% confidence level upper limits range from about 10-26cm3s-1 at 5 GeV to about 5×10-23cm3s-1 at 1 TeV, depending on the dark matter annihilation final state. For the first time, using gamma rays, we are able to rule out models with the most generic cross section (˜3×10-26cm3s-1 for a purely s-wave cross section), without assuming additional boost factors.

Constraining Dark Matter Models from a Combined Analysis of Milky Way Satellites with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ackermann, M.

Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are among the most promising targets for dark matter searches in gamma rays. We present a search for dark matter consisting of weakly interacting massive particles, applying a joint likelihood analysis to 10 satellite galaxies with 24 months of data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope. No dark matter signal is detected. Including the uncertainty in the dark matter distribution, robust upper limits are placed on dark matter annihilation cross sections. The 95% con dence level upper limits range from about 10 -26 cm3s -1 at 5 GeV to about 5 X10 -23 cm3smore » -1 at 1 TeV, depending on the dark matter annihilation nal state. For the rst time, using gamma rays, we are able to rule out models with the most generic cross section (~ 3 X 10 -26 cm 3s -1 for a purely s-wave cross section), without assuming additional boost factors.« less

Constraining Dark Matter Models from a Combined Analysis of Milky Way Satellites with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.

2011-12-01

Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are among the most promising targets for dark matter searches in gamma rays. We present a search for dark matter consisting of weakly interacting massive particles, applying a joint likelihood analysis to 10 satellite galaxies with 24 months of data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope. No dark matter signal is detected. Including the uncertainty in the dark matter distribution, robust upper limits are placed on dark matter annihilation cross sections. The 95% con dence level upper limits range from about 10 -26 cm3s -1 at 5 GeV to about 5 X10 -23 cm3smore » -1 at 1 TeV, depending on the dark matter annihilation nal state. For the rst time, using gamma rays, we are able to rule out models with the most generic cross section (~ 3 X 10 -26 cm 3s -1 for a purely s-wave cross section), without assuming additional boost factors.« less

AMS-02 fits dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balázs, Csaba; Li, Tong

2016-05-01

In this work we perform a comprehensive statistical analysis of the AMS-02 electron, positron fluxes and the antiproton-to-proton ratio in the context of a simplified dark matter model. We include known, standard astrophysical sources and a dark matter component in the cosmic ray injection spectra. To predict the AMS-02 observables we use propagation parameters extracted from observed fluxes of heavier nuclei and the low energy part of the AMS-02 data. We assume that the dark matter particle is a Majorana fermion coupling to third generation fermions via a spin-0 mediator, and annihilating to multiple channels at once. The simultaneous presence of various annihilation channels provides the dark matter model with additional flexibility, and this enables us to simultaneously fit all cosmic ray spectra using a simple particle physics model and coherent astrophysical assumptions. Our results indicate that AMS-02 observations are not only consistent with the dark matter hypothesis within the uncertainties, but adding a dark matter contribution improves the fit to the data. Assuming, however, that dark matter is solely responsible for this improvement of the fit, it is difficult to evade the latest CMB limits in this model.

Probing velocity dependent self-interacting dark matter with neutrino telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robertson, Denis S.; Albuquerque, Ivone F. M.

2018-02-01

Self-interacting dark matter models constitute an attractive solution to problems in structure formation on small scales. A simple realization of these models considers the dark force mediated by a light particle which can couple to the Standard Model through mixings with the photon or the Z boson. Within this scenario we investigate the sensitivity of the IceCube-DeepCore and PINGU neutrino telescopes to the associated muon neutrino flux produced by dark matter annihilations in the Sun. Despite the model's simplicity, several effects naturally appear: momentum suppressed capture by nuclei, velocity dependent dark matter self-capture, Sommerfeld enhanced annihilation, as well as the enhancement on the neutrino flux due to mediator late decays. Taking all these effects into account, we find that most of the model relevant parameter space can be tested by the three years of data already collected by the IceCube-DeepCore. We show that indirect detection through neutrinos can compete with the strong existing limits from direct detection experiments, specially in the case of isospin violation.

Dark matter, shared asymmetries, and galactic gamma ray signals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fonseca, Nayara; Necib, Lina; Thaler, Jesse, E-mail: nayara@if.usp.br, E-mail: lnecib@mit.edu, E-mail: jthaler@mit.edu

2016-02-01

We introduce a novel dark matter scenario where the visible sector and the dark sector share a common asymmetry. The two sectors are connected through an unstable mediator with baryon number one, allowing the standard model baryon asymmetry to be shared with dark matter via semi-annihilation. The present-day abundance of dark matter is then set by thermal freeze-out of this semi-annihilation process, yielding an asymmetric version of the WIMP miracle as well as promising signals for indirect detection experiments. As a proof of concept, we find a viable region of parameter space consistent with the observed Fermi excess of GeVmore » gamma rays from the galactic center.« less

Pressure from dark matter annihilation and the rotation curve of spiral galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wechakama, M.; Ascasibar, Y.

2011-05-01

The rotation curves of spiral galaxies are one of the basic predictions of the cold dark matter paradigm, and their shape in the innermost regions has been hotly debated over the last decades. The present work shows that dark matter annihilation into electron-positron pairs may affect the observed rotation curve by a significant amount. We adopt a model-independent approach, where all the electrons and positrons are injected with the same initial energy E0˜mdmc2 in the range from 1 MeV to 1 TeV and the injection rate is constrained by INTEGRAL, Fermi and HESS data. The pressure of the relativistic electron-positron gas is determined by solving the diffusion-loss equation, considering inverse Compton scattering, synchrotron radiation, Coulomb collisions, bremsstrahlung and ionization. For values of the gas density and magnetic field that are representative of the Milky Way, it is estimated that pressure gradients are strong enough to balance gravity in the central parts if E0 < 1 GeV. The exact value depends somewhat on the astrophysical parameters, and it changes dramatically with the slope of the dark matter density profile. For very steep slopes, as those expected from adiabatic contraction, the rotation curves of spiral galaxies would be affected on ˜kpc scales for most values of E0. By comparing the predicted rotation curves with observations of dwarf and low surface brightness galaxies, we show that the pressure from dark matter annihilation may improve the agreement between theory and observations in some cases, but it also imposes severe constraints on the model parameters (most notably, the inner slope of halo density profile, as well as the mass and the annihilation cross-section of dark matter particles into electron-positron pairs).

Mapping extragalactic dark matter annihilation with galaxy surveys: A systematic study of stacked group searches

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lisanti, Mariangela; Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth; Rodd, Nicholas L.

Dark matter in the halos surrounding galaxy groups and clusters can annihilate to high-energy photons. Recent advancements in the construction of galaxy group catalogs provide many thousands of potential extragalactic targets for dark matter. In this paper, we outline a procedure to infer the dark matter signal associated with a given galaxy group. Applying this procedure to a catalog of sources, one can create a full-sky map of the brightest extragalactic dark matter targets in the nearby Universe (z≲0.03), supplementing sources of dark matter annihilation from within the local group. As with searches for dark matter in dwarf galaxies, thesemore » extragalactic targets can be stacked together to enhance the signals associated with dark matter. We validate this procedure on mock Fermi gamma-ray data sets using a galaxy catalog constructed from the DarkSky N-body cosmological simulation and demonstrate that the limits are robust, at O(1) levels, to systematic uncertainties on halo mass and concentration. We also quantify other sources of systematic uncertainty arising from the analysis and modeling assumptions. Lastly, our results suggest that a stacking analysis using galaxy group catalogs provides a powerful opportunity to discover extragalactic dark matter and complements existing studies of Milky Way dwarf galaxies.« less

Mapping extragalactic dark matter annihilation with galaxy surveys: A systematic study of stacked group searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lisanti, Mariangela; Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth; Rodd, Nicholas L.; Safdi, Benjamin R.; Wechsler, Risa H.

2018-03-01

Dark matter in the halos surrounding galaxy groups and clusters can annihilate to high-energy photons. Recent advancements in the construction of galaxy group catalogs provide many thousands of potential extragalactic targets for dark matter. In this paper, we outline a procedure to infer the dark matter signal associated with a given galaxy group. Applying this procedure to a catalog of sources, one can create a full-sky map of the brightest extragalactic dark matter targets in the nearby Universe (z ≲0.03 ), supplementing sources of dark matter annihilation from within the local group. As with searches for dark matter in dwarf galaxies, these extragalactic targets can be stacked together to enhance the signals associated with dark matter. We validate this procedure on mock Fermi gamma-ray data sets using a galaxy catalog constructed from the DarkSky N -body cosmological simulation and demonstrate that the limits are robust, at O (1 ) levels, to systematic uncertainties on halo mass and concentration. We also quantify other sources of systematic uncertainty arising from the analysis and modeling assumptions. Our results suggest that a stacking analysis using galaxy group catalogs provides a powerful opportunity to discover extragalactic dark matter and complements existing studies of Milky Way dwarf galaxies.

Mapping extragalactic dark matter annihilation with galaxy surveys: A systematic study of stacked group searches

DOE PAGES

Lisanti, Mariangela; Mishra-Sharma, Siddharth; Rodd, Nicholas L.; ...

2018-03-09

Dark matter in the halos surrounding galaxy groups and clusters can annihilate to high-energy photons. Recent advancements in the construction of galaxy group catalogs provide many thousands of potential extragalactic targets for dark matter. In this paper, we outline a procedure to infer the dark matter signal associated with a given galaxy group. Applying this procedure to a catalog of sources, one can create a full-sky map of the brightest extragalactic dark matter targets in the nearby Universe (z≲0.03), supplementing sources of dark matter annihilation from within the local group. As with searches for dark matter in dwarf galaxies, thesemore » extragalactic targets can be stacked together to enhance the signals associated with dark matter. We validate this procedure on mock Fermi gamma-ray data sets using a galaxy catalog constructed from the DarkSky N-body cosmological simulation and demonstrate that the limits are robust, at O(1) levels, to systematic uncertainties on halo mass and concentration. We also quantify other sources of systematic uncertainty arising from the analysis and modeling assumptions. Lastly, our results suggest that a stacking analysis using galaxy group catalogs provides a powerful opportunity to discover extragalactic dark matter and complements existing studies of Milky Way dwarf galaxies.« less

Modeling evolution of dark matter substructure and annihilation boost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiroshima, Nagisa; Ando, Shin'ichiro; Ishiyama, Tomoaki

2018-06-01

We study evolution of dark matter substructures, especially how they lose mass and change density profile after they fall in gravitational potential of larger host halos. We develop an analytical prescription that models the subhalo mass evolution and calibrate it to results of N -body numerical simulations of various scales from very small (Earth size) to large (galaxies to clusters) halos. We then combine the results with halo accretion histories and calculate the subhalo mass function that is physically motivated down to Earth-mass scales. Our results—valid for arbitrary host masses and redshifts—have reasonable agreement with those of numerical simulations at resolved scales. Our analytical model also enables self-consistent calculations of the boost factor of dark matter annihilation, which we find to increase from tens of percent at the smallest (Earth) and intermediate (dwarfs) masses to a factor of several at galaxy size, and to become as large as a factor of ˜10 for the largest halos (clusters) at small redshifts. Our analytical approach can accommodate substructures in the subhalos (sub-subhalos) in a consistent framework, which we find to give up to a factor of a few enhancements to the annihilation boost. The presence of the subhalos enhances the intensity of the isotropic gamma-ray background by a factor of a few, and as the result, the measurement by the Fermi Large Area Telescope excludes the annihilation cross section greater than ˜4 ×10-26 cm3 s-1 for dark matter masses up to ˜200 GeV .

Detecting boosted dark matter from the Sun with large volume neutrino detectors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berger, Joshua; Cui, Yanou; Zhao, Yue, E-mail: jberger@slac.stanford.edu, E-mail: ycui@perimeterinstitute.ca, E-mail: zhaoyue@stanford.edu

2015-02-01

We study novel scenarios where thermal dark matter (DM) can be efficiently captured in the Sun and annihilate into boosted dark matter. In models with semi-annihilating DM, where DM has a non-minimal stabilization symmetry, or in models with a multi-component DM sector, annihilations of DM can give rise to stable dark sector particles with moderate Lorentz boosts. We investigate both of these possibilities, presenting concrete models as proofs of concept. Both scenarios can yield viable thermal relic DM with masses O(1)-O(100) GeV. Taking advantage of the energetic proton recoils that arise when the boosted DM scatters off matter, we proposemore » a detection strategy which uses large volume terrestrial detectors, such as those designed to detect neutrinos or proton decays. In particular, we propose a search for proton tracks pointing towards the Sun. We focus on signals at Cherenkov-radiation-based detectors such as Super-Kamiokande (SK) and its upgrade Hyper-Kamiokande (HK). We find that with spin-dependent scattering as the dominant DM-nucleus interaction at low energies, boosted DM can leave detectable signals at SK or HK, with sensitivity comparable to DM direct detection experiments while being consistent with current constraints. Our study provides a new search path for DM sectors with non-minimal structure.« less

Detecting boosted dark matter from the Sun with large volume neutrino detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berger, Joshua; Cui, Yanou; Zhao, Yue

2015-02-01

We study novel scenarios where thermal dark matter (DM) can be efficiently captured in the Sun and annihilate into boosted dark matter. In models with semi-annihilating DM, where DM has a non-minimal stabilization symmetry, or in models with a multi-component DM sector, annihilations of DM can give rise to stable dark sector particles with moderate Lorentz boosts. We investigate both of these possibilities, presenting concrete models as proofs of concept. Both scenarios can yield viable thermal relic DM with masses O(1)-O(100) GeV. Taking advantage of the energetic proton recoils that arise when the boosted DM scatters off matter, we propose a detection strategy which uses large volume terrestrial detectors, such as those designed to detect neutrinos or proton decays. In particular, we propose a search for proton tracks pointing towards the Sun. We focus on signals at Cherenkov-radiation-based detectors such as Super-Kamiokande (SK) and its upgrade Hyper-Kamiokande (HK). We find that with spin-dependent scattering as the dominant DM-nucleus interaction at low energies, boosted DM can leave detectable signals at SK or HK, with sensitivity comparable to DM direct detection experiments while being consistent with current constraints. Our study provides a new search path for DM sectors with non-minimal structure.

Observations of MilkyWay Dwarf Spheroidal galaxies with the Fermi-LAT detector and

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abdo, A.A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.

We report on the observations of 14 dwarf spheroidal galaxies with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope taken during the first 11 months of survey mode operations. The Fermi telescope, which is conducting an all-sky {gamma}-ray survey in the 20 MeV to >300 GeV energy range, provides a new opportunity to test particle dark matter models through the expected {gamma}-ray emission produced by pair annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies, the largest galactic substructures predicted by the cold dark matter scenario, are attractive targets for such indirect searches for dark matter because they are nearbymore » and among the most extreme dark matter dominated environments. No significant {gamma}-ray emission was detected above 100 MeV from the candidate dwarf galaxies. We determine upper limits to the {gamma}-ray flux assuming both power-law spectra and representative spectra from WIMP annihilation. The resulting integral flux above 100 MeV is constrained to be at a level below around 10{sup -9} photons cm{sup -2}s{sup -1}. Using recent stellar kinematic data, the {gamma}-ray flux limits are combined with improved determinations of the dark matter density profile in 8 of the 14 candidate dwarfs to place limits on the pair annihilation cross-section ofWIMPs in several widely studied extensions of the standard model, including its supersymmetric extension and other models that received recent attention. With the present data, we are able to rule out large parts of the parameter space where the thermal relic density is below the observed cosmological dark matter density and WIMPs (neutralinos here) are dominantly produced non-thermally, e.g. in models where supersymmetry breaking occurs via anomaly mediation. The {gamma}-ray limits presented here also constrain some WIMP models proposed to explain the Fermi and PAMELA e{sup +}e{sup -} data, including low-mass wino-like neutralinos and models with TeV masses pair-annihilating into muon-antimuon pairs.« less

Mechanism for thermal relic dark matter of strongly interacting massive particles.

PubMed

Hochberg, Yonit; Kuflik, Eric; Volansky, Tomer; Wacker, Jay G

2014-10-24

We present a new paradigm for achieving thermal relic dark matter. The mechanism arises when a nearly secluded dark sector is thermalized with the standard model after reheating. The freeze-out process is a number-changing 3→2 annihilation of strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) in the dark sector, and points to sub-GeV dark matter. The couplings to the visible sector, necessary for maintaining thermal equilibrium with the standard model, imply measurable signals that will allow coverage of a significant part of the parameter space with future indirect- and direct-detection experiments and via direct production of dark matter at colliders. Moreover, 3→2 annihilations typically predict sizable 2→2 self-interactions which naturally address the "core versus cusp" and "too-big-to-fail" small-scale structure formation problems.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Farina, Marco; Pappadopulo, Duccio; Ruderman, Joshua T.

A hidden sector with a mass gap undergoes an epoch of cannibalism if number changing interactions are active when the temperature drops below the mass of the lightest hidden particle. During cannibalism, the hidden sector temperature decreases only logarithmically with the scale factor. We consider the possibility that dark matter resides in a hidden sector that underwent cannibalism, and has relic density set by the freeze-out of two-to-two annihilations. We identify three novel phases, depending on the behavior of the hidden sector when dark matter freezes out. During the cannibal phase, dark matter annihilations decouple while the hidden sector ismore » cannibalizing. During the chemical phase, only two-to-two interactions are active and the total number of hidden particles is conserved. During the one way phase, the dark matter annihilation products decay out of equilibrium, suppressing the production of dark matter from inverse annihilations. We map out the distinct phenomenology of each phase, which includes a boosted dark matter annihilation rate, new relativistic degrees of freedom, warm dark matter, and observable distortions to the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background.« less

Constraining heavy dark matter with cosmic-ray antiprotons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuoco, Alessandro; Heisig, Jan; Korsmeier, Michael; Krämer, Michael

2018-04-01

Cosmic-ray observations provide a powerful probe of dark matter annihilation in the Galaxy. In this paper we derive constraints on heavy dark matter from the recent precise AMS-02 antiproton data. We consider all possible annihilation channels into pairs of standard model particles. Furthermore, we interpret our results in the context of minimal dark matter, including higgsino, wino and quintuplet dark matter. We compare the cosmic-ray antiproton limits to limits from γ-ray observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and to limits from γ-ray and γ-line observations towards the Galactic center. While the latter limits are highly dependent on the dark matter density distribution and only exclude a thermal wino for cuspy profiles, the cosmic-ray limits are more robust, strongly disfavoring the thermal wino dark matter scenario even for a conservative estimate of systematic uncertainties.

Dichromatic dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bai, Yang; Su, Meng; Zhao, Yue

2013-02-01

Both the robust INTEGRAL 511 keV gamma-ray line and the recent tentative hint of the 135 GeV gamma-ray line from Fermi-LAT have similar signal morphologies, and may be produced from the same dark matter annihilation. Motivated by this observation, we construct a dark matter model to explain both signals and to accommodate the two required annihilation cross sections that are different by more than six orders of magnitude. In our model, to generate the low-energy positrons for INTEGRAL, dark matter particles annihilate into a complex scalar that couples to photon via a charge-radius operator. The complex scalar contains an excitedmore » state decaying into the ground state plus an off-shell photon to generate a pair of positron and electron. Two charged particles with non-degenerate masses are necessary for generating this charge-radius operator. One charged particle is predicted to be long-lived and have a mass around 3.8 TeV to explain the dark matter thermal relic abundance from its late decay. The other charged particle is predicted to have a mass below 1 TeV given the ratio of the two signal cross sections. The 14 TeV LHC will concretely test the main parameter space of this lighter charged particle.« less

Indirect search for dark matter in the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rott, Carsten, E-mail: rott@skku.edu

If dark matter is be captured in the Sun and self-annihilate, evidence of this process might be observable on the Earth in form of a neutrinos, which are copiously produced in the annihilation process. We discuss a novel signature of dark matter annihilations in the Sun that originates from monoenergetic neutrinos produced in pion and kaon decays. Based on this signature we find competitive sensitivities for the detection of dark matter at present and next-generation neutrino detectors.

Low-Energy Positron-Matter Interactions Using Trap-Based Beams

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-06-24

qualitatively by the recent exploitation of nonneutral plasma physics techniques to produce antimatter plasmas and beams in new regimes of parameter space...a quantitative antimatter - matter chemistry, important not only in obtaining a fundamental understanding of nature, but also in using antimatter in...ANNIHILATION MEASUREMENTS The fate of all antimatter in our world is annihilation with ordinary matter. Thus understanding the details of these annihilation

Search for neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilations in the center of the Milky Way with 3 years of IceCube/DeepCore: IceCube Collaboration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.

Here, we present a search for a neutrino signal from dark matter self-annihilations in the Milky Way using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube). In 1005 days of data we found no significant excess of neutrinos over the background of neutrinos produced in atmospheric air showers from cosmic ray interactions. We derive upper limits on the velocity averaged product of the dark matter self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the dark matter particles < σ A v>. We then set the upper limits for dark matter particle candidate masses ranging from 10 GeV up to 1 TeV while considering annihilation throughmore » multiple channels. This work sets the most stringent limit on a neutrino signal from dark matter with mass between 10 and 100 GeV, with a limit of 1.18·10 -23cm 3s -1 for 100 GeV dark matter particles self-annihilating via τ + τ - to neutrinos (assuming the Navarro–Frenk–White dark matter halo profile).« less

Search for neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilations in the center of the Milky Way with 3 years of IceCube/DeepCore: IceCube Collaboration

DOE PAGES

Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.; ...

2017-09-20

Here, we present a search for a neutrino signal from dark matter self-annihilations in the Milky Way using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube). In 1005 days of data we found no significant excess of neutrinos over the background of neutrinos produced in atmospheric air showers from cosmic ray interactions. We derive upper limits on the velocity averaged product of the dark matter self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the dark matter particles < σ A v>. We then set the upper limits for dark matter particle candidate masses ranging from 10 GeV up to 1 TeV while considering annihilation throughmore » multiple channels. This work sets the most stringent limit on a neutrino signal from dark matter with mass between 10 and 100 GeV, with a limit of 1.18·10 -23cm 3s -1 for 100 GeV dark matter particles self-annihilating via τ + τ - to neutrinos (assuming the Navarro–Frenk–White dark matter halo profile).« less

Spectral study of the HESS J1745-290 gamma-ray source as dark matter signal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cembranos, J. A. R.; Gammaldi, V.; Maroto, A. L.

2013-04-01

We study the main spectral features of the gamma-ray fluxes observed by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) from the J1745-290 Galactic Center source during the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. In particular, we show that these data are well fitted as the secondary gamma-rays photons generated from dark matter annihilating into Standard Model particles in combination with a simple power law background. We present explicit analyses for annihilation in a single standard model particle-antiparticle pair. In this case, the best fits are obtained for the uū and dbar d quark channels and for the W+W- and ZZ gauge bosons, with background spectral index compatible with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) data from the same region. The fits return a heavy WIMP, with a mass above ~ 10 TeV, but well below the unitarity limit for thermal relic annihilation.

Positron line radiation from halo WIMP annihilations as a dark matter signature

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Michael S.; Wilczek, Frank

1989-01-01

We suggest a new signature for dark matter annihilation in the halo: high energy positron line radiation. Because the cosmic ray positron spectrum falls rapidly with energy, e+'s from halo WIMP annihilations can be a significant, clean signal for very massive WIMP's (approx. greater than 30 GeV). In the case that the e+e- annihilation channel has an appreciable branch, the e+ signal should be above background in a future detector, such as have been proposed for ASTROMAG, and of potential importance as a dark matter signature. A significant e+e- branching ratio can occur for neutralinos or Dirac neutrinos. High-energy, continuum positron radiation may also be an important signature for massive neutralino annihilations, especially near or above the threshold of the W+W- and ZoZo annihilation channels.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bambhaniya, Gulab; Kumar, Jason; Marfatia, Danny

We consider scenarios in which the annihilation of self-conjugate spin-1 dark matter to a Standard Model fermion-antifermion final state is chirality suppressed, but where this suppression can be lifted by the emission of an additional photon via internal bremsstrahlung. We find that this scenario can only arise if the initial dark matter state is polarized, which can occur in the context of self-interacting dark matter. In particular, this is possible if the dark matter pair forms a bound state that decays to its ground state before the constituents annihilate. We show that the shape of the resulting photon spectrum ismore » the same as for self-conjugate spin-0 and spin-1/2 dark matter, but the normalization is less heavily suppressed in the limit of heavy mediators.« less

Annihilation of singlet fermionic dark matter into two photons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ettefaghi, M.M.; Moazzemi, R., E-mail: mettefaghi@qom.ac.ir, E-mail: r.moazzemi@qom.ac.ir

2013-02-01

We consider an extension of the standard model in which a singlet fermionic particle, to serve as cold dark matter, and a singlet Higgs are added. We perform a reanalysis on the free parameters. In particular, demanding a correct relic abundance of dark matter, we derive and plot the coupling of the singlet fermion with the singlet Higgs, g{sub s}, versus the dark matter mass. We analytically compute the pair annihilation cross section of singlet fermionic dark matter into two photons. The thermally averaged of this cross section is calculated for wide range of energies and plotted versus dark mattermore » mass using g{sub s} consistent with the relic abundance condition. We also compare our results with the Fermi-Lat observations.« less

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to the detection of a dark matter signal in comparison to direct detection and collider experiments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Balazs, Csaba; Conrad, Jan; Farmer, Ben

Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) that are sensitive to potential γ-ray signals from dark matter (DM) annihilation above ~50 GeV will soon be superseded by the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). CTA will have a point source sensitivity an order of magnitude better than currently operating IACTs and will cover a broad energy range between 20 GeV and 300 TeV. Using effective field theory and simplified models to calculate γ-ray spectra resulting from DM annihilation, we compare the prospects to constrain such models with CTA observations of the Galactic center with current and near-future measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)more » and direct detection experiments. Here, for DM annihilations via vector or pseudoscalar couplings, CTA observations will be able to probe DM models out of reach of the LHC, and, if DM is coupled to standard fermions by a pseudoscalar particle, beyond the limits of current direct detection experiments.« less

Sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array to the detection of a dark matter signal in comparison to direct detection and collider experiments

DOE PAGES

Balazs, Csaba; Conrad, Jan; Farmer, Ben; ...

2017-10-04

Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) that are sensitive to potential γ-ray signals from dark matter (DM) annihilation above ~50 GeV will soon be superseded by the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). CTA will have a point source sensitivity an order of magnitude better than currently operating IACTs and will cover a broad energy range between 20 GeV and 300 TeV. Using effective field theory and simplified models to calculate γ-ray spectra resulting from DM annihilation, we compare the prospects to constrain such models with CTA observations of the Galactic center with current and near-future measurements at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)more » and direct detection experiments. Here, for DM annihilations via vector or pseudoscalar couplings, CTA observations will be able to probe DM models out of reach of the LHC, and, if DM is coupled to standard fermions by a pseudoscalar particle, beyond the limits of current direct detection experiments.« less

Multistep cascade annihilations of dark matter and the Galactic Center excess

DOE PAGES

Elor, Gilly; Rodd, Nicholas L.; Slatyer, Tracy R.

2015-05-26

If dark matter is embedded in a non-trivial dark sector, it may annihilate and decay to lighter dark-sector states which subsequently decay to the Standard Model. Such scenarios - with annihilation followed by cascading dark-sector decays - can explain the apparent excess GeV gamma-rays identified in the central Milky Way, while evading bounds from dark matter direct detection experiments. Each 'step' in the cascade will modify the observable signatures of dark matter annihilation and decay, shifting the resulting photons and other final state particles to lower energies and broadening their spectra. We explore, in a model-independent way, the effect ofmore » multi-step dark-sector cascades on the preferred regions of parameter space to explain the GeV excess. We find that the broadening effects of multi-step cascades can admit final states dominated by particles that would usually produce too sharply peaked photon spectra; in general, if the cascades are hierarchical (each particle decays to substantially lighter particles), the preferred mass range for the dark matter is in all cases 20-150 GeV. Decay chains that have nearly-degenerate steps, where the products are close to half the mass of the progenitor, can admit much higher DM masses. We map out the region of mass/cross-section parameter space where cascades (degenerate, hierarchical or a combination) can fit the signal, for a range of final states. In the current paper, we study multi-step cascades in the context of explaining the GeV excess, but many aspects of our results are general and can be extended to other applications.« less

Hunting dark matter gamma-ray lines with the Fermi LAT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vertongen, Gilles; Weniger, Christoph, E-mail: gilles.vertongen@desy.de, E-mail: weniger@mppmu.mpg.de

2011-05-01

Monochromatic photons could be produced in the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles. At high energies, the search for such line features in the cosmic gamma-ray spectrum is essentially background free because plausible astrophysical processes are not expected to produce such a signal. The observation of a gamma-ray line would hence be a 'smoking-gun' signature for dark matter, making the search for such signals particularly attractive. Among the different dark matter models predicting gamma-ray lines, the local supersymmetric extension of the standard model with small R-parity violation and gravitino LSP is of particular interest because it provides a frameworkmore » where primordial nucleosynthesis, gravitino dark matter and thermal leptogenesis are naturally consistent. Using the two-years Fermi LAT data, we present a dedicated search for gamma-ray lines coming from dark matter annihilation or decay in the Galactic halo. Taking into account the full detector response, and using a binned profile likelihood method, we search for significant line features in the energy spectrum of the diffuse flux observed in different regions of the sky. No evidence for a line signal at the 5σ level is found for photon energies between 1 and 300 GeV, and conservative bounds on dark matter decay rates and annihilation cross sections are presented. Implications for gravitino dark matter in presence of small R-parity violation are discussed, as well as the impact of our results on the prospect for seeing long-lived neutralinos or staus at the LHC.« less

Constraining Dark Matter Models from a Combined Analysis of Milky Way Satellites with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; /Stanford U., HEPL /Taiwan, Natl. Taiwan U. /SLAC

Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are among the most promising targets for dark matter searches in gamma rays. We present a search for dark matter consisting of weakly interacting massive particles, applying a joint likelihood analysis to 10 satellite galaxies with 24 months of data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope. No dark matter signal is detected. Including the uncertainty in the dark matter distribution, robust upper limits are placed on dark matter annihilation cross sections. The 95% confidence level upper limits range from about 10{sup -26} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1} at 5 GeV to about 5 x 10{supmore » -23} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1} at 1 TeV, depending on the dark matter annihilation final state. For the first time, using gamma rays, we are able to rule out models with the most generic cross section ({approx}3 x 10{sup -26} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1} for a purely s-wave cross section), without assuming additional boost factors.« less

Constraining dark matter models from a combined analysis of Milky Way satellites with the Fermi Large Area Telescope.

PubMed

Ackermann, M; Ajello, M; Albert, A; Atwood, W B; Baldini, L; Ballet, J; Barbiellini, G; Bastieri, D; Bechtol, K; Bellazzini, R; Berenji, B; Blandford, R D; Bloom, E D; Bonamente, E; Borgland, A W; Bregeon, J; Brigida, M; Bruel, P; Buehler, R; Burnett, T H; Buson, S; Caliandro, G A; Cameron, R A; Cañadas, B; Caraveo, P A; Casandjian, J M; Cecchi, C; Charles, E; Chekhtman, A; Chiang, J; Ciprini, S; Claus, R; Cohen-Tanugi, J; Conrad, J; Cutini, S; de Angelis, A; de Palma, F; Dermer, C D; Digel, S W; do Couto e Silva, E; Drell, P S; Drlica-Wagner, A; Falletti, L; Favuzzi, C; Fegan, S J; Ferrara, E C; Fukazawa, Y; Funk, S; Fusco, P; Gargano, F; Gasparrini, D; Gehrels, N; Germani, S; Giglietto, N; Giordano, F; Giroletti, M; Glanzman, T; Godfrey, G; Grenier, I A; Guiriec, S; Gustafsson, M; Hadasch, D; Hayashida, M; Hays, E; Hughes, R E; Jeltema, T E; Jóhannesson, G; Johnson, R P; Johnson, A S; Kamae, T; Katagiri, H; Kataoka, J; Knödlseder, J; Kuss, M; Lande, J; Latronico, L; Lionetto, A M; Llena Garde, M; Longo, F; Loparco, F; Lott, B; Lovellette, M N; Lubrano, P; Madejski, G M; Mazziotta, M N; McEnery, J E; Mehault, J; Michelson, P F; Mitthumsiri, W; Mizuno, T; Monte, C; Monzani, M E; Morselli, A; Moskalenko, I V; Murgia, S; Naumann-Godo, M; Norris, J P; Nuss, E; Ohsugi, T; Okumura, A; Omodei, N; Orlando, E; Ormes, J F; Ozaki, M; Paneque, D; Parent, D; Pesce-Rollins, M; Pierbattista, M; Piron, F; Pivato, G; Porter, T A; Profumo, S; Rainò, S; Razzano, M; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Ritz, S; Roth, M; Sadrozinski, H F-W; Sbarra, C; Scargle, J D; Schalk, T L; Sgrò, C; Siskind, E J; Spandre, G; Spinelli, P; Strigari, L; Suson, D J; Tajima, H; Takahashi, H; Tanaka, T; Thayer, J G; Thayer, J B; Thompson, D J; Tibaldo, L; Tinivella, M; Torres, D F; Troja, E; Uchiyama, Y; Vandenbroucke, J; Vasileiou, V; Vianello, G; Vitale, V; Waite, A P; Wang, P; Winer, B L; Wood, K S; Wood, M; Yang, Z; Zimmer, S; Kaplinghat, M; Martinez, G D

2011-12-09

Satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are among the most promising targets for dark matter searches in gamma rays. We present a search for dark matter consisting of weakly interacting massive particles, applying a joint likelihood analysis to 10 satellite galaxies with 24 months of data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope. No dark matter signal is detected. Including the uncertainty in the dark matter distribution, robust upper limits are placed on dark matter annihilation cross sections. The 95% confidence level upper limits range from about 10(-26)  cm3  s(-1) at 5 GeV to about 5×10(-23)   cm3  s(-1) at 1 TeV, depending on the dark matter annihilation final state. For the first time, using gamma rays, we are able to rule out models with the most generic cross section (∼3×10(-26)  cm3  s(-1) for a purely s-wave cross section), without assuming additional boost factors.

Heavy dark matter annihilation from effective field theory.

PubMed

Ovanesyan, Grigory; Slatyer, Tracy R; Stewart, Iain W

2015-05-29

We formulate an effective field theory description for SU(2)_{L} triplet fermionic dark matter by combining nonrelativistic dark matter with gauge bosons in the soft-collinear effective theory. For a given dark matter mass, the annihilation cross section to line photons is obtained with 5% precision by simultaneously including Sommerfeld enhancement and the resummation of electroweak Sudakov logarithms at next-to-leading logarithmic order. Using these results, we present more accurate and precise predictions for the gamma-ray line signal from annihilation, updating both existing constraints and the reach of future experiments.

Is There a Dark Matter Signal in the Galactic Positron Annihilation Radiation?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lingenfelter, R. E.; Rothschild, R. E.; Higdon, J. C.

2009-07-17

Assuming Galactic positrons do not go far before annihilating, a difference between the observed 511 keV annihilation flux distribution and that of positron production, expected from beta{sup +} decay in Galactic iron nucleosynthesis, was evoked as evidence of a new source and signal of dark matter. We show, however, that the dark matter sources cannot account for the observed positronium fraction without extensive propagation. Yet with such propagation, standard nucleosynthetic sources can fully account for the spatial differences and positronium fraction, leaving no new signal for dark matter to explain.

Constraining dark matter by the 511 keV line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Man Ho; Leung, Chung Hei

2018-06-01

In the past few decades, observations indicated that an unexplained high production rate of positrons (the strong 511 keV line) exists in the Milky Way center. By using the fact that a large amount of high density gas used to exist near the Milky Way center million years ago, we model the rate of positrons produced due to dark matter annihilation. We consider the effect of adiabatic contraction of dark matter density due to the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way center and perform a detailed calculation to constrain the possible annihilation channel and dark matter mass range. We find that only three annihilation channels (μ+μ-, 4e and 4μ) can provide the required positron production rate and satisfy the stringent constraint of gamma-ray observations. In particular, the constrained mass range for the μ+μ- channel is m ≈ 80 - 100 GeV, which is close to the mass range obtained for the dark matter interpretation of the GeV gamma-ray and positron excess. In other words, the proposed scenario can simultaneously provide the required positron production rate to explain the 511 keV emission, the positron excess and the GeV gamma-ray excess in our Milky Way, and it is compatible with the density spike due to adiabatic growth model of the supermassive black hole.

Dark matter signals from Draco and Willman 1: prospects for MAGIC II and CTA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bringmann, Torsten; Doro, Michele; Fornasa, Mattia

2009-01-01

The next generation of ground-based Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes will play an important role in indirect dark matter searches. In this article, we consider two particularly promising candidate sources for dark matter annihilation signals, the nearby dwarf galaxies Draco and Willman 1, and study the prospects of detecting such a signal for the soon-operating MAGIC II telescope system as well as for the planned installation of CTA, taking special care of describing the experimental features that affect the detectional prospects. For the first time in such studies, we fully take into account the effect of internal bremsstrahlung, which has recently been shown to considerably enhance, in some cases, the gamma-ray flux in the high energies domain where Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes operate, thus leading to significantly harder annihilation spectra than traditionally considered. While the detection of the spectral features introduced by internal bremsstrahlung would constitute a smoking gun signature for dark matter annihilation, we find that for most models the overall flux still remains at a level that will be challenging to detect, unless one adopts somewhat favorable descriptions of the smooth dark matter distribution in the dwarfs.

A dark matter model that reconciles tensions between the cosmic-ray e± excess and the gamma-ray and CMB constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, Qian-Fei; Bi, Xiao-Jun; Lin, Su-Jie; Yin, Peng-Fei

2017-10-01

The cosmic-ray (CR) e± excess observed by AMS-02 can be explained by dark matter (DM) annihilation. However, the DM explanation requires a large annihilation cross section which is strongly disfavored by other observations, such as the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observation of dwarf galaxies and the Planck observation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Moreover, the DM annihilation cross section required by the CR e± excess is also too large to generate the correct DM relic density with thermal production. In this work we use the Breit-Wigner mechanism with a velocity dependent DM annihilation cross section to reconcile these tensions. If DM particles accounting for the CR e± excess with v ∼ O (10-3) are very close to a resonance in the physical pole case, their annihilation cross section in the Galaxy reaches a maximal value. On the other hand, the annihilation cross section would be suppressed for DM particles with smaller relative velocities in dwarf galaxies and at recombination, which may affect the gamma-ray and CMB observations, respectively. We find a proper parameter region that can simultaneously explain the AMS-02 results and the thermal relic density, while satisfying the Fermi-LAT and Planck constraints.

A Tale of Tails. Dark Matter Interpretations of the Fermi GeV Excess in Light of Background Model Systematics

DOE PAGES

Calore, Francesca; Cholis, Ilias; McCabe, Christopher; ...

2015-03-10

Several groups have identified an extended excess of gamma rays over the modeled foreground and background emissions towards the Galactic center (GC) based on observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. The excess emission is compatible in morphology and spectrum with a telltale sign from dark matter (DM) annihilation. Here, we present a critical reassessment of DM interpretations of the GC signal in light of the foreground and background uncertainties that some of us recently outlaid in Calore et al. (2014). We also find that a much larger number of DM models fits the gamma-ray data than previously noted. Inmore » particular: (1) In the case of DM annihilation into b¯b, we find that even large DM masses up to m χ≃74 GeV are allowed at p-value >0.05. (2) Surprisingly, annihilation into nonrelativistic hh gives a good fit to the data. (3) The inverse Compton emission from μ +μ - with m χ~60–70 GeV can also account for the excess at higher latitudes, |b|>2°, both in its spectrum and morphology. We also present novel constraints on a large number of mixed annihilation channels, including cascade annihilation involving hidden sector mediators. Finally, we show that the current limits from dwarf spheroidal observations are not in tension with a DM interpretation when uncertainties on the DM halo profile are accounted for.« less

A Robust Approach to Constraining Dark Matter from Gamma-Ray Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baxter, Eric J.; /Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.; Dodelson, Scott

2011-03-01

Photons produced in the annihilations of dark matter particles can be detected by gamma-ray telescopes; this technique of indirect detection serves as a cornerstone of the upcoming assault on the dark matter paradigm. The main obstacle to the extraction of information about dark matter from the annihilation photons is the presence of large and uncertain gamma-ray backgrounds. We present a new technique for using gamma-ray data to constrain the properties of dark matter that makes minimal assumptions about the dark matter and the backgrounds. The technique relies on two properties of the expected signal from annihilations of the smooth darkmore » matter component in our Galaxy: (1) it is approximately rotationally symmetric around the axis connecting us to the Galactic center, and (2) variations from the mean signal are uncorrelated from one pixel to the next. We apply this technique to recent data from the Fermi telescope to generate constraints on the dark matter mass and cross section for a variety of annihilation channels. We quantify the uncertainty introduced into our constraints by uncertainties in the halo profile and by the possibility that the halo is triaxial. The resultant constraint, the flux F {le} 4.5 x 10{sup -6} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} for energies between 1 and 100 GeV at an angle 15{sup o} away from the Galactic center, translates into an upper limit on the velocity-weighted annihilation cross section of order 10{sup -25} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1}, depending on the annihilation mode.« less

PPPC 4 DMν: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for Neutrinos from Dark Matter annihilations in the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baratella, Pietro; Cirelli, Marco; Hektor, Andi; Pata, Joosep; Piibeleht, Morten; Strumia, Alessandro

2014-03-01

We provide ingredients and recipes for computing neutrino signals of TeV-scale Dark Matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun. For each annihilation channel and DM mass we present the energy spectra of neutrinos at production, including: state-of-the-art energy losses of primary particles in solar matter, secondary neutrinos, electroweak radiation. We then present the spectra after propagation to the Earth, including (vacuum and matter) flavor oscillations and interactions in solar matter. We also provide a numerical computation of the capture rate of DM particles in the Sun. These results are available in numerical form.

Dark matter annihilation in the milky way galaxy: effects of baryonic compression.

PubMed

Prada, F; Klypin, A; Flix, J; Martínez, M; Simonneau, E

2004-12-10

If the dark matter (DM), which is considered to constitute most of the mass of galaxies, is made of supersymmetric particles, the central region of our Galaxy should emit gamma rays produced by their annihilation. We use detailed models of the Milky Way to make accurate estimates of continuum gamma-ray fluxes. We argue that the most important effect, which was previously neglected, is the compression of the dark matter due to the infall of baryons to the galactic center: it boosts the expected signal by a factor 1000. To illustrate this effect, we computed the expected gamma fluxes in the minimal supergravity scenario. Our models predict that the signal could be detected at high confidence levels by imaging atmospheric C erenkov telescopes assuming that neutralinos make up most of the DM in the Universe.

3.55 keV line from exciting dark matter without a hidden sector

DOE PAGES

Berlin, Asher; DiFranzo, Anthony; Hooper, Dan

2015-04-24

In this study, models in which dark matter particles can scatter into a slightly heavier state which promptly decays to the lighter state and a photon (known as eXciting Dark Matter, or XDM) have been shown to be capable of generating the 3.55 keV line observed from galaxy clusters, while suppressing the flux of such a line from smaller halos, including dwarf galaxies. In most of the XDM models discussed in the literature, this up-scattering is mediated by a new light particle, and dark matter annihilations proceed into pairs of this same light state. In these models, the dark matter andmore » the mediator effectively reside within a hidden sector, without sizable couplings to the Standard Model. In this paper, we explore a model of XDM that does not include a hidden sector. Instead, the dark matter both up-scatters and annihilates through the near resonant exchange of an O(10 2) GeV pseudoscalar with large Yukawa couplings to the dark matter and smaller, but non-neglibile, couplings to Standard Model fermions. The dark matter and the mediator are each mixtures of Standard Model singlets and SU(2) W doublets. We identify parameter space in which this model can simultaneously generate the 3.55 keV line and the gamma-ray excess observed from the Galactic center, without conflicting with constraints from colliders, direct detection experiments, or observations of dwarf galaxies.« less

Gravitationally Focused Dark Matter around Compact Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bromley, Benjamin C.

2011-12-01

If dark matter self-annihilates then it may produce an observable signal when its density is high. The details depend on the intrinsic properties of dark matter and how it clusters in space. For example, the density profile of some dark matter candidates may rise steeply enough toward the Galactic Center that self-annihilation may produce detectable γ-ray emission. Here, we discuss the possibility that an annihilation signal arises near a compact object (e.g., neutron star or black hole) even when the density of dark matter in the neighborhood of the object is uniform. Gravitational focusing produces a local enhancement of density with a profile that falls off approximately as the inverse square-root of distance from the compact star. While geometric dilution may overwhelm the annihilation signal from this local enhancement, magnetic fields tied to the compact object can increase the signal's contrast relative to the background.

Relativistic Dark Matter at the Galactic Center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Amin, Mustafa A.; /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Wizansky, Tommer

2007-11-16

In a large region of the supersymmetry parameter space, the annihilation cross section for neutralino dark matter is strongly dependent on the relative velocity of the incoming particles. We explore the consequences of this velocity dependence in the context of indirect detection of dark matter from the galactic center. We find that the increase in the annihilation cross section at high velocities leads to a flattening of the halo density profile near the galactic center and an enhancement of the annihilation signal.

Improving the sensitivity of gamma-ray telescopes to dark matter annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

DOE PAGES

Carlson, Eric; Hooper, Dan; Linden, Tim

2015-03-01

The Fermi-LAT Collaboration has studied the gamma-ray emission from a stacked population of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and used this information to set constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section. Interestingly, their analysis uncovered an excess with a test statistic (TS) of 8.7. If interpreted naively, this constitutes a 2.95σ local excess (p-value=0.003), relative to the expectations of their background model. In order to further test this interpretation, the Fermi-LAT team studied a large number of blank sky locations and found TS>8.7 excesses to be more common than predicted by their background model, decreasing the significance of their dwarf excessmore » to 2.2σ(p-value=0.027). We argue that these TS>8.7 blank sky locations are largely the result of unresolved blazars, radio galaxies, and star-forming galaxies, and show that multiwavelength information can be used to reduce the degree to which such sources contaminate the otherwise blank sky. In particular, we show that masking regions of the sky that lie within 1° of sources contained in the BZCAT or CRATES catalogs reduce the fraction of blank sky locations with TS>8.7 by more than a factor of 2. Taking such multiwavelength information into account can enable experiments such as Fermi to better characterize their backgrounds and increase their sensitivity to dark matter in dwarf galaxies, the most important of which remain largely uncontaminated by unresolved point sources. We also note that for the range of dark matter masses and annihilation cross sections currently being tested by studies of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, simulations predict that Fermi should be able to detect a significant number of dark matter subhalos. These subhalos constitute a population of subthreshold gamma-ray point sources and represent an irreducible background for searches for dark matter annihilation in dwarf galaxies.« less

Oscillation of neutrinos produced by the annihilation of dark matter inside the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Esmaili, Arman; School of Physics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences; Farzan, Yasaman

2010-06-01

The annihilation of dark matter particles captured by the Sun can lead to a neutrino flux observable in neutrino detectors. Considering the fact that these dark matter particles are nonrelativistic, if a pair of dark matter annihilates to a neutrino pair, the spectrum of neutrinos will be monochromatic. We show that in this case, even after averaging over the production point inside the Sun, the oscillatory terms of the oscillation probability do not average to zero. This leads to interesting observable features in the annual variation of the number of muon track events. We show that smearing of the spectrummore » due to thermal distribution of dark matter inside the Sun is too small to wash out this variation. We point out the possibility of studying the initial flavor composition of neutrinos produced by the annihilation of dark matter particles via measuring the annual variation of the number of {mu}-track events in neutrino telescopes.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berger, Joshua; /SLAC; Cui, Yanou

We study novel scenarios where thermal dark matter (DM) can be efficiently captured in the Sun and annihilate into boosted dark matter. In models with semi-annihilating DM, where DM has a non-minimal stabilization symmetry, or in models with a multi-component DM sector, annihilations of DM can give rise to stable dark sector particles with moderate Lorentz boosts. We investigate both of these possibilities, presenting concrete models as proofs of concept. Both scenarios can yield viable thermal relic DM with masses O(1)-O(100) GeV. Taking advantage of the energetic proton recoils that arise when the boosted DM scatters off matter, we proposemore » a detection strategy which uses large volume terrestrial detectors, such as those designed to detect neutrinos or proton decays. In particular, we propose a search for proton tracks pointing towards the Sun. We focus on signals at Cherenkov-radiation-based detectors such as Super-Kamiokande (SK) and its upgrade Hyper-Kamiokande (HK). We find that with spin-dependent scattering as the dominant DM-nucleus interaction at low energies, boosted DM can leave detectable signals at SK or HK, with sensitivity comparable to DM direct detection experiments while being consistent with current constraints. Our study provides a new search path for DM sectors with non-minimal structure.« less

Indirect detection of neutrino portal dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batell, Brian; Han, Tao; Shams Es Haghi, Barmak

2018-05-01

We investigate the feasibility of the indirect detection of dark matter in a simple model using the neutrino portal. The model is very economical, with right-handed neutrinos generating neutrino masses through the type-I seesaw mechanism and simultaneously mediating interactions with dark matter. Given the small neutrino Yukawa couplings expected in a type-I seesaw, direct detection and accelerator probes of dark matter in this scenario are challenging. However, dark matter can efficiently annihilate to right-handed neutrinos, which then decay via active-sterile mixing through the weak interactions, leading to a variety of indirect astronomical signatures. We derive the existing constraints on this scenario from Planck cosmic microwave background measurements, Fermi dwarf spheroidal galaxy and Galactic center gamma-ray observations, and AMS-02 antiproton observations, and we also discuss the future prospects of Fermi and the Cherenkov Telescope Array. Thermal annihilation rates are already being probed for dark matter lighter than about 50 GeV, and this can be extended to dark matter masses of 100 GeV and beyond in the future. This scenario can also provide a dark matter interpretation of the Fermi Galactic center gamma-ray excess, and we confront this interpretation with other indirect constraints. Finally we discuss some of the exciting implications of extensions of the minimal model with large neutrino Yukawa couplings and Higgs portal couplings.

Exploring the BWCA (Bino-Wino co-annihilation) scenario for neutralino dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baer, Howard; Krupovnickas, Tadas; Mustafayev, Azar; Park, Eun-Kyung; Profumo, Stefano; Tata, Xerxes

2005-12-01

In supersymmetric models with non-universal gaugino masses, it is possible to have opposite-sign SU(2) and U(1) gaugino mass terms. In these models, the gaugino eigenstates experience little mixing so that the lightest SUSY particle remains either pure bino or pure wino. The neutralino relic density can only be brought into accord with the WMAP measured value when bino-wino co-annihilation (BWCA) acts to enhance the dark matter annihilation rate. We map out parameter space regions and mass spectra which are characteristic of the BWCA scenario. Direct and indirect dark matter detection rates are shown to be typically very low. At collider experiments, the BWCA scenario is typified by a small mass gap mtilde Z2-mtilde Z1 ~ 20-80 GeV, so that tree level two body decays of tilde Z2 are not allowed. However, in this case the second lightest neutralino has an enhanced loop decay branching fraction to photons. While the photonic neutralino decay signature looks difficult to extract at the Fermilab Tevatron, it should lead to distinctive events at the CERN LHC and at a linear e+e- collider.

Dark Matter Constraints from Observations of 25 Milky Way Satellite Galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ackermann, M.; Albert, A.; Anderson, B.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Bissaldi, E.;

Point sources from dissipative dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agrawal, Prateek; Randall, Lisa

2017-12-01

If a component of dark matter has dissipative interactions, it can cool to form compact astrophysical objects with higher density than that of conventional cold dark matter (sub)haloes. Dark matter annihilations might then appear as point sources, leading to novel morphology for indirect detection. We explore dissipative models where interaction with the Standard Model might provide visible signals, and show how such objects might give rise to the observed excess in gamma rays arising from the galactic center.

Explaining DAMPE results by dark matter with hierarchical lepton-specific Yukawa interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Guoli; Wang, Fei; Wang, Wenyu; Yang, Jin-Min

2018-02-01

We propose to interpret the DAMPE electron excess at 1.5 TeV through scalar or Dirac fermion dark matter (DM) annihilation with doubly charged scalar mediators that have lepton-specific Yukawa couplings. The hierarchy of such lepton-specific Yukawa couplings is generated through the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism, so that the dark matter annihilation products can be dominantly electrons. Stringent constraints from LEP2 on intermediate vector boson production can be evaded in our scenarios. In the case of scalar DM, we discuss one scenario with DM annihilating directly to leptons and another scenario with DM annihilating to scalar mediators followed by their decays. We also discuss the Breit-Wigner resonant enhancement and the Sommerfeld enhancement in the case where the s-wave annihilation process is small or helicity-suppressed. With both types of enhancement, constraints on the parameters can be relaxed and new ways for model building can be opened in explaining the DAMPE results. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11105124, 11105125, 11375001, 11675147, 11675242), the Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y5KF121CJ1), the Innovation Talent project of Henan Province (15HASTIT017), the Young-Talent Foundation of Zhengzhou University, the CAS Center for Excellence in Particle Physics (CCEPP), the CAS Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences and a Key R&D Program of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2017YFA0402200-04)

Bringing isolated dark matter out of isolation: Late-time reheating and indirect detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erickcek, Adrienne L.; Sinha, Kuver; Watson, Scott

2016-09-01

In standard cosmology, the growth of structure becomes significant following matter-radiation equality. In nonthermal histories, where an effectively matter-dominated phase occurs due to scalar oscillations prior to big bang nucleosynthesis, a new scale at smaller wavelengths appears in the matter power spectrum. Density perturbations that enter the horizon during the early matter-dominated era (EMDE) grow linearly with the scale factor prior to the onset of radiation domination, which leads to enhanced inhomogeneity on small scales if dark matter (DM) thermally and kinetically decouples during the EMDE. The microhalos that form from these enhanced perturbations significantly boost the self-annihilation rate for dark matter. This has important implications for indirect detection experiments: the larger annihilation rate may result in observable signals from dark matter candidates that are usually deemed untestable. As a proof of principle, we consider binos in heavy supersymmetry with an intermediate extended Higgs sector and all other superpartners decoupled. We find that these isolated binos, which lie under the neutrino floor, can account for the dark matter relic density and decouple from the standard model early enough to preserve the enhanced small-scale inhomogeneity generated during the EMDE. If early forming microhalos survive as subhalos within larger microhalos, the resulting boost to the annihilation rate for bino dark matter near the pseudoscalar resonance exceeds the upper limit established by Fermi-LAT's observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. These DM candidates motivate the N -body simulations required to eliminate uncertainties in the microhalos' internal structure by exemplifying how an EMDE can enable Fermi-LAT to probe isolated dark matter.

Gamma-ray Signal from Dark Matter Annihilation Mediated by Mixing Slepton

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, Fei

2016-03-01

In order to reconcile the tension between the collider SUSY particle search and the dark matter relic density constraint, we free ourselves from the simplest CMSSM model and find a large parameter space in which a sub-TeV bino dark matter may comply with all the current experimental constraints. In this so-called incredible bulk region, dark matter mainly annihilates through the t channel exchange of a mixing slepton into a leptonic final state. We have explored this proposal and studied the resultant spectrum feature. We are going to show that the line signal produced by the γγ and γZ final state will give some indications to the mixing angle and CP-violation phase of the slepton sector. On the other hand, internal bremsstrahlung (IB) feature will be easier to get observed by future experiments, with sensitivity around 10-29cm3 /s . Unlike some other models, our IB signal is dominated by the collinear limit of the final state radiation amplitude and shows a bump-like feature.

Status of the scalar singlet dark matter model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Athron, Peter; Balázs, Csaba; Bringmann, Torsten; Buckley, Andy; Chrząszcz, Marcin; Conrad, Jan; Cornell, Jonathan M.; Dal, Lars A.; Edsjö, Joakim; Farmer, Ben; Jackson, Paul; Kahlhoefer, Felix; Krislock, Abram; Kvellestad, Anders; McKay, James; Mahmoudi, Farvah; Martinez, Gregory D.; Putze, Antje; Raklev, Are; Rogan, Christopher; Saavedra, Aldo; Savage, Christopher; Scott, Pat; Serra, Nicola; Weniger, Christoph; White, Martin

2017-08-01

One of the simplest viable models for dark matter is an additional neutral scalar, stabilised by a Z_2 symmetry. Using the GAMBIT package and combining results from four independent samplers, we present Bayesian and frequentist global fits of this model. We vary the singlet mass and coupling along with 13 nuisance parameters, including nuclear uncertainties relevant for direct detection, the local dark matter density, and selected quark masses and couplings. We include the dark matter relic density measured by Planck, direct searches with LUX, PandaX, SuperCDMS and XENON100, limits on invisible Higgs decays from the Large Hadron Collider, searches for high-energy neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Sun with IceCube, and searches for gamma rays from annihilation in dwarf galaxies with the Fermi-LAT. Viable solutions remain at couplings of order unity, for singlet masses between the Higgs mass and about 300 GeV, and at masses above ˜ 1 TeV. Only in the latter case can the scalar singlet constitute all of dark matter. Frequentist analysis shows that the low-mass resonance region, where the singlet is about half the mass of the Higgs, can also account for all of dark matter, and remains viable. However, Bayesian considerations show this region to be rather fine-tuned.

The spectrum of darkonium in the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kouvaris, Chris; Langæble, Kasper; Nielsen, Niklas Grønlund

Dark matter that gets captured in the Sun may form positronium-like bound states if it self-interacts via light dark photons. In this case, dark matter can either annihilate to dark photons or recombine in bound states which subsequently also decay to dark photons. The fraction of the dark photons that leave the Sun without decaying to Standard Model particles have a characteristic energy spectrum which is a mixture of the direct annihilation process, the decays of ortho- and para- bound states and the recombination process. The ultimate decay of these dark photons to positron-electron pairs (via kinetic mixing) outside themore » Sun creates a distinct signal that can either identify or set strict constraints on dark photon models.« less

A Multi-frequency analysis of dark matter annihilation interpretations of recent anti-particle and γ-ray excesses in cosmic structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beck, G.; Colafrancesco, S., E-mail: geoff.m.beck@gmail.com, E-mail: sergio.colafrancesco@wits.ac.za

2016-05-01

The Fermi-LAT observation of a γ-ray excess from the galactic-centre, as well as the PAMELA, AMS, and AMS-2 anti-particle excesses, and the recent indications of a Fermi-LAT γ-ray excess in the Reticulum II dwarf galaxy have all been variously put forward as possible indirect signatures of supersymmetric neutralino dark matter. These are of particular interest as the neutralino annihilation models which fit these observations must have observable consequences across the frequency spectrum, from radio to γ-ray emission. Moreover, since dark matter is expected to be a major constituent of cosmic structure, these multi-frequency consequences should be common to such structuresmore » across the mass spectrum, from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters. Thus, in this work we make predictions for the multi-frequency spectra of three well-known sources dominated by dark matter on cluster, galaxy and dwarf galaxy scales, e.g. the Coma cluster, the galaxy M81, and the Draco dwarf galaxy, using models favoured by dark matter interpretations of the aforementioned observations. We pay special attention to the consequences for these models when their cross-sections are renormalised to reproduce the recent γ-ray excess observed in the Reticulum II dwarf galaxy, as well as using cross-sections from the Fermi-LAT dwarf galaxy limits, which throw a dark matter interpretation of this excess into doubt. We find that the multi-frequency data of Coma and Draco are in conflict with the dark matter interpretation of the AMS, PAMELA and Fermi positron excess. Additionally, models derived from Fermi-LAT galactic centre observations, and AMS-2 re-analysis, present similar but less extensive conflicts. Using the sensitivity projections for the Square Kilometre Array, the Cherenkov Telescope Array, as well as the ASTROGAM and ASTRO-H satellites, we determine the detection prospects for a subset of neutralino models that remain consistent with Planck cosmological constraints. Although the SKA has the greatest sensitivity to dark matter models, we demonstrate that ASTRO-H is well positioned to probe the inverse-Compton scattering emissions from neutralino annihilation and identify characteristics of the spectra which contain information about the neutralino mass and annihilation channel. This means that, given environments with favourable X-ray backgrounds, multi-frequency observation with the next generation of experiments will allow for unprecedented sensitivity to the neutralino parameter space as well as offsetting the individual weaknesses of each observation mode. Finally we show that all of the studied models can be better tested with the SKA phase 1.« less

Matter-antimatter cosmology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Omnes, R.

1973-01-01

Mechanisms responsible for the orgin and separation of matter and antimatter in the universe are discussed. Particular attention was given to coalesence. This mechanism involves annihilation production of along the boundary of matter-antimatter, high energy photons, electrons, and positrons. These particles together with secondary particles which they put into motion by collisions, carry their momentum to the matter or antimatter fluid. Coalescence and annihilation rates are discussed.

Constraints on Dark Matter Annihilation by Synchrotron Emission based on Planck Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muanglay, Chalit; Wechakama, Maneenate; Cantlay, Brandon K.

2017-09-01

Synchrotron emission can be a good probe for dark matter particles in the Milky Way. We have investigated the production of electrons and positrons in the Milky Way within the context of dark matter annihilation. Upper limits on the relevant cross-section are obtained by comparing synchrotron emission in the microwave bands with Planck data. According to our results, the dark matter annihilation cross-section into electron-positron pairs should not be higher than the canonical value for a thermal relic if the mass of the dark matter candidate is smaller than a few GeV. In addition, we also look for constraints on the inner slope of dark matter density profile in the Milky Way. Our results indicate that the inner slope of dark matter profile is between 1 to 1.5.

Annihilation physics of exotic galactic dark matter particles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stecker, F. W.

1990-01-01

Various theoretical arguments make exotic heavy neutral weakly interacting fermions, particularly those predicted by supersymmetry theory, attractive candidates for making up the large amount of unseen gravitating mass in galactic halos. Such particles can annihilate with each other, producing secondary particles of cosmic-ray energies, among which are antiprotons, positrons, neutrinos, and gamma-rays. Spectra and fluxes of these annihilation products can be calculated, partly by making use of positron electron collider data and quantum chromodynamic models of particle production derived therefrom. These spectra may provide detectable signatures of exotic particle remnants of the big bang.

Dark forces in the sky: signals from Z{sup ′} and the dark Higgs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bell, Nicole F.; Cai, Yi; Leane, Rebecca K.

2016-08-01

We consider the indirect detection signals for a self-consistent hidden U(1) model containing a Majorana dark matter candidate, χ, a dark gauge boson, Z{sup ′}, and a dark Higgs, s. Compared with a model containing only a dark matter candidate and Z{sup ′} mediator, the addition of the scalar provides a mass generation mechanism for the dark sector particles and is required in order to avoid unitarity violation at high energies. We find that the inclusion of the two mediators opens up a new two-body s-wave annihilation channel, χχ→sZ{sup ′}. This new process, which is missed in the usual single-mediatormore » simplified model approach, can be the dominant annihilation channel. This provides rich phenomenology for indirect detection searches, allows indirect searches to explore regions of parameter space not accessible with other commonly considered s-wave annihilation processes, and enables both the Z{sup ′} and scalar couplings to be probed. We examine the phenomenology of the sector with a focus on this new process, and determine the limits on the model parameter space from Fermi data on dwarf spheriodal galaxies and other relevant experiments.« less

Supersymmetric resonant dark matter: A thermal model for the AMS-02 positron excess

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Yang; Berger, Joshua; Lu, Sida

2018-06-01

We construct a thermal dark matter model with annihilation mediated by a resonance to explain the positron excess observed by PAMELA, Fermi-LAT and AMS-02, while satisfying constraints from cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. The challenging requirement is that the resonance has twice the dark matter mass to one part in a million. We achieve this by introducing an S U (3 )f dark flavor symmetry that is spontaneously broken to S U (2 )f×U (1 )f . The resonance is the heaviest state in the dark matter flavor multiplet, and the required mass relation is protected by the vacuum structure and supersymmetry from radiative corrections. The pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons (PNGBs) from the dark flavor symmetry breaking can be slightly lighter than one GeV and dominantly decay into two muons just from kinematics, with subsequent decay into positrons. The PNGBs are produced in resonant dark matter semiannihilation, where two dark matter particles annihilate into an anti-dark matter particle and a PNGB. The dark matter mass in our model is constrained to be below around 1.9 TeV from fitting thermal relic abundance, AMS-02 data and CMB constraints. The superpartners of Standard Model (SM) particles can cascade decay into a light PNGB along with SM particles, yielding a correlated signal of this model at colliders. One of the interesting signatures is a resonance of a SM Higgs boson plus two collimated muons, which has superb discovery potential at LHC Run 2.

Natural implementation of neutralino dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Steve F.; Roberts, Jonathan P.

2006-09-01

The prediction of neutralino dark matter is generally regarded as one of the successes of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). However the successful regions of parameter space allowed by WMAP and collider constraints are quite restricted. We discuss fine-tuning with respect to both dark matter and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking (EWSB) and explore regions of MSSM parameter space with non-universal gaugino and third family scalar masses in which neutralino dark matter may be implemented naturally. In particular allowing non-universal gauginos opens up the bulk region that allows Bino annihilation via t-channel slepton exchange, leading to ``supernatural dark matter'' corresponding to no fine-tuning at all with respect to dark matter. By contrast we find that the recently proposed ``well tempered neutralino'' regions involve substantial fine-tuning of MSSM parameters in order to satisfy the dark matter constraints, although the fine tuning may be ameliorated if several annihilation channels act simultaneously. Although we have identified regions of ``supernatural dark matter'' in which there is no fine tuning to achieve successful dark matter, the usual MSSM fine tuning to achieve EWSB always remains.

Prospects for detecting supersymmetric dark matter in the Galactic halo.

PubMed

Springel, V; White, S D M; Frenk, C S; Navarro, J F; Jenkins, A; Vogelsberger, M; Wang, J; Ludlow, A; Helmi, A

2008-11-06

Dark matter is the dominant form of matter in the Universe, but its nature is unknown. It is plausibly an elementary particle, perhaps the lightest supersymmetric partner of known particle species. In this case, annihilation of dark matter in the halo of the Milky Way should produce gamma-rays at a level that may soon be observable. Previous work has argued that the annihilation signal will be dominated by emission from very small clumps (perhaps smaller even than the Earth), which would be most easily detected where they cluster together in the dark matter haloes of dwarf satellite galaxies. Here we report that such small-scale structure will, in fact, have a negligible impact on dark matter detectability. Rather, the dominant and probably most easily detectable signal will be produced by diffuse dark matter in the main halo of the Milky Way. If the main halo is strongly detected, then small dark matter clumps should also be visible, but may well contain no stars, thereby confirming a key prediction of the cold dark matter model.

INTEGRAL and Light Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cassé, M.; Fayet, P.; Schanne, S.; Cordier, B.; Paul, J.

2004-10-01

The nature of Dark Matter remains one of the outstanding questions of modern astrophysics. The success of the Cold Dark Matter cosmological model argues strongly in favor of a major component of the dark matter being in the form of elementary particles, not yet discovered. Based on earlier theoretical considerations, a possible link between the recent SPI/INTEGRAL measurement of an intense and extended emission of 511 keV photons (the hallmark of positron annihilation) from the central Galaxy, and this mysterious component of the Universe, has been established advocating the existence of a light dark matter (LDM) particle (at variance with the neutralino, in general considered as very heavy). We show that it can explain the 511 keV emission mapped with SPI/INTEGRAL without overproducing undesirable signals like high energy gamma-rays arising from π? decays, and radio synchrotron photons emitted by high energy positrons circulating in magnetic fields. Combining the annihilation line constraint with the cosmological one (i.e. that the relic LDM energy density reaches about 23% of the density of the Universe), one can restrict the main properties of the light dark matter particle. Its mass should lie between ≈ 1 and 100 MeV, and the required annihilation cross section, velocity dependent, should be significantly larger than for weak interactions, and may be induced by the virtual production of a new light neutral spin 1 boson U. On astrophysical grounds, the best target to validate the LDM proposal seems to be the observation by SPI/INTEGRAL and future gamma ray telescopes of the annihilation line from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and the Palomar-13 globular cluster, thought to be dominated by dark matter. Key words: Galaxy center; dark matter; gamma rays. 0Corresponding author: m.casse@cea.fr 3 Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France 4 Fédération de Recherche Astroparticule et Cosmologie, Coll`ege de France, 11 Place Marcellin Berthelot, 75231 Paris, France

Dilaton-assisted dark matter.

PubMed

Bai, Yang; Carena, Marcela; Lykken, Joseph

2009-12-31

A dilaton could be the dominant messenger between standard model fields and dark matter. The measured dark matter relic abundance relates the dark matter mass and spin to the conformal breaking scale. The dark matter-nucleon spin-independent cross section is predicted in terms of the dilaton mass. We compute the current constraints on the dilaton from LEP and Tevatron experiments, and the gamma-ray signal from dark matter annihilation to dilatons that could be observed by Fermi Large Area Telescope.

Ruling out dark matter interpretation of the galactic GeV excess by gamma-ray data of galaxy clusters.

PubMed

Chan, Man Ho; Leung, Chung Hei

2017-11-02

Recently, some very tight constraints of annihilating dark matter have been obtained from gamma-ray data of the Milky Way and Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies. In this article, we report that there are two excellent galaxy clusters (A2877 and Fornax) which can provide interesting constraints for annihilating dark matter. The lower limits of the dark matter mass for the thermal relic annihilation cross section are 25 GeV, 6 GeV, 130 GeV and 100 GeV respectively for the e + e - , μ + μ - , τ + τ - and [Formula: see text] channels. For some configuration of our working assumptions, our results improve the Fermi-LAT upper limits of annihilation cross sections by a factor of 1.3 - 1.8 for wide ranges of dark matter mass for e + e - , μ + μ - and [Formula: see text] channels, and a factor of 1.2-1.8 for τ + τ - channel with dark matter mass ≤100 GeV. These limits basically rule out most of the existing popular dark matter interpretation of the GeV excess in the Milky Way.

Antiproton-Hydrogen Atom Annihilation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-05-01

Morgan, Jr., Concepts for the Design of an Antimatter Annihilation ’Rocket, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 35, 405 (1982). 2. D.L. Morgan...Matter- Antimatter Annihilation, Phys. Rev. D 2, 1389 (1970). (Notes: results for p - H are equivalent to 5 -H; the bare + p annihilation cross section is

The 21 cm signal and the interplay between dark matter annihilations and astrophysical processes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lopez-Honorez, Laura; Mena, Olga; Moliné, Ángeles

2016-08-01

Future dedicated radio interferometers, including HERA and SKA, are very promising tools that aim to study the epoch of reionization and beyond via measurements of the 21 cm signal from neutral hydrogen. Dark matter (DM) annihilations into charged particles change the thermal history of the Universe and, as a consequence, affect the 21 cm signal. Accurately predicting the effect of DM strongly relies on the modeling of annihilations inside halos. In this work, we use up-to-date computations of the energy deposition rates by the products from DM annihilations, a proper treatment of the contribution from DM annihilations in halos, asmore » well as values of the annihilation cross section allowed by the most recent cosmological measurements from the Planck satellite. Given current uncertainties on the description of the astrophysical processes driving the epochs of reionization, X-ray heating and Lyman-α pumping, we find that disentangling DM signatures from purely astrophysical effects, related to early-time star formation processes or late-time galaxy X-ray emissions, will be a challenging task. We conclude that only annihilations of DM particles with masses of ∼100 MeV, could leave an unambiguous imprint on the 21 cm signal and, in particular, on the 21 cm power spectrum. This is in contrast to previous, more optimistic results in the literature, which have claimed that strong signatures might also be present even for much higher DM masses. Additional measurements of the 21 cm signal at different cosmic epochs will be crucial in order to break the strong parameter degeneracies between DM annihilations and astrophysical effects and undoubtedly single out a DM imprint for masses different from ∼100 MeV.« less

A search for dark matter in the Galactic halo with HAWC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abeysekara, A. U.; Albert, A.; Alfaro, R.; Alvarez, C.; Arceo, R.; Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.; Avila Rojas, D.; Ayala Solares, H. A.; Becerril, A.; Belmont-Moreno, E.; BenZvi, S. Y.; Bernal, A.; Brisbois, C.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Capistrán, T.; Carramiñana, A.; Casanova, S.; Castillo, M.; Cotti, U.; Cotzomi, J.; De León, C.; De la Fuente, E.; Diaz Hernandez, R.; Dingus, B. L.; DuVernois, M. A.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Engel, K.; Enríquez-Rivera, O.; Fiorino, D. W.; Fleischhack, H.; Fraija, N.; García-González, J. A.; Garfias, F.; González Muñoz, A.; González, M. M.; Goodman, J. A.; Hampel-Arias, Z.; Harding, J. P.; Hernandez, S.; Hernandez-Almada, A.; Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, F.; Hüntemeyer, P.; Iriarte, A.; Jardin-Blicq, A.; Joshi, V.; Kaufmann, S.; Lauer, R. J.; Lee, W. H.; Lennarz, D.; León Vargas, H.; Linnemann, J. T.; Longinotti, A. L.; Luis-Raya, G.; Luna-García, R.; López-Coto, R.; Malone, K.; Marinelli, S. S.; Martinez, O.; Martinez-Castellanos, I.; Martínez-Castro, J.; Matthews, J. A.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P.; Moreno, E.; Mostafá, M.; Nellen, L.; Newbold, M.; Nisa, M. U.; Noriega-Papaqui, R.; Pelayo, R.; Pretz, J.; Pérez-Pérez, E. G.; Ren, Z.; Rho, C. D.; Rodd, N. L.; Rosa-González, D.; Rosenberg, M.; Ruiz-Velasco, E.; Safdi, B. R.; Salazar, H.; Salesa Greus, F.; Sandoval, A.; Schneider, M.; Sinnis, G.; Smith, A. J.; Springer, R. W.; Surajbali, P.; Taboada, I.; Tibolla, O.; Tollefson, K.; Torres, I.; Ukwatta, T. N.; Vianello, G.; Villaseñor, L.; Weisgarber, T.; Westerhoff, S.; Wisher, I. G.; Wood, J.; Yapici, T.; Yodh, G. B.; Younk, P. W.; Zepeda, A.; Zhou, H.; Álvarez, J. D.

2018-02-01

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is a wide field-of-view observatory sensitive to 500 GeV – 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. With its observations over 2/3 of the sky every day, the HAWC observatory is sensitive to a wide variety of astrophysical sources, including possible gamma rays from dark matter. Dark matter annihilation and decay in the Milky Way Galaxy should produce gamma-ray signals across many degrees on the sky. The HAWC instantaneous field-of-view of 2 sr enables observations of extended regions on the sky, such as those from dark matter in the Galactic halo. Here we show limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section and decay lifetime from HAWC observations of the Galactic halo with 15 months of data. These are some of the most robust limits on TeV and PeV dark matter, largely insensitive to the dark matter morphology. These limits begin to constrain models in which PeV IceCube neutrinos are explained by dark matter which primarily decays into hadrons.

A search for dark matter in the Galactic halo with HAWC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abeysekara, A. U.; Albert, A.; Alfaro, R.

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is a wide field-of-view observatory sensitive to 500 GeV – 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. With its observations over 2/3 of the sky every day, the HAWC observatory is sensitive to a wide variety of astrophysical sources, including possible gamma rays from dark matter. Dark matter annihilation and decay in the Milky Way Galaxy should produce gamma-ray signals across many degrees on the sky. The HAWC instantaneous field-of-view of 2 sr enables observations of extended regions on the sky, such as those from dark matter in the Galactic halo. Heremore » we show limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section and decay lifetime from HAWC observations of the Galactic halo with 15 months of data. These are some of the most robust limits on TeV and PeV dark matter, largely insensitive to the dark matter morphology. These limits begin to constrain models in which PeV IceCube neutrinos are explained by dark matter which primarily decays into hadrons.« less

A search for dark matter in the Galactic halo with HAWC

DOE PAGES

Abeysekara, A. U.; Albert, A.; Alfaro, R.; ...

2018-02-23

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is a wide field-of-view observatory sensitive to 500 GeV – 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. With its observations over 2/3 of the sky every day, the HAWC observatory is sensitive to a wide variety of astrophysical sources, including possible gamma rays from dark matter. Dark matter annihilation and decay in the Milky Way Galaxy should produce gamma-ray signals across many degrees on the sky. The HAWC instantaneous field-of-view of 2 sr enables observations of extended regions on the sky, such as those from dark matter in the Galactic halo. Heremore » we show limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section and decay lifetime from HAWC observations of the Galactic halo with 15 months of data. These are some of the most robust limits on TeV and PeV dark matter, largely insensitive to the dark matter morphology. These limits begin to constrain models in which PeV IceCube neutrinos are explained by dark matter which primarily decays into hadrons.« less

Thermal dark matter through the Dirac neutrino portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batell, Brian; Han, Tao; McKeen, David; Haghi, Barmak Shams Es

2018-04-01

We study a simple model of thermal dark matter annihilating to standard model neutrinos via the neutrino portal. A (pseudo-)Dirac sterile neutrino serves as a mediator between the visible and the dark sectors, while an approximate lepton number symmetry allows for a large neutrino Yukawa coupling and, in turn, efficient dark matter annihilation. The dark sector consists of two particles, a Dirac fermion and complex scalar, charged under a symmetry that ensures the stability of the dark matter. A generic prediction of the model is a sterile neutrino with a large active-sterile mixing angle that decays primarily invisibly. We derive existing constraints and future projections from direct detection experiments, colliders, rare meson and tau decays, electroweak precision tests, and small scale structure observations. Along with these phenomenological tests, we investigate the consequences of perturbativity and scalar mass fine tuning on the model parameter space. A simple, conservative scheme to confront the various tests with the thermal relic target is outlined, and we demonstrate that much of the cosmologically-motivated parameter space is already constrained. We also identify new probes of this scenario such as multibody kaon decays and Drell-Yan production of W bosons at the LHC.

When the universe expands too fast: relentless dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Eramo, Francesco; Fernandez, Nicolas; Profumo, Stefano

2017-05-01

We consider a modification to the standard cosmological history consisting of introducing a new species phi whose energy density red-shifts with the scale factor a like ρphi propto a-(4+n). For 0n>, such a red-shift is faster than radiation, hence the new species dominates the energy budget of the universe at early times while it is completely negligible at late times. If equality with the radiation energy density is achieved at low enough temperatures, dark matter can be produced as a thermal relic during the new cosmological phase. Dark matter freeze-out then occurs at higher temperatures compared to the standard case, implying that reproducing the observed abundance requires significantly larger annihilation rates. Here, we point out a completely new phenomenon, which we refer to as relentless dark matter: for large enough n, unlike the standard case where annihilation ends shortly after the departure from thermal equilibrium, dark matter particles keep annihilating long after leaving chemical equilibrium, with a significant depletion of the final relic abundance. Relentless annihilation occurs for n >= 2 and n >= 4 for s-wave and p-wave annihilation, respectively, and it thus occurs in well motivated scenarios such as a quintessence with a kination phase. We discuss a few microscopic realizations for the new cosmological component and highlight the phenomenological consequences of our calculations for dark matter searches.

Search for dark matter from the Galactic halo with the IceCube Neutrino Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbasi, R.; Abdou, Y.; Abu-Zayyad, T.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Andeen, K.; Auffenberg, J.; Bai, X.; Baker, M.; Barwick, S. W.; Bay, R.; Bazo Alba, J. L.; Beattie, K.; Beatty, J. J.; Bechet, S.; Becker, J. K.; Becker, K.-H.; Benabderrahmane, M. L.; Benzvi, S.; Berdermann, J.; Berghaus, P.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Bertrand, D.; Besson, D. Z.; Bindig, D.; Bissok, M.; Blaufuss, E.; Blumenthal, J.; Boersma, D. J.; Bohm, C.; Bose, D.; Böser, S.; Botner, O.; Braun, J.; Brown, A. M.; Buitink, S.; Carson, M.; Chirkin, D.; Christy, B.; Clem, J.; Clevermann, F.; Cohen, S.; Colnard, C.; Cowen, D. F.; D'Agostino, M. V.; Danninger, M.; Daughhetee, J.; Davis, J. C.; de Clercq, C.; Demirörs, L.; Denger, T.; Depaepe, O.; Descamps, F.; Desiati, P.; de Vries-Uiterweerd, G.; Deyoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Dierckxsens, M.; Dreyer, J.; Dumm, J. P.; Ehrlich, R.; Eisch, J.; Ellsworth, R. W.; Engdegård, O.; Euler, S.; Evenson, P. A.; Fadiran, O.; Fazely, A. R.; Fedynitch, A.; Feusels, T.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Fischer-Wasels, T.; Foerster, M. M.; Fox, B. D.; Franckowiak, A.; Franke, R.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gallagher, J.; Geisler, M.; Gerhardt, L.; Gladstone, L.; Glüsenkamp, T.; Goldschmidt, A.; Goodman, J. A.; Grant, D.; Griesel, T.; Groß, A.; Grullon, S.; Gurtner, M.; Ha, C.; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Han, K.; Hanson, K.; Heinen, D.; Helbing, K.; Herquet, P.; Hickford, S.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Homeier, A.; Hoshina, K.; Hubert, D.; Huelsnitz, W.; Hülß, J.-P.; Hulth, P. O.; Hultqvist, K.; Hussain, S.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobsen, J.; Japaridze, G. S.; Johansson, H.; Joseph, J. M.; Kampert, K.-H.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kenny, P.; Kiryluk, J.; Kislat, F.; Klein, S. R.; Köhne, J.-H.; Kohnen, G.; Kolanoski, H.; Köpke, L.; Kopper, S.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Kowarik, T.; Krasberg, M.; Krings, T.; Kroll, G.; Kuehn, K.; Kuwabara, T.; Labare, M.; Lafebre, S.; Laihem, K.; Landsman, H.; Larson, M. J.; Lauer, R.; Lünemann, J.; Madsen, J.; Majumdar, P.; Marotta, A.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Matis, H. S.; Meagher, K.; Merck, M.; Mészáros, P.; Meures, T.; Middell, E.; Milke, N.; Miller, J.; Montaruli, T.; Morse, R.; Movit, S. M.; Nahnhauer, R.; Nam, J. W.; Naumann, U.; Nießen, P.; Nygren, D. R.; Odrowski, S.; Olivas, A.; Olivo, M.; O'Murchadha, A.; Ono, M.; Panknin, S.; Paul, L.; Pérez de Los Heros, C.; Petrovic, J.; Piegsa, A.; Pieloth, D.; Porrata, R.; Posselt, J.; Price, P. B.; Prikockis, M.; Przybylski, G. T.; Rawlins, K.; Redl, P.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Ribordy, M.; Rizzo, A.; Rodrigues, J. P.; Roth, P.; Rothmaier, F.; Rott, C.; Ruhe, T.; Rutledge, D.; Ruzybayev, B.; Ryckbosch, D.; Sander, H.-G.; Santander, M.; Sarkar, S.; Schatto, K.; Schmidt, T.; Schoenwald, A.; Schukraft, A.; Schultes, A.; Schulz, O.; Schunck, M.; Seckel, D.; Semburg, B.; Seo, S. H.; Sestayo, Y.; Seunarine, S.; Silvestri, A.; Slipak, A.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stamatikos, M.; Stanev, T.; Stephens, G.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stoyanov, S.; Strahler, E. A.; Straszheim, T.; Stür, M.; Sullivan, G. W.; Swillens, Q.; Taavola, H.; Taboada, I.; Tamburro, A.; Tarasova, O.; Tepe, A.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Toscano, S.; Tosi, D.; Turčan, D.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vandenbroucke, J.; van Overloop, A.; van Santen, J.; Vehring, M.; Voge, M.; Voigt, B.; Walck, C.; Waldenmaier, T.; Wallraff, M.; Walter, M.; Weaver, Ch.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whitehorn, N.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Williams, D. R.; Wischnewski, R.; Wissing, H.; Wolf, M.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, C.; Xu, X. W.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.; Zarzhitsky, P.

2011-07-01

Self-annihilating or decaying dark matter in the Galactic halo might produce high energy neutrinos detectable with neutrino telescopes. We have conducted a search for such a signal using 276 days of data from the IceCube 22-string configuration detector acquired during 2007 and 2008. The effect of halo model choice in the extracted limit is reduced by performing a search that considers the outer halo region and not the Galactic Center. We constrain any large-scale neutrino anisotropy and are able to set a limit on the dark matter self-annihilation cross section of ⟨σAv⟩≃10-22cm3s-1 for weakly interacting massive particle masses above 1 TeV, assuming a monochromatic neutrino line spectrum.

Dark matter constraints from observations of 25 Milky Way satellite galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Albert, A.; Anderson, B.; ...

2014-02-11

The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are some of the most dark-matter-dominated objects known. Due to their proximity, high dark matter content, and lack of astrophysical backgrounds, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are widely considered to be among the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter via γ rays. We report on γ -ray observations of 25 Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies based on 4 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. None of the dwarf galaxies are significantly detected in γ rays, and we present γ -ray flux upper limits between 500 MeVmore » and 500 GeV. We determine the dark matter content of 18 dwarf spheroidal galaxies from stellar kinematic data and combine LAT observations of 15 dwarf galaxies to constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section. Furthermore, we set some of the tightest constraints to date on the annihilation of dark matter particles with masses between 2 GeV and 10 TeV into prototypical standard model channels. We also find these results to be robust against systematic uncertainties in the LAT instrument performance, diffuse γ -ray background modeling, and assumed dark matter density profile.« less

Identification of vacancy defect complexes in transparent semiconducting oxides ZnO, In2O3 and SnO2.

PubMed

Makkonen, Ilja; Korhonen, Esa; Prozheeva, Vera; Tuomisto, Filip

2016-06-08

Positron annihilation spectroscopy, when combined with supporting high-quality modeling of positron states and annihilation in matter, is a powerful tool for detailed defect identification of vacancy-type defects in semiconductors and oxides. Here we demonstrate that the Doppler broadening of the positron annihilation radiation is a very sensitive means for observing the oxygen environment around cation vacancies, the main open-volume defects trapping positrons in measurements made for transparent semiconducting oxides. Changes in the positron annihilation signal due to external manipulation such as irradiation and annealing can be correlated with the associated changes in the sizes of the detected vacancy clusters. Our examples for ZnO, In2O3 and SnO2 demonstrate that oxygen vacancies in oxides can be detected directly using positron annihilation spectroscopy when they are complexed with cation vacancies.

Identification of vacancy defect complexes in transparent semiconducting oxides ZnO, In2O3 and SnO2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makkonen, Ilja; Korhonen, Esa; Prozheeva, Vera; Tuomisto, Filip

2016-06-01

Positron annihilation spectroscopy, when combined with supporting high-quality modeling of positron states and annihilation in matter, is a powerful tool for detailed defect identification of vacancy-type defects in semiconductors and oxides. Here we demonstrate that the Doppler broadening of the positron annihilation radiation is a very sensitive means for observing the oxygen environment around cation vacancies, the main open-volume defects trapping positrons in measurements made for transparent semiconducting oxides. Changes in the positron annihilation signal due to external manipulation such as irradiation and annealing can be correlated with the associated changes in the sizes of the detected vacancy clusters. Our examples for ZnO, In2O3 and SnO2 demonstrate that oxygen vacancies in oxides can be detected directly using positron annihilation spectroscopy when they are complexed with cation vacancies.

Sensitivity projections for dark matter searches with the Fermi large area telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charles, E.; Sánchez-Conde, M.; Anderson, B.; Caputo, R.; Cuoco, A.; Di Mauro, M.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Gomez-Vargas, G. A.; Meyer, M.; Tibaldo, L.; Wood, M.; Zaharijas, G.; Zimmer, S.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; Baldini, L.; Bechtol, K.; Bloom, E. D.; Ceraudo, F.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Digel, S. W.; Gaskins, J.; Gustafsson, M.; Mirabal, N.; Razzano, M.

2016-06-01

The nature of dark matter is a longstanding enigma of physics; it may consist of particles beyond the Standard Model that are still elusive to experiments. Among indirect search techniques, which look for stable products from the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles, or from axions coupling to high-energy photons, observations of the γ-ray sky have come to prominence over the last few years, because of the excellent sensitivity of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. The LAT energy range from 20 meV to above 300 GeV is particularly well suited for searching for products of the interactions of dark matter particles. In this report we describe methods used to search for evidence of dark matter with the LAT, and review the status of searches performed with up to six years of LAT data. We also discuss the factors that determine the sensitivities of these searches, including the magnitudes of the signals and the relevant backgrounds, considering both statistical and systematic uncertainties. We project the expected sensitivities of each search method for 10 and 15 years of LAT data taking. In particular, we find that the sensitivity of searches targeting dwarf galaxies, which provide the best limits currently, will improve faster than the square root of observing time. Current LAT limits for dwarf galaxies using six years of data reach the thermal relic level for masses up to 120 GeV for the b b ¯ annihilation channel for reasonable dark matter density profiles. With projected discoveries of additional dwarfs, these limits could extend to about 250 GeV. With as much as 15 years of LAT data these searches would be sensitive to dark matter annihilations at the thermal relic cross section for masses to greater than 400 GeV (200 GeV) in the b b ¯ (τ+τ-) annihilation channels.

Sensitivity projections for dark matter dearches with the Fermi large area telescope

DOE PAGES

Charles, E.; M. Sanchez-Conde; Anderson, B.; ...

2016-05-20

The nature of dark matter is a longstanding enigma of physics; it may consist of particles beyond the Standard Model that are still elusive to experiments. Among indirect search techniques, which look for stable products from the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles, or from axions coupling to high-energy photons, observations of themore » $$\\gamma$$-ray sky have come to prominence over the last few years, because of the excellent sensitivity of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. The LAT energy range from 20 MeV to above 300 GeV is particularly well suited for searching for products of the interactions of dark matter particles. In this report we describe methods used to search for evidence of dark matter with the LAT, and review the status of searches performed with up to six years of LAT data. We also discuss the factors that determine the sensitivities of these searches, including the magnitudes of the signals and the relevant backgrounds, considering both statistical and systematic uncertainties. We project the expected sensitivities of each search method for 10 and 15 years of LAT data taking. In particular, we find that the sensitivity of searches targeting dwarf galaxies, which provide the best limits currently, will improve faster than the square root of observing time. Current LAT limits for dwarf galaxies using six years of data reach the thermal relic level for masses up to 120 GeV for the $$b\\bar{b}$$ annihilation channel for reasonable dark matter density profiles. With projected discoveries of additional dwarfs, these limits could extend to about 250 GeV. With as much as 15 years of LAT data these searches would be sensitive to dark matter annihilations at the thermal relic cross section for masses to greater than 400 GeV (200 GeV) in the $$b\\bar{b}$$ ($$\\tau^+ \\tau^-$$) annihilation channels.« less

Sensitivity projections for dark matter dearches with the Fermi large area telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Charles, E.; M. Sanchez-Conde; Anderson, B.

The nature of dark matter is a longstanding enigma of physics; it may consist of particles beyond the Standard Model that are still elusive to experiments. Among indirect search techniques, which look for stable products from the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles, or from axions coupling to high-energy photons, observations of themore » $$\\gamma$$-ray sky have come to prominence over the last few years, because of the excellent sensitivity of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope mission. The LAT energy range from 20 MeV to above 300 GeV is particularly well suited for searching for products of the interactions of dark matter particles. In this report we describe methods used to search for evidence of dark matter with the LAT, and review the status of searches performed with up to six years of LAT data. We also discuss the factors that determine the sensitivities of these searches, including the magnitudes of the signals and the relevant backgrounds, considering both statistical and systematic uncertainties. We project the expected sensitivities of each search method for 10 and 15 years of LAT data taking. In particular, we find that the sensitivity of searches targeting dwarf galaxies, which provide the best limits currently, will improve faster than the square root of observing time. Current LAT limits for dwarf galaxies using six years of data reach the thermal relic level for masses up to 120 GeV for the $$b\\bar{b}$$ annihilation channel for reasonable dark matter density profiles. With projected discoveries of additional dwarfs, these limits could extend to about 250 GeV. With as much as 15 years of LAT data these searches would be sensitive to dark matter annihilations at the thermal relic cross section for masses to greater than 400 GeV (200 GeV) in the $$b\\bar{b}$$ ($$\\tau^+ \\tau^-$$) annihilation channels.« less

Dark matter freeze-out in a nonrelativistic sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pappadopulo, Duccio; Ruderman, Joshua T.; Trevisan, Gabriele

2016-08-01

A thermally decoupled hidden sector of particles, with a mass gap, generically enters a phase of cannibalism in the early Universe. The Standard Model sector becomes exponentially colder than the hidden sector. We propose the cannibal dark matter framework, where dark matter resides in a cannibalizing sector with a relic density set by 2-to-2 annihilations. Observable signals of cannibal dark matter include a boosted rate for indirect detection, new relativistic degrees of freedom, and warm dark matter.

Prospects for discovering a neutrino line induced by dark matter annihilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Aisati, Chaimae; Garcia-Cely, Camilo; Hambye, Thomas; Vanderheyden, Laurent

2017-10-01

In the near future, neutrino telescopes are expected to improve their sensitivity to the flux of monochromatic neutrinos produced by dark matter (DM) in our galaxy. This is illustrated by a new limit on the corresponding cross section that we derive from public IceCube data. In this context, we study which DM models could produce an observable flux of monochromatic neutrinos from DM annihilations. To this end, we proceed in two steps. First, within a set of simple and minimal assumptions concerning the properties of the DM particle, we determine the models that could give rise to a significant annihilation into monochromatic neutrinos at the freeze-out epoch. The list of models turns out to be very limited as a result of various constraints, in particular direct detection and neutrino masses at loop level. Given the fact that, even if largely improved, the sensitivities will be far from reaching the thermal annihilation cross section soon, a signal could only be observed if the annihilation into neutrinos today is boosted with respect to the freeze-out epoch. This is why, in a second step, we analyze the possibility of having such a large enhancement from the Sommerfeld effect. For each scenario, we also compute the cross sections into other annihilation products and confront our results with experimental constraints. We find that, within our simple and minimal assumptions, the expectation to observe monochromatic neutrinos is only possible in very specific scenarios. Some will be confirmed or excluded in the near future because they predict signals slightly below the current experimental sensitivities. We also discuss how these prospects change by relaxing our assumptions as well as by considering other types of sharp spectral features. For the latter, we consider boxed-shaped and bremsstrahlung spectra and provide the corresponding limits from IceCube data.

INTEGRAL/SPI Observations of Electron-Positron Annihilation Radiation from our Galaxy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teegarden, B. J.; Watanabe, K.; Knoedlseder, J.; Jean, P.; Lonjou, V.; Weidenspointer, G.; Skinner, G.; Vedrenne, G.; Roques, J.-P.; Schanne, S.;

Possibility of testing the light dark matter hypothesis with the alpha magnetic spectrometer.

PubMed

Hooper, Dan; Xue, Wei

2013-01-25

The spectrum and morphology of gamma rays from the Galactic center and the spectrum of synchrotron emission observed from the Milky Way's radio filaments have each been interpreted as possible signals of ∼ 7-10 GeV dark matter particles annihilating in the inner Galaxy. In dark matter models capable of producing these signals, the annihilations should also generate significant fluxes of ∼ 7-10 GeV positrons which can lead to a distinctive bumplike feature in a local cosmic ray positron spectrum. In this Letter, we show that while such a feature would be difficult to detect with PAMELA, it would likely be identifiable by the currently operating Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment. As no known astrophysical (i.e., nondark matter) sources or mechanisms are likely to produce such a sharp feature, the observation of a positron bump at around 7-10 GeV would significantly strengthen the case for a dark matter interpretation of the reported gamma-ray and radio anomalies.

Search for gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation in the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

DOE PAGES

Caputo, Regina; Buckley, Matthew R.; Martin, Pierrick; ...

2016-03-22

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is the second-largest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and is only 60 kpc away. As a nearby, massive, and dense object with relatively low astrophysical backgrounds, it is a natural target for dark matter indirect detection searches. In this work, we use six years of Pass 8 data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for gamma-ray signals of dark matter annihilation in the SMC. Using data-driven fits to the gamma-ray backgrounds, and a combination of N-body simulations and direct measurements of rotation curves to estimate the SMC DM density profile, we found that themore » SMC was well described by standard astrophysical sources, and no signal from dark matter annihilation was detected. We set conservative upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section. Furthermore, these constraints are in agreement with stronger constraints set by searches in the Large Magellanic Cloud and approach the canonical thermal relic cross section at dark matter masses lower than 10 GeV in the bb¯ and τ +τ - channels.« less

Prospects for Dark Matter Measurements with the Advanced Gamma Ray Imaging System (AGIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buckley, James

2009-05-01

AGIS, a concept for a future gamma-ray observatory consisting of an array of 50 atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, would provide a powerful new tool for determining the nature of dark matter and its role in structure formation in the universe. The advent of more sensitive direct detection experiments, the launch of Fermi and the startup of the LHC make the near future an exciting time for dark matter searches. Indirect measurements of cosmic-ray electrons may already provide a hint of dark matter in our local halo. However, gamma-ray measurements will provide the only means for mapping the dark matter in the halo of our galaxy and other galaxies. In addition, the spectrum of gamma-rays (either direct annihilation to lines or continuum emission from other annihilation channels) will be imprinted with the mass of the dark matter particle, and the particular annihilation channels providing key measurements needed to identify the dark matter particle. While current gamma-ray instruments fall short of the generic sensitivity required to measure the dark matter signal from any sources other than the (confused) region around the Galactic center, we show that the planned AGIS array will have the angular resolution, energy resolution, low threshold energy and large effective area required to detect emission from dark matter annihilation in Galactic substructure or nearby Dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Study of the gamma-ray spectrum from the Galactic Center in view of multi-TeV dark matter candidates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belikov, Alexander V.; Zaharijas, Gabrijela; Silk, Joseph

2012-10-01

Motivated by the complex gamma-ray spectrum of the Galactic Center source now measured over five decades in energy, we revisit the issue of the role of dark matter (DM) annihilations in this interesting region. We reassess whether the emission measured by the HESS collaboration could be a signature of dark matter annihilation, and we use the Fermi LAT spectrum to model the emission from SgrA*, using power-law spectral fits. We find that good fits are achieved by a power law with an index ˜2.5-2.6, in combination with a spectrum similar to the one observed from pulsar population and with a spectrum from a ≳10TeV DM annihilating to a mixture of bb¯ and harder τ+τ- channels and with boost factors of the order of a hundred. Alternatively, we also consider the combination of a log-parabola fit with the DM contribution. Finally, as both the spectrum of gamma rays from the Galactic Center and the spectrum of cosmic ray electrons exhibit a cutoff at TeV energies, we study the dark matter fits to both data sets. Constraining the spectral shape of the purported dark matter signal provides a robust way of comparing data. We find a marginal overlap only between the 99.999% C.L. regions in parameter space.

A General Quantum Mechanical Method to Predict Positron Spectroscopy

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

7 2.1 Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.1.1 Positron Transport and Annihilation in Condensed Matter...8 2.1.2 Traditional Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy . . 10 2.1.3 Vibrational Feshbach Resonances of Positrons with... positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy system . . . 63 11. Tungsten positron lifetime spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 12. K2B12H12

Subhalo Tracing in Simulations and Subhalo Observation in Gamma-rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, J. X.

2014-05-01

Current major observations of the Universe favor the concordant ΛCDM cosmology, in which the matter content is dominated by cold dark matter (CDM). In this CDM universe, small perturbations from the initial condition grow into clumps of virilized structure called dark matter haloes. Small haloes form early and later merge to form bigger haloes. As a result, dark matter haloes host plenty of substructures called subhaloes which are the self-bound remnants of their progenitor haloes. These subhaloes could be studied in detail with the help of numerical simulations, which then could provide input into theories of galaxy formation, and also influence the way dark matter could be detected. To find and trace dark matter subhaloes in simulations, we develop a new code, the Hierarchical Bound-Tracing (HBT for short) code, based on the merger hierarchy of dark matter haloes. Application of this code to a recent benchmark test of finding subhaloes demonstrates that HBT stands as one of the best codes to trace the evolutionary history of subhaloes. The success of this code lies in its careful treatment of the complex physical processes associated with the evolution of subhaloes, and in its robust unbinding algorithm with an adaptive source subhalo management. We keep a full record of the merger hierarchy of haloes and subhaloes, and allow growth of satellite subhaloes through accretion from its ``satellite-of-satellites'', hence allowing mergers among satellites. Local accretion of background mass is omitted, while rebinding of stripped mass is allowed. The justification of these treatments is provided by case studies of the lives of individual subhaloes, and by the success in finding the complete subhalo catalogue. We compare our result to other popular subhalo finders. It is shown that HBT is able to well resolve subhaloes in high density environment, and keep strict physical track of subhaloes' merger history. This code is fully parallelized, and freely available upon request to the authors. If the cold dark matter consists of weakly interacting massive particles, their annihilation within subhaloes could lead to diffuse GeV emission that would dominate over the annihilation signal of the host halo. We have carried out a search for this kind of GeV emission from three nearby galaxy clusters: Coma, Virgo, and Fornax. We first remove known extragalactic and galactic diffuse gamma-ray backgrounds and point sources from the Fermi 2-year catalogue, and find a significant residual diffuse emission in all three clusters. We then investigate whether this emission is due to (i) unresolved point sources; (ii) dark matter annihilation; or (iii) cosmic rays (CRs). Using 45 months of Fermi-LAT data, we detect several new point sources (not present in the Fermi 2-year point source catalogue) which contaminate the signal previously analyzed by Han et al. Including these and accounting for the effects of undetected point sources, we find no significant detection of extended emission from the three clusters studied. Instead, we determine upper limits on emission due to dark matter annihilation and cosmic rays. For Fornax and Virgo the limits on CR emission are consistent with theoretical models, but for Coma the upper limit is a factor of 2 below the theoretical expectation. Allowing for systematic uncertainties associated with the treatment of CR, the upper limits on the cross section for dark matter annihilation from our clusters are more stringent than those from the analyses of dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way. Adopting a boost factor of ˜10^3 from subhalos on cluster luminosity as suggested by recent theoretical models, we rule out the thermal cross section for supersymmetric dark matter particles for masses as large as 100 GeV (depending on the annihilation channel). There are recent claims of the detection of a 130 GeV line signal from regions around the galactic center, which can be explained as annihilation of dark matter into monotonic photon pairs. However, in the subhalo-dominated halo annihilation profile, significant contributions should come from the outer regions of the galactic halo. We scan the 4-year public Fermi data at high galactic latitudes (|b|>30°) for a line signal by using the 100-200 GeV events. No evidence for a line signal has been identified within the energy range from 109 to 149 GeV. We adopt the standard P7V6 energy dispersion function, and take into account the inclination, conversion type, as well as the energy dependence of the dispersion. We also try an alternative dispersion function used by Ackermann et al. (2012), and find little difference in the results. Without considering boosts from subhaloes, our cross-section upper-limits are slightly higher than those from Ackermann et al. (2012) and Huang et al. (2012) who used a larger dataset (with |b|>10° data-cut), and permit a line signal as found in Weniger (2012). However, when annihilation signals from subhalos are also modelled, the 130 GeV signal can be ruled out at >95% confidence.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Clark, Hamish A.; Iwanus, Nikolas; Lewis, Geraint F.

The existence of substructure in halos of annihilating dark matter would be expected to substantially boost the rate at which annihilation occurs. Ultracompact minihalos of dark matter (UCMHs) are one of the more extreme examples of this. The boosted annihilation can inject significant amounts of energy into the gas of a galaxy over its lifetime. Here we determine the impact of the boost factor from UCMH substructure on the heating of galactic gas in a Milky Way-type galaxy, by means of N-body simulation. If 1% of the dark matter exists as UCMHs, the corresponding boost factor can be of ordermore » 10{sup 5}. For reasonable values of the relevant parameters (annihilation cross section 3×10{sup −26} cm{sup 3} s{sup −1}, dark matter mass 100 GeV, 10% heating efficiency), we show that the presence of UCMHs at the 0.1% level would inject enough energy to eject significant amounts of gas from the halo, potentially preventing star formation within ∼1 kpc of the halo centre.« less

When the universe expands too fast: relentless dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D'Eramo, Francesco; Fernandez, Nicolas; Profumo, Stefano, E-mail: fderamo@ucsc.edu, E-mail: nfernan2@ucsc.edu, E-mail: profumo@ucsc.edu

We consider a modification to the standard cosmological history consisting of introducing a new species φ whose energy density red-shifts with the scale factor a like ρ{sub φ} ∝ a {sup −(4+} {sup n} {sup )}. For 0 n >, such a red-shift is faster than radiation, hence the new species dominates the energy budget of the universe at early times while it is completely negligible at late times. If equality with the radiation energy density is achieved at low enough temperatures, dark matter can be produced as a thermal relic during the new cosmological phase. Dark matter freeze-out thenmore » occurs at higher temperatures compared to the standard case, implying that reproducing the observed abundance requires significantly larger annihilation rates. Here, we point out a completely new phenomenon, which we refer to as relentless dark matter: for large enough n , unlike the standard case where annihilation ends shortly after the departure from thermal equilibrium, dark matter particles keep annihilating long after leaving chemical equilibrium, with a significant depletion of the final relic abundance. Relentless annihilation occurs for n ≥ 2 and n ≥ 4 for s -wave and p -wave annihilation, respectively, and it thus occurs in well motivated scenarios such as a quintessence with a kination phase. We discuss a few microscopic realizations for the new cosmological component and highlight the phenomenological consequences of our calculations for dark matter searches.« less

Harmonizing the MSSM with the Galactic Center excess

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butter, Anja; Murgia, Simona; Plehn, Tilman; Tait, Tim M. P.

2017-08-01

The minimal supersymmetric setup offers a comprehensive framework to interpret the Fermi-LAT Galactic Center excess. Taking into account experimental, theoretical, and astrophysical uncertainties we can identify valid parameter regions linked to different annihilation channels. They extend to dark matter masses above 250 GeV. There exists a very mild tension between the observed relic density and the annihilation rate in the center of our Galaxy for specific channels. The strongest additional constraints come from the new generation of direct detection experiments, ruling out much of the light and intermediate dark matter mass regime and giving preference to heavier dark matter annihilating into a pair of top quarks.

CLUMPY: A code for γ-ray signals from dark matter structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charbonnier, Aldée; Combet, Céline; Maurin, David

2012-03-01

We present the first public code for semi-analytical calculation of the γ-ray flux astrophysical J-factor from dark matter annihilation/decay in the Galaxy, including dark matter substructures. The core of the code is the calculation of the line of sight integral of the dark matter density squared (for annihilations) or density (for decaying dark matter). The code can be used in three modes: i) to draw skymaps from the Galactic smooth component and/or the substructure contributions, ii) to calculate the flux from a specific halo (that is not the Galactic halo, e.g. dwarf spheroidal galaxies) or iii) to perform simple statistical operations from a list of allowed DM profiles for a given object. Extragalactic contributions and other tracers of DM annihilation (e.g. positrons, anti-protons) will be included in a second release.

Dark matter annihilations in the Large Magellanic Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gondolo, Paolo

1994-05-01

I examine the possibility of detecting high energy γ-rays from non-baryonic dark matter annihilations in the central region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Present address: LPTHE, Université Paris VII, Tour 24-14, 5 étage, 2 Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris Cédex 05, France;

Hot leptogenesis from thermal Dark Matter

DOE PAGES

Bernal, Nicolas; Fong, Chee Sheng

2017-10-26

In this work, we investigate a scenario in which heavy Majorana Right-Handed Neutrinos (RHNs) are in thermal equilibrium with a dark sector with temperature higher than the Standard Model (SM) thermal bath. Specifically, we consider the scenario in which thermal Dark Matter (DM) abundance is fixed from the freeze-out of DM annihilations into RHNs. Due to the inert nature of the RHNs, we show that it is possible for the two sectors to remain thermally decoupled by having more than two generations of the RHNs. The hotter temperature implies higher abundances of DM and RHNs with the following consequences. Formore » leptogenesis, an enhancement in efficiency up to a factor of 51.6 can be obtained, though a resonant enhancement of CP violation is still required due to an upper mass bound of about 4 TeV for the RHNs. For the DM, an enhanced annihilation cross section up to a factor of 51.6 is required to obtain the correct DM abundance. This scenario can be probed via indirect detection of DM annihilating into RHNs, which then decay into hν, Zν and W ± ℓ ∓ with an enhanced annihilation cross section above the typical thermal value.« less

Dark Matter after LHC Run I: Clues to Unification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olive, Keith A.

2017-03-01

After the results of Run I, can we still `guarantee' the discovery of supersymmetry at the LHC? It is shown that viable dark matter models in CMSSM-like models tend to lie in strips (co-annihilation, funnel, focus point). The role of grand unification in constructing supersymmetric models is discussed and it is argued that non-supersymmetric GUTs such as SO(10) may provide solutions to many of the standard problems addressed by supersymmetry.

Phenomenology of left-right symmetric dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garcia-Cely, Camilo; Heeck, Julian, E-mail: Camilo.Alfredo.Garcia.Cely@ulb.ac.be, E-mail: Julian.Heeck@ulb.ac.be

We present a detailed study of dark matter phenomenology in low-scale left-right symmetric models. Stability of new fermion or scalar multiplets is ensured by an accidental matter parity that survives the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the gauge group by scalar triplets. The relic abundance of these particles is set by gauge interactions and gives rise to dark matter candidates with masses above the electroweak scale. Dark matter annihilations are thus modified by the Sommerfeld effect, not only in the early Universe, but also today, for instance, in the Center of the Galaxy. Majorana candidates—triplet, quintuplet, bi-doublet, and bi-triplet—bring only onemore » new parameter to the model, their mass, and are hence highly testable at colliders and through astrophysical observations. Scalar candidates—doublet and 7-plet, the latter being only stable at the renormalizable level—have additional scalar-scalar interactions that give rise to rich phenomenology. The particles under discussion share many features with the well-known candidates wino, Higgsino, inert doublet scalar, sneutrino, and Minimal Dark Matter. In particular, they all predict a large gamma-ray flux from dark matter annihilations, which can be searched for with Cherenkov telescopes. We furthermore discuss models with unequal left-right gauge couplings, g{sub R} ≠ g{sub L}, taking the recent experimental hints for a charged gauge boson with 2 TeV mass as a benchmark point. In this case, the dark matter mass is determined by the observed relic density.« less

Dark Matter Indirect Detection with Gamma Rays

DOE PAGES

Patrick Harding, J.

2017-07-27

Searches for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter with gamma-ray instruments are a way to get a unique observational handle on the particle nature of dark matter. I will discuss the details of how to perform these searches, both for annihilating and decaying WIMPs. I will discuss the calculation of the gamma-ray flux from possible sources of dark matter annihilation or decay and show examples of limits which have been calculated using these techniques.

Fermi-LAT kills dark matter interpretations of AMS-02 data. Or not?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belotsky, Konstantin; Budaev, Ruslan; Kirillov, Alexander; Laletin, Maxim

2017-01-01

A number of papers attempt to explain the positron anomaly in cosmic rays, observed by PAMELA and AMS-02, in terms of dark matter (DM) decays or annihilations. However, the recent progress in cosmic gamma-ray studies challenges these attempts. Indeed, as we show, any rational DM model explaining the positron anomaly abundantly produces final state radiation and Inverse Compton gamma rays, which inevitably leads to a contradiction with Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background measurements. Furthermore, the Fermi-LAT observation of Milky Way dwarf satellites, supposed to be rich in DM, revealed no significant signal in gamma rays. We propose a generic approach in which the major contribution to cosmic rays comes from the dark matter disc and prove that the tension between the DM origin of the positron anomaly and the cosmic gamma-ray observations can be relieved. We consider both a simple model, in which DM decay/annihilate into charged leptons, and a model-independent minimal case of particle production, and we estimate the optimal thickness of DM disk. Possible mechanisms of formation and its properties are briefly discussed.

A possible signature of annihilating dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Man Ho

2018-02-01

In this article, we report a new signature of dark matter annihilation based on the radio continuum data of NGC 1569 galaxy detected in the past few decades. After eliminating the thermal contribution of the radio signal, an abrupt change in the spectral index is shown in the radio spectrum. Previously, this signature was interpreted as an evidence of convective outflow of cosmic ray. However, we show that the cosmic ray contribution is not enough to account for the observed radio flux. We then discover that if dark matter annihilates via the 4-e channel with the thermal relic cross-section, the electrons and positrons produced would emit a strong radio flux which can provide an excellent agreement with the observed signature. The best-fitting dark matter mass is 25 GeV.

Matter-antimatter Cosmology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Omnes, R.

1973-01-01

The possible existence of antimatter on a large scale in the universe is evaluated. As a starting point, an attempt was made to understand the origin of matter as being essentially analogous to the origin of backgound thermal radiation. Several theories and models are examined, with particular emphasis on nucleon-antinucleon interactions at intermediate energies. Data also cover annihilation interaction with the matter-antimatter boundary to produce the essential fluid motion known as coalesence.

D-brane disformal coupling and thermal dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dutta, Bhaskar; Jimenez, Esteban; Zavala, Ivonne

2017-11-01

Conformal and disformal couplings between a scalar field and matter occur naturally in general scalar-tensor theories. In D-brane models of cosmology and particle physics, these couplings originate from the D-brane action describing the dynamics of its transverse (the scalar) and longitudinal (matter) fluctuations, which are thus coupled. During the post-inflationary regime and before the onset of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), these couplings can modify the expansion rate felt by matter, changing the predictions for the thermal relic abundance of dark matter particles and thus the annihilation rate required to satisfy the dark matter content today. We study the D-brane-like conformal and disformal couplings effect on the expansion rate of the Universe prior to BBN and its impact on the dark matter relic abundance and annihilation rate. For a purely disformal coupling, the expansion rate is always enhanced with respect to the standard one. This gives rise to larger cross sections when compared to the standard thermal prediction for a range of dark matter masses, which will be probed by future experiments. In a D-brane-like scenario, the scale at which the expansion rate enhancement occurs depends on the string coupling and the string scale.

Solar atmospheric neutrinos and the sensitivity floor for solar dark matter annihilation searches

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Argüelles, C.A.; De Wasseige, G.; Fedynitch, A.

Cosmic rays interacting in the solar atmosphere produce showers that result in a flux of high-energy neutrinos from the Sun. These form an irreducible background to indirect solar WIMP self-annihilation searches, which look for heavy dark matter particles annihilating into final states containing neutrinos in the Solar core. This background will eventually create a sensitivity floor for indirect WIMP self-annihilation searches analogous to that imposed by low-energy solar neutrino interactions for direct dark matter detection experiments. We present a new calculation of the flux of solar atmospheric neutrinos with a detailed treatment of systematic uncertainties inherent in solar atmospheric showermore » evolution, and we use this to derive the sensitivity floor for indirect solar WIMP annihilation analyses. We find that the floor lies less than one order of magnitude beyond the present experimental limits on spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross sections for some mass points, and that the high-energy solar atmospheric neutrino flux may be observable with running and future neutrino telescopes.« less

Limits on a muon flux from Kaluza-Klein dark matter annihilations in the Sun from the IceCube 22-string detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbasi, R.; Abdou, Y.; Abu-Zayyad, T.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Andeen, K.; Auffenberg, J.; Bai, X.; Baker, M.; Barwick, S. W.; Bay, R.; Bazo Alba, J. L.; Beattie, K.; Beatty, J. J.; Bechet, S.; Becker, J. K.; Becker, K.-H.; Benabderrahmane, M. L.; Berdermann, J.; Berghaus, P.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Bertrand, D.; Besson, D. Z.; Bissok, M.; Blaufuss, E.; Boersma, D. J.; Bohm, C.; Bolmont, J.; Botner, O.; Bradley, L.; Braun, J.; Breder, D.; Carson, M.; Castermans, T.; Chirkin, D.; Christy, B.; Clem, J.; Cohen, S.; Cowen, D. F.; D'Agostino, M. V.; Danninger, M.; Day, C. T.; de Clercq, C.; Demirörs, L.; Depaepe, O.; Descamps, F.; Desiati, P.; de Vries-Uiterweerd, G.; Deyoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Dreyer, J.; Dumm, J. P.; Duvoort, M. R.; Edwards, W. R.; Ehrlich, R.; Eisch, J.; Ellsworth, R. W.; Engdegård, O.; Euler, S.; Evenson, P. A.; Fadiran, O.; Fazely, A. R.; Feusels, T.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Foerster, M. M.; Fox, B. D.; Franckowiak, A.; Franke, R.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gallagher, J.; Ganugapati, R.; Gerhardt, L.; Gladstone, L.; Goldschmidt, A.; Goodman, J. A.; Gozzini, R.; Grant, D.; Griesel, T.; Groß, A.; Grullon, S.; Gunasingha, R. M.; Gurtner, M.; Ha, C.; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Han, K.; Hanson, K.; Hasegawa, Y.; Helbing, K.; Herquet, P.; Hickford, S.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Homeier, A.; Hoshina, K.; Hubert, D.; Huelsnitz, W.; Hülß, J.-P.; Hulth, P. O.; Hultqvist, K.; Hussain, S.; Imlay, R. L.; Inaba, M.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobsen, J.; Japaridze, G. S.; Johansson, H.; Joseph, J. M.; Kampert, K.-H.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kemming, N.; Kenny, P.; Kiryluk, J.; Kislat, F.; Klein, S. R.; Knops, S.; Kohnen, G.; Kolanoski, H.; Köpke, L.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Kowarik, T.; Krasberg, M.; Krings, T.; Kroll, G.; Kuehn, K.; Kuwabara, T.; Labare, M.; Lafebre, S.; Laihem, K.; Landsman, H.; Lauer, R.; Lehmann, R.; Lennarz, D.; Lucke, A.; Lundberg, J.; Lünemann, J.; Madsen, J.; Majumdar, P.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Matis, H. S.; McParland, C. P.; Meagher, K.; Merck, M.; Mészáros, P.; Meures, T.; Middell, E.; Milke, N.; Miyamoto, H.; Montaruli, T.; Morse, R.; Movit, S. M.; Nahnhauer, R.; Nam, J. W.; Nießen, P.; Nygren, D. R.; Odrowski, S.; Olivas, A.; Olivo, M.; Ono, M.; Panknin, S.; Patton, S.; Paul, L.; Pérez de Los Heros, C.; Petrovic, J.; Piegsa, A.; Pieloth, D.; Pohl, A. C.; Porrata, R.; Potthoff, N.; Price, P. B.; Prikockis, M.; Przybylski, G. T.; Rawlins, K.; Redl, P.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Ribordy, M.; Rizzo, A.; Rodrigues, J. P.; Roth, P.; Rothmaier, F.; Rott, C.; Roucelle, C.; Rutledge, D.; Ruzybayev, B.; Ryckbosch, D.; Sander, H.-G.; Sarkar, S.; Schatto, K.; Schlenstedt, S.; Schmidt, T.; Schneider, D.; Schukraft, A.; Schulz, O.; Schunck, M.; Seckel, D.; Semburg, B.; Seo, S. H.; Sestayo, Y.; Seunarine, S.; Silvestri, A.; Slipak, A.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stamatikos, M.; Stanev, T.; Stephens, G.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stoufer, M. C.; Stoyanov, S.; Strahler, E. A.; Straszheim, T.; Sulanke, K.-H.; Sullivan, G. W.; Swillens, Q.; Taboada, I.; Tamburro, A.; Tarasova, O.; Tepe, A.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Terranova, C.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Tooker, J.; Tosi, D.; Turčan, D.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vandenbroucke, J.; van Overloop, A.; van Santen, J.; Voigt, B.; Walck, C.; Waldenmaier, T.; Wallraff, M.; Walter, M.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whitehorn, N.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wiedemann, A.; Wikström, G.; Williams, D. R.; Wischnewski, R.; Wissing, H.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, C.; Xu, X. W.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.; IceCube Collaboration

2010-03-01

A search for muon neutrinos from Kaluza-Klein dark matter annihilations in the Sun has been performed with the 22-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino detector using data collected in 104.3 days of live time in 2007. No excess over the expected atmospheric background has been observed. Upper limits have been obtained on the annihilation rate of captured lightest Kaluza-Klein particle (LKP) WIMPs in the Sun and converted to limits on the LKP-proton cross sections for LKP masses in the range 250-3000 GeV. These results are the most stringent limits to date on LKP annihilation in the Sun.

Dark Matter Limits from Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albert, A.; Alfaro, R.; Alvarez, C.; Álvarez, J. D.; Arceo, R.; Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.; Avila Rojas, D.; Ayala Solares, H. A.; Bautista-Elivar, N.; Becerril, A.; Belmont-Moreno, E.; BenZvi, S. Y.; Bernal, A.; Braun, J.; Brisbois, C.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Capistrán, T.; Carramiñana, A.; Casanova, S.; Castillo, M.; Cotti, U.; Cotzomi, J.; Coutiño de León, S.; De León, C.; De la Fuente, E.; Diaz Hernandez, R.; Dingus, B. L.; DuVernois, M. A.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Ellsworth, R. W.; Engel, K.; Fiorino, D. W.; Fraija, N.; García-González, J. A.; Garfias, F.; González, M. M.; Goodman, J. A.; Hampel-Arias, Z.; Harding, J. P.; Hernandez, S.; Hernandez-Almada, A.; Hona, B.; Hüntemeyer, P.; Iriarte, A.; Jardin-Blicq, A.; Joshi, V.; Kaufmann, S.; Kieda, D.; Lauer, R. J.; Lennarz, D.; León Vargas, H.; Linnemann, J. T.; Longinotti, A. L.; Longo Proper, M.; Raya, G. Luis; Luna-García, R.; López-Coto, R.; Malone, K.; Marinelli, S. S.; Martinez-Castellanos, I.; Martínez-Castro, J.; Martínez-Huerta, H.; Matthews, J. A.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P.; Moreno, E.; Mostafá, M.; Nellen, L.; Newbold, M.; Nisa, M. U.; Noriega-Papaqui, R.; Pelayo, R.; Pretz, J.; Pérez-Pérez, E. G.; Ren, Z.; Rho, C. D.; Rivière, C.; Rosa-González, D.; Rosenberg, M.; Ruiz-Velasco, E.; Salesa Greus, F.; Sandoval, A.; Schneider, M.; Schoorlemmer, H.; Sinnis, G.; Smith, A. J.; Springer, R. W.; Surajbali, P.; Taboada, I.; Tibolla, O.; Tollefson, K.; Torres, I.; Vianello, G.; Weisgarber, T.; Westerhoff, S.; Wood, J.; Yapici, T.; Younk, P. W.; Zhou, H.

2018-02-01

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is a wide field of view observatory sensitive to 500 GeV–100 TeV gamma-rays and cosmic rays. It can also perform diverse indirect searches for dark matter annihilation and decay. Among the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter are dwarf spheroidal galaxies. These objects are expected to have few astrophysical sources of gamma-rays but high dark matter content, making them ideal candidates for an indirect dark matter detection with gamma-rays. Here we present individual limits on the annihilation cross section and decay lifetime for 15 dwarf spheroidal galaxies within the field of view, as well as their combined limit. These are the first limits on the annihilation cross section and decay lifetime using data collected with HAWC. We also present the HAWC flux upper limits of the 15 dwarf spheroidal galaxies in half-decade energy bins.

Positron annihilation induced Auger electron emission

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weiss, A.; Jibaly, M.; Lei, Chun

1988-01-01

We report on measurements of Auger electron emission from Cu and Fe due to core hole excitations produced by the removal of core electrons by matter-antimatter annihilation. Estimates are developed of the probability of positrons annihilating with a 3p electron in these materials. Several important advantages of Positron annihilation induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (PAES) for surface analysis are suggested. 10 refs., 2 figs.

Implications of the Fermi-LAT Pass 8 Galactic Center excess on supersymmetric dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Achterberg, Abraham; van Beekveld, Melissa; Caron, Sascha; Gómez-Vargas, Germán A.; Hendriks, Luc; Ruiz de Austri, Roberto

2017-12-01

The Fermi Collaboration has recently updated their analysis of gamma rays from the center of the Galaxy. They reconfirm the presence of an unexplained emission feature which is most prominent in the region of 1–10 GeV, known as the Galactic Center GeV excess (GCE). Although the GCE is now firmly detected, an interpretation of this emission as a signal of self-annihilating dark matter (DM) particles is not unambiguously possible due to systematic effects in the gamma-ray modeling estimated in the Galactic Plane. In this paper we build a covariance matrix, collecting different systematic uncertainties investigated in the Fermi Collaboration's paper that affect the GCE spectrum. We show that models where part of the GCE is due to annihilating DM is still consistent with the new data. We also re-evaluate the parameter space regions of the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) that can contribute dominantly to the GCE via neutralino DM annihilation. All recent constraints from DM direct detection experiments such as PICO, LUX, PandaX and Xenon1T, limits on the annihilation cross section from dwarf spheroidal galaxies and the Large Hadron Collider limits are considered in this analysis. Due to a slight shift in the energy spectrum of the GC excess with respect to the previous Fermi analysis, and the recent limits from direct detection experiments, we find a slightly shifted parameter region of the MSSM, compared to our previous analysis, that is consistent with the GCE. Neutralinos with a mass between 85–220 GeV can describe the excess via annihilation into a pair of W-bosons or top quarks. Remarkably, there are models with low fine-tuning among the regions that we have found. The complete set of solutions will be probed by upcoming direct detection experiments and with dedicated searches in the upcoming data of the Large Hadron Collider.

Examining the Fermi-LAT third source catalog in search of dark matter subhalos

DOE PAGES

Bertoni, Bridget; Hooper, Dan; Linden, Tim

2015-12-17

Dark matter annihilations taking place in nearby subhalos could appear as gamma-ray sources without detectable counterparts at other wavelengths. In this study, we consider the collection of unassociated gamma-ray sources reported by the Fermi Collaboration in an effort to identify the most promising dark matter subhalo candidates. While we identify 24 bright, high-latitude, non-variable sources with spectra that are consistent with being generated by the annihilations of ~ 20–70 GeV dark matter particles (assuming annihilations to bbar b), it is not possible at this time to distinguish these sources from radio-faint gamma-ray pulsars. Deeper multi-wavelength observations will be essential tomore » clarify the nature of these sources. It is notable that we do not find any such sources that are well fit by dark matter particles heavier than ~100 GeV. We also study the angular distribution of the gamma-rays from this set of subhalo candidates, and find that the source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 prefers a spatially extended profile (of width ~ 0.15°) over that of a point source, with a significance of 4.2σ (3.6σ after trials factor). Although not yet definitive, this bright and high-latitude gamma-ray source is well fit as a nearby subhalo of m χ ≃ 20–50 GeV dark matter particles (annihilating to bb¯) and merits further multi-wavelength investigation. As a result, based on the subhalo distribution predicted by numerical simulations, we derive constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section that are competitive to those resulting from gamma-ray observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, the Galactic Center, and the extragalactic gamma-ray background.« less

The effects of Dark Matter annihilation on cosmic reionization

DOE PAGES

Kaurov, Alexander A.; Hooper, Dan; Gnedin, Nickolay Y.

2016-12-15

We revisit the possibility of constraining the properties of dark matter (DM) by studying the epoch of cosmic reionization. Previous studies have shown that DM annihilation was unlikely to have provided a large fraction of the photons that ionized the universe, but instead played a subdominant role relative to stars and quasars. The DM, however, begins to efficiently annihilate with the formation of primordial microhalos atmore » $$z\\sim100-200$$, much earlier than the formation of the first stars. Therefore, if DM annihilation ionized the universe at even the percent level over the interval $$z \\sim 20-100$$, it can leave a significant imprint on the global optical depth, $$\\tau$$. Moreover, we show that cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization data and future 21 cm measurements will enable us to more directly probe the DM contribution to the optical depth. In order to compute the annihilation rate throughout the epoch of reionization, we adopt the latest results from structure formation studies and explore the impact of various free parameters on our results. Here, we show that future measurements could make it possible to place constraints on the dark matter's annihilation cross section that are at a level comparable to those obtained from the observations of dwarf galaxies, cosmic ray measurements, and studies of recombination.« less

Global analysis of the pMSSM in light of the Fermi GeV excess: prospects for the LHC Run-II and astroparticle experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertone, Gianfranco; Calore, Francesca; Caron, Sascha; Ruiz, Roberto; Kim, Jong Soo; Trotta, Roberto; Weniger, Christoph

2016-04-01

We present a new global fit of the 19-dimensional phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (pMSSM-19) that complies with all the latest experimental results from dark matter indirect, direct and accelerator dark matter searches. We show that the model provides a satisfactory explanation of the excess of gamma rays from the Galactic centre observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, assuming that it is produced by the annihilation of neutralinos in the Milky Way halo. We identify two regions that pass all the constraints: the first corresponds to neutralinos with a mass 0~ 80-10 GeV annihilating into WW with a branching ratio of 95%; the second to heavier neutralinos, with mass 0~ 180-20 GeV annihilating into bar tt with a branching ratio of 87%. We show that neutralinos compatible with the Galactic centre GeV excess will soon be within the reach of LHC run-II—notably through searches for charginos and neutralinos, squarks and light smuons—and of Xenon1T, thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity to spin-dependent cross-section off neutrons.

A global fit of the MSSM with GAMBIT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Athron, Peter; Balázs, Csaba; Bringmann, Torsten; Buckley, Andy; Chrząszcz, Marcin; Conrad, Jan; Cornell, Jonathan M.; Dal, Lars A.; Edsjö, Joakim; Farmer, Ben; Jackson, Paul; Krislock, Abram; Kvellestad, Anders; Mahmoudi, Farvah; Martinez, Gregory D.; Putze, Antje; Raklev, Are; Rogan, Christopher; Saavedra, Aldo; Savage, Christopher; Scott, Pat; Serra, Nicola; Weniger, Christoph; White, Martin

2017-12-01

We study the seven-dimensional Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM7) with the new GAMBIT software framework, with all parameters defined at the weak scale. Our analysis significantly extends previous weak-scale, phenomenological MSSM fits, by adding more and newer experimental analyses, improving the accuracy and detail of theoretical predictions, including dominant uncertainties from the Standard Model, the Galactic dark matter halo and the quark content of the nucleon, and employing novel and highly-efficient statistical sampling methods to scan the parameter space. We find regions of the MSSM7 that exhibit co-annihilation of neutralinos with charginos, stops and sbottoms, as well as models that undergo resonant annihilation via both light and heavy Higgs funnels. We find high-likelihood models with light charginos, stops and sbottoms that have the potential to be within the future reach of the LHC. Large parts of our preferred parameter regions will also be accessible to the next generation of direct and indirect dark matter searches, making prospects for discovery in the near future rather good.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rott, Carsten; In, Seongjin; Kumar, Jason

Dark matter can be gravitationally captured by the Sun after scattering off solar nuclei. Annihilations of the dark matter trapped and accumulated in the centre of the Sun could result in one of the most detectable and recognizable signals for dark matter. Searches for high-energy neutrinos produced in the decay of annihilation products have yielded extremely competitive constraints on the spin-dependent scattering cross sections of dark matter with nuclei. Recently, the low energy neutrino signal arising from dark-matter annihilation to quarks which then hadronize and shower has been suggested as a competitive and complementary search strategy. These high-multiplicity hadronic showersmore » give rise to a large amount of pions which will come to rest in the Sun and decay, leading to a unique sub-GeV neutrino signal. We here improve on previous works by considering the monoenergetic neutrino signal arising from both pion and kaon decay. We consider searches at liquid scintillation, liquid argon, and water Cherenkov detectors and find very competitive sensitivities for few-GeV dark matter masses.« less

Dark matter, neutron stars, and strange quark matter.

PubMed

Perez-Garcia, M Angeles; Silk, Joseph; Stone, Jirina R

2010-10-01

We show that self-annihilating weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter accreted onto neutron stars may provide a mechanism to seed compact objects with long-lived lumps of strange quark matter, or strangelets, for WIMP masses above a few GeV. This effect may trigger a conversion of most of the star into a strange star. We use an energy estimate for the long-lived strangelet based on the Fermi-gas model combined with the MIT bag model to set a new limit on the possible values of the WIMP mass that can be especially relevant for subdominant species of massive neutralinos.

Late decaying 2-component dark matter scenario as an explanation of the AMS-02 positron excess

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Buch, Jatan; Ralegankar, Pranjal; Rentala, Vikram, E-mail: jatan_buch@brown.edu, E-mail: pranjal6@illinois.edu, E-mail: rentala@phy.iitb.ac.in

The long standing anomaly in the positron flux as measured by the PAMELA and AMS-02 experiments could potentially be explained by dark matter (DM) annihilations. This scenario typically requires a large 'boost factor' to be consistent with a thermal relic dark matter candidate produced via freeze-out. However, such an explanation is disfavored by constraints from CMB observations on energy deposition during the epoch of recombination. We discuss a scenario called late-decaying two-component dark matter (LD2DM), where the entire DM consists of two semi-degenerate species. Within this framework, the heavier species is produced as a thermal relic in the early universemore » and decays to the lighter species over cosmological timescales. Consequently, the lighter species becomes the DM which populates the universe today. We show that annihilation of the lighter DM species with an enhanced cross-section, produced via such a non-thermal mechanism, can explain the observed AMS-02 positron flux while avoiding CMB constraints. The observed DM relic density can be correctly reproduced as well with simple s -wave annihilation cross-sections. We demonstrate that the scenario is safe from CMB constraints on late-time energy depositions during the cosmic 'dark ages'. Interestingly, structure formation constraints force us to consider small mass splittings between the two dark matter species. We explore possible cosmological and particle physics signatures in a toy model that realizes this scenario.« less

Constraints on an annihilation signal from a core of constant dark matter density around the milky way center with H.E.S.S.

PubMed

Abramowski, A; Aharonian, F; Ait Benkhali, F; Akhperjanian, A G; Angüner, E O; Backes, M; Balenderan, S; Balzer, A; Barnacka, A; Becherini, Y; Becker Tjus, J; Berge, D; Bernhard, S; Bernlöhr, K; Birsin, E; Biteau, J; Böttcher, M; Boisson, C; Bolmont, J; Bordas, P; Bregeon, J; Brun, F; Brun, P; Bryan, M; Bulik, T; Carrigan, S; Casanova, S; Chadwick, P M; Chakraborty, N; Chalme-Calvet, R; Chaves, R C G; Chrétien, M; Colafrancesco, S; Cologna, G; Conrad, J; Couturier, C; Cui, Y; Davids, I D; Degrange, B; Deil, C; deWilt, P; Djannati-Ataï, A; Domainko, W; Donath, A; Drury, L O'C; Dubus, G; Dutson, K; Dyks, J; Dyrda, M; Edwards, T; Egberts, K; Eger, P; Espigat, P; Farnier, C; Fegan, S; Feinstein, F; Fernandes, M V; Fernandez, D; Fiasson, A; Fontaine, G; Förster, A; Füßling, M; Gabici, S; Gajdus, M; Gallant, Y A; Garrigoux, T; Giavitto, G; Giebels, B; Glicenstein, J F; Gottschall, D; Grondin, M-H; Grudzińska, M; Hadasch, D; Häffner, S; Hahn, J; Harris, J; Heinzelmann, G; Henri, G; Hermann, G; Hervet, O; Hillert, A; Hinton, J A; Hofmann, W; Hofverberg, P; Holler, M; Horns, D; Ivascenko, A; Jacholkowska, A; Jahn, C; Jamrozy, M; Janiak, M; Jankowsky, F; Jung-Richardt, I; Kastendieck, M A; Katarzyński, K; Katz, U; Kaufmann, S; Khélifi, B; Kieffer, M; Klepser, S; Klochkov, D; Kluźniak, W; Kolitzus, D; Komin, Nu; Kosack, K; Krakau, S; Krayzel, F; Krüger, P P; Laffon, H; Lamanna, G; Lefaucheur, J; Lefranc, V; Lemière, A; Lemoine-Goumard, M; Lenain, J-P; Lohse, T; Lopatin, A; Lu, C-C; Marandon, V; Marcowith, A; Marx, R; Maurin, G; Maxted, N; Mayer, M; McComb, T J L; Méhault, J; Meintjes, P J; Menzler, U; Meyer, M; Mitchell, A M W; Moderski, R; Mohamed, M; Morå, K; Moulin, E; Murach, T; de Naurois, M; Niemiec, J; Nolan, S J; Oakes, L; Odaka, H; Ohm, S; Opitz, B; Ostrowski, M; Oya, I; Panter, M; Parsons, R D; Paz Arribas, M; Pekeur, N W; Pelletier, G; Petrucci, P-O; Peyaud, B; Pita, S; Poon, H; Pühlhofer, G; Punch, M; Quirrenbach, A; Raab, S; Reichardt, I; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Renaud, M; de Los Reyes, R; Rieger, F; Romoli, C; Rosier-Lees, S; Rowell, G; Rudak, B; Rulten, C B; Sahakian, V; Salek, D; Sanchez, D A; Santangelo, A; Schlickeiser, R; Schüssler, F; Schulz, A; Schwanke, U; Schwarzburg, S; Schwemmer, S; Sol, H; Spanier, F; Spengler, G; Spies, F; Stawarz, Ł; Steenkamp, R; Stegmann, C; Stinzing, F; Stycz, K; Sushch, I; Tavernet, J-P; Tavernier, T; Taylor, A M; Terrier, R; Tluczykont, M; Trichard, C; Valerius, K; van Eldik, C; van Soelen, B; Vasileiadis, G; Veh, J; Venter, C; Viana, A; Vincent, P; Vink, J; Völk, H J; Volpe, F; Vorster, M; Vuillaume, T; Wagner, S J; Wagner, P; Wagner, R M; Ward, M; Weidinger, M; Weitzel, Q; White, R; Wierzcholska, A; Willmann, P; Wörnlein, A; Wouters, D; Yang, R; Zabalza, V; Zaborov, D; Zacharias, M; Zdziarski, A A; Zech, A; Zechlin, H-S

2015-02-27

An annihilation signal of dark matter is searched for from the central region of the Milky Way. Data acquired in dedicated on-off observations of the Galactic center region with H.E.S.S. are analyzed for this purpose. No significant signal is found in a total of ∼9  h of on-off observations. Upper limits on the velocity averaged cross section, ⟨σv⟩, for the annihilation of dark matter particles with masses in the range of ∼300  GeV to ∼10  TeV are derived. In contrast to previous constraints derived from observations of the Galactic center region, the constraints that are derived here apply also under the assumption of a central core of constant dark matter density around the center of the Galaxy. Values of ⟨σv⟩ that are larger than 3×10^{-24}  cm^{3}/s are excluded for dark matter particles with masses between ∼1 and ∼4  TeV at 95% C.L. if the radius of the central dark matter density core does not exceed 500 pc. This is the strongest constraint that is derived on ⟨σv⟩ for annihilating TeV mass dark matter without the assumption of a centrally cusped dark matter density distribution in the search region.

Explaining low energy γ-ray excess from the galactic centre using a two-component dark matter model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biswas, Anirban

2016-06-01

Over the past few years, there has been a hint of the γ-ray excess observed by the Fermi-LAT satellite-borne telescope from the regions surrounding the galactic centre (GC) at an energy range of ˜1-3 GeV. The nature of this excess γ-ray spectrum is found to be consistent with the γ-ray emission expected from dark matter (DM) annihilation at the GC while disfavouring other known astrophysical sources as the possible origin of this phenomena. It is also reported that the spectrum and morphology of this excess γ-rays can well be explained by the DM particles having mass in the range 30{--}40 {{GeV}} annihilating significantly into b\\bar{b} final state with an annihilation cross section σ v˜ (1.4-2.0)× {10}-26 cm{}3 {{{s}}}-1 at the GC. In this work, we propose a two-component DM model where two different types of DM particles, namely a complex scalar and a Dirac fermion are considered. The stability of both the dark sector particles are maintained by virtue of an additional local {{U}}{(1)}X gauge symmetry. We find that our proposed scenario can provide a viable explanation for this anomalous excess γ-rays besides satisfying all the existing relevant theoretical as well as experimental and observational bounds from LHC, PLANCK and LUX collaborations. The allowed range of ‘effective annihilation cross section’ of lighter DM particle for the b\\bar{b} annihilation channel thus obtained is finally compared with the limits reported by the Fermi-LAT and DES collaborations using data from various dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Prospects to verify a possible dark matter hint in cosmic antiprotons with antideuterons and antihelium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korsmeier, Michael; Donato, Fiorenza; Fornengo, Nicolao

2018-05-01

Cosmic rays are an important tool to study dark matter (DM) annihilation in our Galaxy. Recently, a possible hint for dark matter annihilation was found in the antiproton spectrum measured by AMS-02, even though the result might be affected by theoretical uncertainties. A complementary way to test its dark matter interpretation would be the observation of low-energy antinuclei in cosmic rays. We determine the chances to observe antideuterons with GAPS and AMS-02 and the implications for the ongoing AMS-02 antihelium searches. We find that the corresponding antideuteron signal is within the GAPS and AMS-02 detection potential. If, more conservatively, the putative signal was considered as an upper limit on DM annihilation, our results would indicate the highest possible fluxes for antideuterons and antihelium compatible with current antiproton data.

Anitproton-matter interactions in antiproton applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morgan, David L., Jr.

1990-01-01

By virtue of the highly energetic particles released when they annihilate in matter, antiprotons have a variety of potentially important applications. Among others, these include remote 3-D density and composition imaging of the human body and also of thick, dense materials, cancer therapy, and spacecraft propulsion. Except for spacecraft propulsion, the required numbers of low energy antiprotons can be produced, stored, and transported through reliance on current or near term technology. Paramount to these applications and to fundamental research involving antiprotons is knowledge of how antiprotons interact with matter. The basic annihilation process is fairly well understood, but the antiproton annihilation and energy loss rates in matter depend in complex ways on a number of atomic processes. The rates, and the corresponding cross sections, were measured or are accurately predictable only for limited combinations of antiproton kinetic energy and material species.

EGRET excess of diffuse galactic gamma rays as tracer of dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Boer, W.; Sander, C.; Zhukov, V.; Gladyshev, A. V.; Kazakov, D. I.

2005-12-01

The public data from the EGRET space telescope on diffuse Galactic gamma rays in the energy range from 0.1 to 10 GeV are reanalyzed with the purpose of searching for signals of Dark Matter annihilation (DMA). The analysis confirms the previously observed excess for energies above 1 GeV in comparison with the expectations from conventional Galactic models. In addition, the excess was found to show all the key features of a signal from Dark Matter Annihilation (DMA): a) the excess is observable in all sky directions and has the same shape everywhere, thus pointing to a common source; b) the shape corresponds to the expected spectrum of the annihilation of non-relativistic massive particles into - among others - neutral π0 mesons, which decay into photons. From the energy spectrum of the excess we deduce a WIMP mass between 50 and 100 GeV, while from the intensity of the excess in all sky directions the shape of the halo could be reconstructed. The DM halo is consistent with an almost spherical isothermal profile with substructure in the Galactic plane in the form of toroidal rings at 4 and 14 kpc from the center. These rings lead to a peculiar shape of the rotation curve, in agreement with the data, which proves that the EGRET excess traces the Dark Matter.

Constraints on the dark matter annihilation from Fermi-LAT observation of M31

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Zhengwei; Yuan, Qiang; Huang, Xiaoyuan

2016-12-01

Gamma-ray is a good probe of dark matter (DM) particles in the Universe. We search for the DM annihilation signals in the direction of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) using 7.5 year Fermi-LAT pass 8 data. Similar to Pshirkov et al. (2016), we find that there is residual excess emission from the direction of M31 if only the galactic disk as traced by the far infrared emission is considered. Adding a point-like source will improve the fitting effectively, although additional slight improvements can be found if an extended component such as a uniform disk or two bubbles is added instead. Takingmore » the far infrared disk plus a point source as the background model, we search for the DM annihilation signals in the data. We find that there is strong degeneracy between the emission from the galaxy and that from 10s GeV mass DM annihilation in the main halo with quark final state. However, the required DM annihilation cross section is about 10{sup −25}–10{sup −24} cm{sup 3}s{sup −1}, orders of magnitude larger than the constraints from observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, indicating a non-DM origin of the emission. If DM subhalos are taken into account, the degeneracy is broken. When considering the enhancement from DM subhalos, the constraints on DM model parameters are comparable to (or slightly weaker than) those from the population of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We also discuss the inverse Compton scattering component from DM annihilation induced electrons/positrons. For the first time we include an energy dependent template of the inverse Compton emission (i.e., a template cube) in the data analysis to take into account the effect of diffusion of charged particles. We find a significant improvement of the constraints in the high mass range of DM particles after considering the inverse Compton emission.« less

Status and Prospects for Indirect Dark Matter Searches with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charles, Eric; Fermi-LAT Collaboration

2014-01-01

During the first five years of operation of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) the LAT collaboration has performed numerous searches for signatures of Dark Matter interactions in both gamma-ray and cosmic-ray data. These searches feature many different target types, including dwarf spheroidal galaxies, galaxy clusters, the Milky Way halo and inner Galaxy and unassociated LAT sources. They make use of a variety of techniques, and have been performed in both the spatial and spectral domains, as well as via less conventional strategies such as examining the potential Dark Matter contribution to both large scale and small scale anisotropies. To date no clear gamma-ray or cosmic-ray signal from dark matter annihilation or decay has been observed, and the deepest current limits for annihilation exclude many Dark Matter particle models with the canonical thermal relic cross section and masses up to 30 GeV. In this contribution we will briefly review the status of each of the searches by the LAT collaboration. We will also discuss the limiting factors for the various search strategies and examine the prospects for the future.

TeV scale dark matter and electroweak radiative corrections

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ciafaloni, Paolo; Urbano, Alfredo

2010-08-15

Recent anomalies in cosmic rays data, namely, from the PAMELA Collaboration, can be interpreted in terms of TeV scale decaying/annihilating dark matter. We analyze the impact of radiative corrections coming from the electroweak sector of the standard model on the spectrum of the final products at the interaction point. As an example, we consider virtual one loop corrections and real gauge bosons emission in the case of a very heavy vector boson annihilating into fermions. We find electroweak corrections that are relevant, but not as big as sometimes found in the literature; we relate this mismatch to the issue ofmore » gauge invariance. At scales much higher than the symmetry breaking scale, one loop electroweak effects are so big that eventually higher orders/resummations have to be considered: we advocate for the inclusion of these effects in parton shower Monte Carlo models aiming at the description of TeV scale physics.« less

Non-thermal production of minimal dark matter via right-handed neutrino decay

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aoki, Mayumi; Toma, Takashi; Vicente, Avelino

2015-09-29

Minimal Dark Matter (MDM) stands as one of the simplest dark matter scenarios. In MDM models, annihilation and co-annihilation processes among the members of the MDM multiplet are usually very efficient, pushing the dark matter mass above O(10) TeV in order to reproduce the observed dark matter relic density. Motivated by this little drawback, in this paper we consider an extension of the MDM scenario by three right-handed neutrinos. Two specific choices for the MDM multiplet are studied: a fermionic SU(2){sub L} quintuplet and a scalar SU(2){sub L} septuplet. The lightest right-handed neutrino, with tiny Yukawa couplings, never reaches thermalmore » equilibrium in the early universe and is produced by freeze-in. This creates a link between dark matter and neutrino physics: dark matter can be non-thermally produced by the decay of the lightest right-handed neutrino after freeze-out, allowing to lower significantly the dark matter mass. We discuss the phenomenology of the non-thermally produced MDM and, taking into account significant Sommerfeld corrections, we find that the dark matter mass must have some specific values in order not to be in conflict with the current bounds from gamma-ray observations.« less

Non-thermal production of minimal dark matter via right-handed neutrino decay

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aoki, Mayumi; Toma, Takashi; Vicente, Avelino, E-mail: mayumi@hep.s.kanazawa-u.ac.jp, E-mail: takashi.toma@th.u-psud.fr, E-mail: Avelino.Vicente@ulg.ac.be

2015-09-01

Minimal Dark Matter (MDM) stands as one of the simplest dark matter scenarios. In MDM models, annihilation and co-annihilation processes among the members of the MDM multiplet are usually very efficient, pushing the dark matter mass above O(10) TeV in order to reproduce the observed dark matter relic density. Motivated by this little drawback, in this paper we consider an extension of the MDM scenario by three right-handed neutrinos. Two specific choices for the MDM multiplet are studied: a fermionic SU(2){sub L} quintuplet and a scalar SU(2){sub L} septuplet. The lightest right-handed neutrino, with tiny Yukawa couplings, never reaches thermalmore » equilibrium in the early universe and is produced by freeze-in. This creates a link between dark matter and neutrino physics: dark matter can be non-thermally produced by the decay of the lightest right-handed neutrino after freeze-out, allowing to lower significantly the dark matter mass. We discuss the phenomenology of the non-thermally produced MDM and, taking into account significant Sommerfeld corrections, we find that the dark matter mass must have some specific values in order not to be in conflict with the current bounds from gamma-ray observations.« less

Dark matter searches for monoenergetic neutrinos arising from stopped meson decay in the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rott, Carsten; In, Seongjin; Kumar, Jason

Dark matter can be gravitationally captured by the Sun after scattering off solar nuclei. Annihilations of the dark matter trapped and accumulated in the centre of the Sun could result in one of the most detectable and recognizable signals for dark matter. Searches for high-energy neutrinos produced in the decay of annihilation products have yielded extremely competitive constraints on the spin-dependent scattering cross sections of dark matter with nuclei. Recently, the low energy neutrino signal arising from dark-matter annihilation to quarks which then hadronize and shower has been suggested as a competitive and complementary search strategy. These high-multiplicity hadronic showersmore » give rise to a large amount of pions which will come to rest in the Sun and decay, leading to a unique sub-GeV neutrino signal. We here improve on previous works by considering the monoenergetic neutrino signal arising from both pion and kaon decay. We consider searches at liquid scintillation, liquid argon, and water Cherenkov detectors and find very competitive sensitivities for few-GeV dark matter masses.« less

Effect of black holes in local dwarf spheroidal galaxies on gamma-ray constraints on dark matter annihilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonzalez-Morales, Alma X.; Profumo, Stefano; Queiroz, Farinaldo S.

2014-11-01

Recent discoveries of optical signatures of black holes in dwarf galaxies indicates that low-mass galaxies can indeed host intermediate massive black holes. This motivates the assessment of the resulting effect on the host dark matter density profile, and the consequences for the constraints on the plane of the dark matter annihilation cross section versus mass, stemming from the nonobservation of gamma rays from local dwarf spheroidals with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We compute the density profile using three different prescriptions for the black hole mass associated with a given spheroidal galaxy, and taking into account the cutoff to the density from dark matter pair-annihilation. We find that the limits on the dark matter annihilation rate from observations of individual dwarfs are enhanced by factors of a few up to 1 06 , depending on the specific galaxy, on the black hole mass prescription, and on the dark matter particle mass. We estimate limits from combined observations of a sample of 15 dwarfs, for a variety of assumptions on the dwarf black hole mass and on the dark matter density profile prior to adiabatic contraction. We find that if black holes are indeed present in local dwarf spheroidals, then, independent of assumptions, (i) the dark matter interpretation of the Galactic center gamma-ray excess would be conclusively ruled out, (ii) wino dark matter would be excluded up to masses of about 3 TeV, and (iii) vanilla thermal relic weakly interacting massive particles must be heavier than 100 GeV.

Direct and Indirect Dark Matter Detection in Gauge Theories (in Portuguese)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Queiroz, Farinaldo

The Dark matter (DM) problem constitutes a key question at the interface among Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. The observational data which have been accumulated in the last years point to an existence of non baryonic amount of DM. Since the Standard Model (SM) does not provide any candidate for such non-baryonic DM, the evidence of DM is a major indication for new physics beyond the SM. We will study in this work one of the most popular DM candidates, the so called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) from a direct and indirect detection perspective. In order to approach themore » direct and indirect dection of DM in the context of Particle Physics in a more pedagogic way, we will begin our discussion talking about a minimal extension of the SM. Later we will work on the subject in a 3-3-1 model. Next, we will study the role of WIMPs in the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Lastly, we will look for indirect DM signals in the center of our galaxy using the NASA Satellite, called Fermi-LAT. Through a comprehensive analysis of the data events observed by Fermi-LAT and some background models, we will constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section for several annihilation channels and dark matter halo profiles.« less

The Cosmic Ray Electron Excess

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, J.; Adams, J. H.; Ahn, H. S.; Bashindzhagyan, G. L.; Christl, M.; Ganel, O.; Guzik, T. G.; Isbert, J.; Kim, K. C.; Kuznetsov, E. N.;

Search for dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center with IceCube-79

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.

The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, newmore » and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. Here, no neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, Av>, for WIMP masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to ≃4•10 –24 cm 3 s –1, and ≃2.6•10 –23 cm 3 s –1 for the ν ν¯ channel, respectively.« less

Search for dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center with IceCube-79

DOE PAGES

Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.; ...

2015-10-15

The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, newmore » and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. Here, no neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, Av>, for WIMP masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to ≃4•10 –24 cm 3 s –1, and ≃2.6•10 –23 cm 3 s –1 for the ν ν¯ channel, respectively.« less

Prospects for discovering a neutrino line induced by dark matter annihilation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aisati, Chaimae El; Garcia-Cely, Camilo; Hambye, Thomas

In the near future, neutrino telescopes are expected to improve their sensitivity to the flux of monochromatic neutrinos produced by dark matter (DM) in our galaxy. This is illustrated by a new limit on the corresponding cross section that we derive from public IceCube data. In this context, we study which DM models could produce an observable flux of monochromatic neutrinos from DM annihilations. To this end, we proceed in two steps. First, within a set of simple and minimal assumptions concerning the properties of the DM particle, we determine the models that could give rise to a significant annihilationmore » into monochromatic neutrinos at the freeze-out epoch. The list of models turns out to be very limited as a result of various constraints, in particular direct detection and neutrino masses at loop level. Given the fact that, even if largely improved, the sensitivities will be far from reaching the thermal annihilation cross section soon, a signal could only be observed if the annihilation into neutrinos today is boosted with respect to the freeze-out epoch. This is why, in a second step, we analyze the possibility of having such a large enhancement from the Sommerfeld effect. For each scenario, we also compute the cross sections into other annihilation products and confront our results with experimental constraints. We find that, within our simple and minimal assumptions, the expectation to observe monochromatic neutrinos is only possible in very specific scenarios. Some will be confirmed or excluded in the near future because they predict signals slightly below the current experimental sensitivities. We also discuss how these prospects change by relaxing our assumptions as well as by considering other types of sharp spectral features. For the latter, we consider boxed-shaped and bremsstrahlung spectra and provide the corresponding limits from IceCube data.« less

The Sommerfeld enhancement in the scotogenic model with large electroweak scalar multiplets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chowdhury, Talal Ahmed; Nasri, Salah, E-mail: talal@du.ac.bd, E-mail: snasri@uaeu.ac.ae

2017-01-01

We investigate the Sommerfeld enhancement (SE) in the generalized scotogenic model with large electroweak multiplets. We focus on scalar dark matter (DM) candidate of the model and compare DM annihilation cross sections to WW , ZZ , γγ and γ Z at present day in the galactic halo for scalar doublet and its immediate generalization, the quartet in their respective viable regions of parameter space. We find that larger multiplet has sizable Sommerfeld enhanced annihilation cross section compared to the doublet and because of that it is more likely to be constrained by the current H.E.S.S. results and future CTAmore » sensitivity limits.« less

Limits to dark matter annihilation cross-section from a combined analysis of MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf satellite galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MAGIC Collaboration; Ahnen, M. L.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; Babic, A.; Banerjee, B.; Bangale, P.; Barres de Almeida, U.; Barrio, J. A.; Becerra González, J.; Bednarek, W.; Bernardini, E.; Biasuzzi, B.; Biland, A.; Blanch, O.; Bonnefoy, S.; Bonnoli, G.; Borracci, F.; Bretz, T.; Carmona, E.; Carosi, A.; Chatterjee, A.; Clavero, R.; Colin, P.; Colombo, E.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Covino, S.; Da Vela, P.; Dazzi, F.; De Angelis, A.; De Lotto, B.; de Oña Wilhelmi, E.; Delgado Mendez, C.; Di Pierro, F.; Dominis Prester, D.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Einecke, S.; Eisenacher Glawion, D.; Elsaesser, D.; Fernández-Barral, A.; Fidalgo, D.; Fonseca, M. V.; Font, L.; Frantzen, K.; Fruck, C.; Galindo, D.; García López, R. J.; Garczarczyk, M.; Garrido Terrats, D.; Gaug, M.; Giammaria, P.; Godinović, N.; González Muñoz,; A.; Guberman, D.; Hahn, A.; Hanabata, Y.; Hayashida, M.; Herrera, J.; Hose, J.; Hrupec, D.; Hughes, G.; Idec, W.; Kodani, K.; Konno, Y.; Kubo, H.; Kushida, J.; La Barbera, A.; Lelas, D.; Lindfors, E.; Lombardi, S.; Longo, F.; López-Coto, M. López R.; López-Oramas, A.; Lorenz, E.; Majumdar, P.; Makariev, M.; Mallot, K.; Maneva, G.; Manganaro, M.; Mannheim, K.; Maraschi, L.; Marcote, B.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Mazin, D.; Menzel, U.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moralejo, A.; Moretti, E.; Nakajima, D.; Neustroev, V.; Niedzwiecki, A.; Nievas Rosillo, M.; Nilsson, K.; Nishijima, K.; Noda, K.; Orito, R.; Overkemping, A.; Paiano, S.; Palacio, J.; Palatiello, M.; Paneque, D.; Paoletti, R.; Paredes, J. M.; Paredes-Fortuny, X.; Persic, M.; Poutanen, J.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Prandini, E.; Puljak, I.; Rhode, W.; Ribó, M.; Rico, J.; Rodriguez Garcia, J.; Saito, T.; Satalecka, K.; Schultz, C.; Schweizer, T.; Shore, S. N.; Sillanpää, A.; Sitarek, J.; Snidaric, I.; Sobczynska, D.; Stamerra, A.; Steinbring, T.; Strzys, M.; Takalo, L.; Takami, H.; Tavecchio, F.; Temnikov, P.; Terzić, T.; Tescaro, D.; Teshima, M.; Thaele, J.; Torres, D. F.; Toyama, T.; Treves, A.; Verguilov, V.; Vovk, I.; Ward, J. E.; Will, M.; Wup, M. H.; Zanins, R.; Aleksić, J.; Wood, M.; Anderson, B.; Bloom, E. D.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Mazziotta, M. N.; Sánchez-Condeai, M.; Strigarian, L.

2016-02-01

We present the first joint analysis of gamma-ray data from the MAGIC Cherenkov telescopes and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to search for gamma-ray signals from dark matter annihilation in dwarf satellite galaxies. We combine 158 hours of Segue 1 observations with MAGIC with 6-year observations of 15 dwarf satellite galaxies by the Fermi-LAT. We obtain limits on the annihilation cross-section for dark matter particle masses between 10 GeV and 100 TeV—the widest mass range ever explored by a single gamma-ray analysis. These limits improve on previously published Fermi-LAT and MAGIC results by up to a factor of two at certain masses. Our new inclusive analysis approach is completely generic and can be used to perform a global, sensitivity-optimized dark matter search by combining data from present and future gamma-ray and neutrino detectors.

Dark matter detection in supersymmetric models with non-universal gaugino masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Eun-Kyung

SUSY is one of the most promising new physics ideas, and will soon be tested at high energy accelerators like the CERN LHC. Moreover SUSY provides a good candidate for cold dark matter (CDM). In this dissertation, we investigated phenomenology of SUSY models with non-universal gaugino masses (NUGM) at colliding experiments using event generators such as ISAJET and examined direct and indirect detection rates of relic neutralino CDM in the universe. The motivation of these models is that in most of mSUGRA parameter space, the relic density WZ1˜ h2 is considerably larger than the WMAP measurement, and it is well known that if non-universal gaugino masses are allowed, then qualitatively new possibilities arise that are not realized in the mSUGRA model. Our first NUGM attempt is to allow a mixed wino-bino lightest SUSY particle (LSP) by lowering SU(2) gaugino mass M2 at the weak scale from its mSUGRA value while keeping the hypercharge gaugino mass M1 fixed (Mixed Wino Dark Matter). In this model, wino-like Z˜1 with sufficiently low M2 compared to M1 enhances Z˜1Z˜ 1 → W+1W-1 annihilations to reach the WMAP measured relic density. The second attempt is study on the NUGM model with different signs of M 1 and M2 (Bino-Wino Co-Annihilation Scenario). In this case, there is little mixing, so that Z˜1 remains nearly a pure bino or a pure wino. By increasing M1 ≃ M 2, enhanced bino-wino co-annihilation can achieve the relic neutralino abundance. The final attempt of NUGM models is lowering the SU(3) gaugino mass to diminish the effect of the large top quark Yukawa coupling in the running of the higgs mass, so that the value of superpotential mu parameter gets efficiently low to give rise to mixed higgsino dark matter (Mixed Higgsino Dark Matter). Consequences of these NUGM model studies show us that relaxing universality of gaugino masses in SUSY models leads to enhanced direct and indirect dark matter detection rates and reduced mZ2˜-m Z1˜ mass gap so that the LHC and ILC can distinguish each NUGM model from others. Finally, we found that models with well-tempered neutralinos, where the composition of the neutralino is adjusted to give observed relic density, yield target cross sections which are detectable at proposed experiments.

Fermi-LAT kills dark matter interpretations of AMS-02 data. Or not?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Belotsky, Konstantin; Budaev, Ruslan; Kirillov, Alexander

2017-01-01

A number of papers attempt to explain the positron anomaly in cosmic rays, observed by PAMELA and AMS-02, in terms of dark matter (DM) decays or annihilations. However, the recent progress in cosmic gamma-ray studies challenges these attempts. Indeed, as we show, any rational DM model explaining the positron anomaly abundantly produces final state radiation and Inverse Compton gamma rays, which inevitably leads to a contradiction with Fermi-LAT isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background measurements. Furthermore, the Fermi-LAT observation of Milky Way dwarf satellites, supposed to be rich in DM, revealed no significant signal in gamma rays. We propose a generic approachmore » in which the major contribution to cosmic rays comes from the dark matter disc and prove that the tension between the DM origin of the positron anomaly and the cosmic gamma-ray observations can be relieved. We consider both a simple model, in which DM decay/annihilate into charged leptons, and a model-independent minimal case of particle production, and we estimate the optimal thickness of DM disk. Possible mechanisms of formation and its properties are briefly discussed.« less

Search for TeV gamma ray emission from the Andromeda galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aharonian, F. A.; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Beilicke, M.; Bernlöhr, K.; Bojahr, H.; Bolz, O.; Börst, H.; Coarasa, T.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Denninghoff, S.; Fonseca, V.; Girma, M.; Götting, N.; Heinzelmann, G.; Hermann, G.; Heusler, A.; Hofmann, W.; Horns, D.; Jung, I.; Kankanyan, R.; Kestel, M.; Kettler, J.; Kohnle, A.; Konopelko, A.; Kornmeyer, H.; Kranich, D.; Krawczynski, H.; Lampeitl, H.; Lopez, M.; Lorenz, E.; Lucarelli, F.; Mang, O.; Meyer, H.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moralejo, A.; Ona, E.; Panter, M.; Plyasheshnikov, A.; Pühlhofer, G.; Rauterberg, G.; Reyes, R.; Rhode, W.; Ripken, J.; Röhring, A.; Rowell, G. P.; Sahakian, V.; Samorski, M.; Schilling, M.; Siems, M.; Sobzynska, D.; Stamm, W.; Tluczykont, M.; Völk, H. J.; Wiedner, C. A.; Wittek, W.

2003-03-01

Using the HEGRA system of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, the Andromeda galaxy (M 31) was surveyed for TeV gamma ray emission. Given the large field of view of the HEGRA telescopes, three pointings were sufficient to cover all of M 31, including also M 32 and NGC 205. No indications for point sources of TeV gamma rays were found. Upper limits are given at a level of a few percent of the Crab flux. A specific search for monoenergetic gamma-ray lines from annihilation of supersymmetric dark matter particles accumulating near the center of M 31 resulted in flux limits in the 10-13 cm-2 s-1 range, well above the predicted MSSM flux levels except for models with pronounced dark-matter spikes or strongly enhanced annihilation rates.

Concepts for the design of an antimatter annihilation rocket

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morgan, D. L., Jr.

1982-01-01

Matter-antimatter annihilation is considered for spacecraft propulsion. Annihilation produces considerably more energy per unit mass of propellant than any other known means of energy production. An antimatter annihilation rocket requires several systems and components that are unique to its nature. Among these are an antimatter storage system, a means to extract the antimatter from storage, a system to transport the antimatter to the rocket engine, and the engine wherein annihilation occurs and thrust is produced. Design concepts of these systems and components are presented and discussed.

Review of indirect detection of dark matter with neutrinos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danninger, Matthias

2017-09-01

Dark Matter could be detected indirectly through the observation of neutrinos produced in dark matter self-annihilations or decays. Searches for such neutrino signals have resulted in stringent constraints on the dark matter self-annihilation cross section and the scattering cross section with matter. In recent years these searches have made significant progress in sensitivity through new search methodologies, new detection channels, and through the availability of rich datasets from neutrino telescopes and detectors, like IceCube, ANTARES, Super-Kamiokande, etc. We review recent experimental results and put them in context with respect to other direct and indirect dark matter searches. We also discuss prospects for discoveries at current and next generation neutrino detectors.

Codecaying Dark Matter.

PubMed

Dror, Jeff Asaf; Kuflik, Eric; Ng, Wee Hao

2016-11-18

We propose a new mechanism for thermal dark matter freeze-out, called codecaying dark matter. Multicomponent dark sectors with degenerate particles and out-of-equilibrium decays can codecay to obtain the observed relic density. The dark matter density is exponentially depleted through the decay of nearly degenerate particles rather than from Boltzmann suppression. The relic abundance is set by the dark matter annihilation cross section, which is predicted to be boosted, and the decay rate of the dark sector particles. The mechanism is viable in a broad range of dark matter parameter space, with a robust prediction of an enhanced indirect detection signal. Finally, we present a simple model that realizes codecaying dark matter.

Rate for annihilation of galactic dark matter into two photons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giudice, Gian F.; Griest, Kim

1989-01-01

A calculation of the cross section for neutralino-neutralino annihilation into two photons is performed and applied to dark matter in the galactic halo to find the counting rate in a large gamma ray detector such as EGRET (Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope) or ASTROGAM. Combining constraints from particle accelerators with the requirement that the neutralinos make up the dark matter, it is found that rates of over a few dozen events per year are unlikely. The assumptions that go into these conclusions are listed. Other particle dark matter candidates which could give larger and perhaps observable signals are suggested.

Spectral analysis of the gamma-ray background near the dwarf Milky Way satellite Segue 1: Improved limits on the cross section of neutralino dark matter annihilation

DOE PAGES

Baushev, A. N.; Federici, S.; Pohl, M.

2012-09-20

The indirect detection of dark matter requires that dark matter annihilation products be discriminated from conventional astrophysical backgrounds. We re-analyze GeV-band gamma-ray observations of the prominent Milky Way dwarf satellite galaxy Segue 1, for which the expected astrophysical background is minimal. Here, we explicitly account for the angular extent of the conservatively expected gamma-ray signal and keep the uncertainty in the dark-matter profile external to the likelihood analysis of the gamma-ray data.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aartsen, M.G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.

We present an improved event-level likelihood formalism for including neutrino telescope data in global fits to new physics. We derive limits on spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering by employing the new formalism in a re-analysis of data from the 79-string IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the Sun, including explicit energy information for each event. The new analysis excludes a number of models in the weak-scale minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) for the first time. This work is accompanied by the public release of the 79-string IceCube data, as well as an associated computer code for applying the new likelihoodmore » to arbitrary dark matter models.« less

Dark-matter decay as a complementary probe of multicomponent dark sectors.

PubMed

Dienes, Keith R; Kumar, Jason; Thomas, Brooks; Yaylali, David

2015-02-06

In single-component theories of dark matter, the 2→2 amplitudes for dark-matter production, annihilation, and scattering can be related to each other through various crossing symmetries. The detection techniques based on these processes are thus complementary. However, multicomponent theories exhibit an additional direction for dark-matter complementarity: the possibility of dark-matter decay from heavier to lighter components. We discuss how this new detection channel may be correlated with the others, and demonstrate that the enhanced complementarity which emerges can be an important ingredient in probing and constraining the parameter spaces of such models.

The need for expanded exploration of matter-antimatter annihilation for propulsion application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Massier, P. F.

1982-01-01

The use of matter-antimatter annihilation as a propulsion application for interstellar travel is discussed. The physical basis for the superior energy release in such a system is summarized, and the problems associated with antimatter production, collection and storage are assessed. Advances in devising a workable propulsion system are reported, and the parameters of an antimatter propulsion system are described.

Antideuteron based dark matter search with GAPS: Current progress and future prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hailey, C. J.; Aramaki, T.; Boggs, S. E.; Doetinchem, P. v.; Fuke, H.; Gahbauer, F.; Koglin, J. E.; Madden, N.; Mognet, S. A. I.; Ong, R.; Yoshida, T.; Zhang, T.; Zweerink, J. A.

2013-01-01

The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) is a new approach to the indirect detection of dark matter. It relies on searching for primary antideuterons produced in the annihilation of dark matter in the galactic halo. Low energy antideuterons produced through Standard Model processes, such as collisions of cosmic-rays with interstellar baryons, are greatly suppressed compared to primary antideuterons. Thus a low energy antideuteron search provides a clean signature of dark matter. In GAPS antiparticles are slowed down and captured in target atoms. The resultant exotic atom deexcites with the emission of X-rays and annihilation pions, protons and other particles. A tracking geometry allows for the detection of the X-rays and particles, providing a unique signature to identify the mass of the antiparticle. A prototype detector was successfully tested at the KEK accelerator in 2005, and a prototype GAPS balloon flight is scheduled for 2011. This will be followed by a full scale experiment on a long duration balloon from Antarctica in 2014. We discuss the status and future plans for GAPS.

First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube detector: IceCube Collaboration

DOE PAGES

Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.; ...

2017-02-01

© 2017, The Author(s). We present the results of the first IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the center of the Earth. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), candidates for dark matter, can scatter off nuclei inside the Earth and fall below its escape velocity. Over time the captured WIMPs will be accumulated and may eventually self-annihilate. Among the annihilation products only neutrinos can escape from the center of the Earth. Large-scale neutrino telescopes, such as the cubic kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, can be used to search for such neutrino fluxes. Data from 327 days ofmore » detector livetime during 2011/2012 were analyzed. No excess beyond the expected background from atmospheric neutrinos was detected. The derived upper limits on the annihilation rate of WIMPs in the Earth and the resulting muon flux are an order of magnitude stronger than the limits of the last analysis performed with data from IceCube’s predecessor AMANDA. The limits can be translated in terms of a spin-independent WIMP–nucleon cross section. For a WIMP mass of 50 GeV this analysis results in the most restrictive limits achieved with IceCube data.« less

First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube detector: IceCube Collaboration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.

© 2017, The Author(s). We present the results of the first IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the center of the Earth. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), candidates for dark matter, can scatter off nuclei inside the Earth and fall below its escape velocity. Over time the captured WIMPs will be accumulated and may eventually self-annihilate. Among the annihilation products only neutrinos can escape from the center of the Earth. Large-scale neutrino telescopes, such as the cubic kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, can be used to search for such neutrino fluxes. Data from 327 days ofmore » detector livetime during 2011/2012 were analyzed. No excess beyond the expected background from atmospheric neutrinos was detected. The derived upper limits on the annihilation rate of WIMPs in the Earth and the resulting muon flux are an order of magnitude stronger than the limits of the last analysis performed with data from IceCube’s predecessor AMANDA. The limits can be translated in terms of a spin-independent WIMP–nucleon cross section. For a WIMP mass of 50 GeV this analysis results in the most restrictive limits achieved with IceCube data.« less

Electrophilic dark matter with dark photon: From DAMPE to direct detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Pei-Hong; He, Xiao-Gang

2018-03-01

The electron-positron excess reported by the DAMPE collaboration recently may be explained by an electrophilic dark matter (DM). A standard model singlet fermion may play the role of such a DM when it is stabilized by some symmetries, such as a dark U(1)X gauge symmetry, and dominantly annihilates into the electron-positron pairs through the exchange of a scalar mediator. The model, with appropriate Yukawa couplings, can well interpret the DAMPE excess. Naively one expects that in this type of models the DM-nucleon cross section should be small since there is no tree-level DM-quark interactions. We however find that at one-loop level, a testable DM-nucleon cross section can be induced for providing ways to test the electrophilic model. We also find that a U (1) kinetic mixing can generate a sizable DM-nucleon cross section although the U(1)X dark photon only has a negligible contribution to the DM annihilation. Depending on the signs of the mixing parameter, the dark photon can enhance/reduce the one-loop induced DM-nucleon cross section.

All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore

DOE PAGES

Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.; ...

2016-09-28

We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011–2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, < σ A v > , formore » dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on < σ A v > , reaching a level of 10 - 23 cm 3 s - 1 , depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.« less

All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aartsen, M. G.; Abraham, K.; Ackermann, M.

We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011–2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, < σ A v > , formore » dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on < σ A v > , reaching a level of 10 - 23 cm 3 s - 1 , depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.« less

Cosmological Implications of Electroweak Monopole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Y. M.

2018-01-01

In this talk we review the basic features of the electroweak monopole, and estimate the remnant electroweak monopole density of the standard model in the present universe. We show that, although the electroweak phase transition is of the first order, the monopole production comes from the thermal fluctuations of the Higgs field after the phase transition, not the vacuum bubble collisions during the phase transition. Moreover, most of the monopoles produced initially are annihilated as soon as created, and this annihilation continues very long time, longer than the muon pair annihilation time. As the result the remnant monopole density at present universe becomes very small, of 10-11 of the critical density, too small to be the dark matter. We discuss the physical implications of our results on the ongoing monopole detection experiments.

WIMP capture by the Sun in the effective theory of dark matter self-interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Catena, Riccardo; Widmark, Axel, E-mail: catena@chalmers.se, E-mail: axel.widmark@fysik.su.se

We study the capture of WIMP dark matter by the Sun in the non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter self-interactions. The aim is to assess how self-interactions affect the expected neutrino flux coming from WIMP annihilation in the Sun, and to do so in a model independent manner. We consider all non-relativistic Galilean invariant self-interaction operators that can arise from the exchange of a heavy particle of spin less than or equal to 1 for WIMPs of spin equal to 0, 1/2 and 1. We show that for interaction operators depending at most linearly on the momentum transfer, the WIMP-inducedmore » neutrino flux can be enhanced by several orders of magnitude compared to the same flux in absence of self-interactions. This is true even for standard values of the thermally averaged annihilation cross-section. This conclusion impacts the analysis of present and future observations performed at neutrino telescopes.« less

Reappraisal of dark matter co-annihilating with a top or bottom partner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keung, Wai-Yee; Low, Ian; Zhang, Yue

2017-07-01

We revisit the calculation of the relic density of dark matter particles co-annihilating with a top or bottom partner by properly including the QCD bound-states (onia) effects of the colored partners as well as the relevant electroweak processes, which become important in the low-mass region. We carefully set up the complete framework that incorporates the relevant contributions and investigate their effects on the cosmologically preferred mass spectrum, which turn out to be comparable in size to those coming from the Sommerfeld enhancement. We apply the calculation to three scenarios: bino-stop and bino-sbottom co-annihilations in supersymmetry and a vector dark matter co-annihilating with a fermionic top partner. In addition, we confront our analysis of the relic abundance with recent direct detection experiments and collider searches at the LHC, which have important implications in the bino-stop and bino-sbottom scenarios. In particular, in the bino-stop case, recent LHC limits have excluded regions of parameter space with a direct detection rate that is above the neutrino floor.

Fermionic dark matter with pseudo-scalar Yukawa interaction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ghorbani, Karim, E-mail: k-ghorbani@araku.ac.ir

2015-01-01

We consider a renormalizable extension of the standard model whose fermionic dark matter (DM) candidate interacts with a real singlet pseudo-scalar via a pseudo-scalar Yukawa term while we assume that the full Lagrangian is CP-conserved in the classical level. When the pseudo-scalar boson develops a non-zero vacuum expectation value, spontaneous CP-violation occurs and this provides a CP-violated interaction of the dark sector with the SM particles through mixing between the Higgs-like boson and the SM-like Higgs boson. This scenario suggests a minimal number of free parameters. Focusing mainly on the indirect detection observables, we calculate the dark matter annihilation crossmore » section and then compute the DM relic density in the range up to m{sub DM} = 300 GeV.We then find viable regions in the parameter space constrained by the observed DM relic abundance as well as invisible Higgs decay width in the light of 125 GeV Higgs discovery at the LHC. We find that within the constrained region of the parameter space, there exists a model with dark matter mass m{sub DM} ∼ 38 GeV annihilating predominantly into b quarks, which can explain the Fermi-LAT galactic gamma-ray excess.« less

Solar Extreme UV radiation and quark nugget dark matter model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhitnitsky, Ariel

2017-10-01

We advocate the idea that the surprising emission of extreme ultra violet (EUV) radiation and soft x-rays from the Sun are powered externally by incident dark matter (DM) particles. The energy and the spectral shape of this otherwise unexpected solar irradiation is estimated within the quark nugget dark matter model. This model was originally invented as a natural explanation of the observed ratio Ωdark ~ Ωvisible when the DM and visible matter densities assume the same order of magnitude values. This generic consequence of the model is a result of the common origin of both types of matter which are formed during the same QCD transition and both proportional to the same fundamental dimensional parameter ΛQCD. We also present arguments suggesting that the transient brightening-like "nanoflares" in the Sun may be related to the annihilation events which inevitably occur in the solar atmosphere within this dark matter scenario.

Analyzing the Discovery Potential for Light Dark Matter.

PubMed

Izaguirre, Eder; Krnjaic, Gordan; Schuster, Philip; Toro, Natalia

2015-12-18

In this Letter, we determine the present status of sub-GeV thermal dark matter annihilating through standard model mixing, with special emphasis on interactions through the vector portal. Within representative simple models, we carry out a complete and precise calculation of the dark matter abundance and of all available constraints. We also introduce a concise framework for comparing different experimental approaches, and use this comparison to identify important ranges of dark matter mass and couplings to better explore in future experiments. The requirement that dark matter be a thermal relic sets a sharp sensitivity target for terrestrial experiments, and so we highlight complementary experimental approaches that can decisively reach this milestone sensitivity over the entire sub-GeV mass range.

Prospects for detecting a net photon circular polarization produced by decaying dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elagin, Andrey; Kumar, Jason; Sandick, Pearl; Teng, Fei

2017-11-01

If dark matter interactions with Standard Model particles are C P violating, then dark matter annihilation/decay can produce photons with a net circular polarization. We consider the prospects for experimentally detecting evidence for such a circular polarization. We identify optimal models for dark matter interactions with the Standard Model, from the point of view of detectability of the net polarization, for the case of either symmetric or asymmetric dark matter. We find that, for symmetric dark matter, evidence for net polarization could be found by a search of the Galactic center by an instrument sensitive to circular polarization with an efficiency-weighted exposure of at least 50 ,000 cm2 yr , provided the systematic detector uncertainties are constrained at the 1% level. Better sensitivity can be obtained in the case of asymmetric dark matter. We discuss the prospects for achieving the needed level of performance using possible detector technologies.

Limits to dark matter annihilation cross-section from a combined analysis of MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf satellite galaxies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MAGIC Collaboration

2016-02-01

We present the first joint analysis of gamma-ray data from the MAGIC Cherenkov telescopes and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to search for gamma-ray signals from dark matter annihilation in dwarf satellite galaxies. We combine 158 hours of Segue 1 observations with MAGIC with 6-year observations of 15 dwarf satellite galaxies by the Fermi-LAT. We obtain limits on the annihilation cross-section for dark matter particle masses between 10 GeV and 100 TeV—the widest mass range ever explored by a single gamma-ray analysis. These limits improve on previously published Fermi-LAT and MAGIC results by up to a factor of twomore » at certain masses. Our new inclusive analysis approach is completely generic and can be used to perform a global, sensitivity-optimized dark matter search by combining data from present and future gamma-ray and neutrino detectors.« less

Limits to dark matter annihilation cross-section from a combined analysis of MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf satellite galaxies

DOE PAGES

Ahnen, M. L.

2016-02-16

Here, we present the first joint analysis of gamma-ray data from the MAGIC Cherenkov telescopes and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to search for gamma-ray signals from dark matter annihilation in dwarf satellite galaxies. We combine 158 hours of Segue 1 observations with MAGIC with 6-year observations of 15 dwarf satellite galaxies by the Fermi-LAT. We obtain limits on the annihilation cross-section for dark matter particle masses between 10 GeV and 100 TeV - the widest mass range ever explored by a single gamma-ray analysis. These limits improve on previously published Fermi-LAT and MAGIC results by up to amore » factor of two at certain masses. Our new inclusive analysis approach is completely generic and can be used to perform a global, sensitivity-optimized dark matter search by combining data from present and future gamma-ray and neutrino detectors.« less

The search for TeV-scale dark matter with the HAWC observatory

DOE PAGES

Harding, J. Patrick

2015-01-01

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a wide field-of-view detector sensitive to 100 GeV - 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. Located at an elevation of 4100 m on the Sierra Negra mountain in Mexico, HAWC observes extensive air showers from gamma and cosmic rays with an array of water tanks which produce Cherenkov light in the presence of air showers. With a field-of-view capable of observing 2/3 of the sky each day, and a sensitivity of 1 Crab/day, HAWC will be able to map out the sky in gamma and cosmic rays in detail. In thismore » paper, we discuss the capabilities of HAWC to map out the directions and spectra of TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays coming from sources of dark matter annihilation. We discuss the HAWC sensitivity to multiple extended sources of dark matter annihilation and the possibility of HAWC observations of annihilations in nearby dark matter subhalos.« less

The dawn of FIMP Dark Matter: A review of models and constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernal, Nicolás; Heikinheimo, Matti; Tenkanen, Tommi; Tuominen, Kimmo; Vaskonen, Ville

2017-09-01

We present an overview of scenarios where the observed Dark Matter (DM) abundance consists of Feebly Interacting Massive Particles (FIMPs), produced nonthermally by the so-called freeze-in mechanism. In contrast to the usual freeze-out scenario, frozen-in FIMP DM interacts very weakly with the particles in the visible sector and never attained thermal equilibrium with the baryon-photon fluid in the early Universe. Instead of being determined by its annihilation strength, the DM abundance depends on the decay and annihilation strengths of particles in equilibrium with the baryon-photon fluid, as well as couplings in the DM sector. This makes frozen-in DM very difficult but not impossible to test. In this review, we present the freeze-in mechanism and its variations considered in the literature (dark freeze-out and reannihilation), compare them to the standard DM freeze-out scenario, discuss several aspects of model building, and pay particular attention to observational properties and general testability of such feebly interacting DM.

Dark matter repulsion could thwart direct detection

DOE PAGES

Davoudiasl, Hooman

2017-11-20

We consider a feeble repulsive interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter, with a range similar to or larger than the size of the Earth. Dark matter can thus be repelled from the Earth, leading to null results in direct detection experiments, regardless of the strength of the short-distance interactions of dark matter with atoms. Generically, such a repulsive force would not allow trapping of dark matter inside astronomical bodies. In this scenario, accelerator-based experiments may furnish the only robust signals of asymmetric dark matter models, which typically lack indirect signals from self-annihilation. Finally, some of the variants of ourmore » hypothesis are also briefly discussed.« less

Dark matter repulsion could thwart direct detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davoudiasl, Hooman

We consider a feeble repulsive interaction between ordinary matter and dark matter, with a range similar to or larger than the size of the Earth. Dark matter can thus be repelled from the Earth, leading to null results in direct detection experiments, regardless of the strength of the short-distance interactions of dark matter with atoms. Generically, such a repulsive force would not allow trapping of dark matter inside astronomical bodies. In this scenario, accelerator-based experiments may furnish the only robust signals of asymmetric dark matter models, which typically lack indirect signals from self-annihilation. Finally, some of the variants of ourmore » hypothesis are also briefly discussed.« less

Severely Constraining Dark Matter Interpretations of the 21-cm Anomaly

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; Krnjaic, Gordan

The EDGES Collaboration has recently reported the detection of a stronger-than-expected absorption feature in the global 21-cm spectrum, centered at a frequency corresponding to a redshift of z ~ 17. This observation has been interpreted as evidence that the gas was cooled during this era as a result of scattering with dark matter. In this study, we explore this possibility, applying constraints from the cosmic microwave background, light element abundances, Supernova 1987A, and a variety of laboratory experiments. After taking these constraints into account, we find that the vast majority of the parameter space capable of generating the observed 21-cmmore » signal is ruled out. The only range of models that remains viable is that in which a small fraction, ~ 0.3-2%, of the dark matter consists of particles with a mass of ~ 10-80 MeV and which couple to the photon through a small electric charge, epsilon ~ 10^{-6}-10^{-4}. Furthermore, in order to avoid being overproduced in the early universe, such models must be supplemented with an additional depletion mechanism, such as annihilations through a L_{\\mu}-L_{\\tau} gauge boson or annihilations to a pair of rapidly decaying hidden sector scalars.« less

Dissecting the Gamma-Ray Background in Search of Dark Matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cholis, Ilias; Hooper, Dan; McDermott, Samuel D.

2014-02-01

Several classes of astrophysical sources contribute to the approximately isotropic gamma-ray background measured by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. In this paper, we use Fermi's catalog of gamma-ray sources (along with corresponding source catalogs at infrared and radio wavelengths) to build and constrain a model for the contributions to the extragalactic gamma-ray background from astrophysical sources, including radio galaxies, star-forming galaxies, and blazars. We then combine our model with Fermi's measurement of the gamma-ray background to derive constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section, including contributions from both extragalactic and galactic halos and subhalos. The resulting constraints are competitivemore » with the strongest current constraints from the Galactic Center and dwarf spheroidal galaxies. As Fermi continues to measure the gamma-ray emission from a greater number of astrophysical sources, it will become possible to more tightly constrain the astrophysical contributions to the extragalactic gamma-ray background. We project that with 10 years of data, Fermi's measurement of this background combined with the improved constraints on the astrophysical source contributions will yield a sensitivity to dark matter annihilations that exceeds the strongest current constraints by a factor of ~ 5 - 10.« less

Charged mediators in dark matter scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stengel, Patrick

2017-11-01

We consider a scenario, within the framework of the MSSM, in which dark matter is bino-like and dark matter-nucleon spin-independent scattering occurs via the exchange of light squarks which exhibit left-right mixing. We show that direct detection experiments such as LUX and SuperCDMS will be sensitive to a wide class of such models through spin-independent scattering. The dominant nuclear physics uncertainty is the quark content of the nucleon, particularly the strangeness content. We also investigate parameter space with nearly degenerate neutralino and squark masses, thus enhancing dark matter annihilation and nucleon scattering event rates.

Unified origin for baryonic visible matter and antibaryonic dark matter.

PubMed

Davoudiasl, Hooman; Morrissey, David E; Sigurdson, Kris; Tulin, Sean

2010-11-19

We present a novel mechanism for generating both the baryon and dark matter densities of the Universe. A new Dirac fermion X carrying a conserved baryon number charge couples to the standard model quarks as well as a GeV-scale hidden sector. CP-violating decays of X, produced nonthermally in low-temperature reheating, sequester antibaryon number in the hidden sector, thereby leaving a baryon excess in the visible sector. The antibaryonic hidden states are stable dark matter. A spectacular signature of this mechanism is the baryon-destroying inelastic scattering of dark matter that can annihilate baryons at appreciable rates relevant for nucleon decay searches.

The Fermi Galactic Center GeV excess and implications for dark matter

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; ...

2017-05-04

Here, the region around the Galactic Center (GC) is now well established to be brighter at energies of a few GeV than what is expected from conventional models of diffuse gamma-ray emission and catalogs of known gamma-ray sources. We study the GeV excess using 6.5 yr of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We characterize the uncertainty of the GC excess spectrum and morphology due to uncertainties in cosmic-ray source distributions and propagation, uncertainties in the distribution of interstellar gas in the Milky Way, and uncertainties due to a potential contribution from the Fermi bubbles. We also evaluate uncertaintiesmore » in the excess properties due to resolved point sources of gamma rays. The GC is of particular interest, as it would be expected to have the brightest signal from annihilation of weakly interacting massive dark matter (DM) particles. However, control regions along the Galactic plane, where a DM signal is not expected, show excesses of similar amplitude relative to the local background. Furthermore, based on the magnitude of the systematic uncertainties, we conservatively report upper limits for the annihilation cross-section as a function of particle mass and annihilation channel.« less

The Fermi Galactic Center GeV Excess and Implications for Dark Matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ackermann, M.; Buehler, R.; Ajello, M.

2017-05-01

The region around the Galactic Center (GC) is now well established to be brighter at energies of a few GeV than what is expected from conventional models of diffuse gamma-ray emission and catalogs of known gamma-ray sources. We study the GeV excess using 6.5 yr of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope. We characterize the uncertainty of the GC excess spectrum and morphology due to uncertainties in cosmic-ray source distributions and propagation, uncertainties in the distribution of interstellar gas in the Milky Way, and uncertainties due to a potential contribution from the Fermi bubbles. We also evaluate uncertainties inmore » the excess properties due to resolved point sources of gamma rays. The GC is of particular interest, as it would be expected to have the brightest signal from annihilation of weakly interacting massive dark matter (DM) particles. However, control regions along the Galactic plane, where a DM signal is not expected, show excesses of similar amplitude relative to the local background. Based on the magnitude of the systematic uncertainties, we conservatively report upper limits for the annihilation cross-section as a function of particle mass and annihilation channel.« less

Precision Higgs Physics, Effective Field Theory, and Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henning, Brian Quinn

The recent discovery of the Higgs boson calls for detailed studies of its properties. As precision measurements are indirect probes of new physics, the appropriate theoretical framework is effective field theory. In the first part of this thesis, we present a practical three-step procedure of using the Standard Model effective field theory (SM EFT) to connect ultraviolet (UV) models of new physics with weak scale precision observables. With this procedure, one can interpret precision measurements as constraints on the UV model concerned. We give a detailed explanation for calculating the effective action up to one-loop order in a manifestly gauge covariant fashion. The covariant derivative expansion dramatically simplifies the process of matching a UV model with the SM EFT, and also makes available a universal formalism that is easy to use for a variety of UV models. A few general aspects of renormalization group running effects and choosing operator bases are discussed. Finally, we provide mapping results between the bosonic sector of the SM EFT and a complete set of precision electroweak and Higgs observables to which present and near future experiments are sensitive. With a detailed understanding of how to use the SM EFT, we then turn to applications and study in detail two well-motivated test cases. The first is singlet scalar field that enables the first-order electroweak phase transition for baryogenesis; the second example is due to scalar tops in the MSSM. We find both Higgs and electroweak measurements are sensitive probes of these cases. The second part of this thesis centers around dark matter, and consists of two studies. In the first, we examine the effects of relic dark matter annihilations on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). The magnitude of these effects scale simply with the dark matter mass and annihilation cross-section, which we derive. Estimates based on these scaling behaviors indicate that BBN severely constrains hadronic and radiative dark matter annihilation channels in the previously unconsidered dark matter mass region MeV <˜ m x <˜ 10 GeV. Interestingly, we find that BBN constraints on hadronic annihilation channels are competitive with similar bounds derived from the cosmic microwave background. Our second study of dark matter concerns a possible connection with supersymmetry and the keV scale. Various theoretical and experimental considerations motivate models with high scale supersymmetry breaking. While such models may be difficult to test in colliders, we propose looking for signatures at much lower energies. We show that a keV line in the X-ray spectrum of galaxy clusters (such as the recently disputed 3.5 keV observation) can have its origin in a universal string axion coupled to a hidden supersymmetry breaking sector. A linear combination of the string axion and an additional axion in the hidden sector remains light, obtaining a mass of order 10 keV through supersymmetry breaking dynamics. In order to explain the X-ray line, the scale of supersymmetry breaking must be about 1011-12 GeV. This motivates high scale supersymmetry as in pure gravity mediation or minimal split supersymmetry and is consistent with all current limits. Since the axion mass is controlled by a dynamical mass scale, this mass can be much higher during inflation, avoiding isocurvature (and domain wall) problems associated with high scale inflation. In an appendix E we present a mechanism for dilaton stabilization that additionally leads to O(1) modifications of the gaugino mass from anomaly mediation.

A radiative neutrino mass model in light of DAMPE excess with hidden gauged U(1) symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nomura, Takaaki; Okada, Hiroshi; Wu, Peiwen

2018-05-01

We propose a one-loop induced neutrino mass model with hidden U(1) gauge symmetry, in which we successfully involve a bosonic dark matter (DM) candidate propagating inside a loop diagram in neutrino mass generation to explain the e+e‑ excess recently reported by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) experiment. In our scenario dark matter annihilates into four leptons through Z' boson as DM DM → Z' Z' (Z' → l+ l‑) and Z' decays into leptons via one-loop effect. We then investigate branching ratios of Z' taking into account lepton flavor violations and neutrino oscillation data.

INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS OF INVESTIGATION: Positron annihilation spectroscopy in materials structure studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grafutin, Viktor I.; Prokop'ev, Evgenii P.

2002-01-01

A relatively new method of materials structure analysis — positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) — is reviewed. Measurements of positron lifetimes, the determination of positron 3γ- and 2γ-annihilation probabilities, and an investigation of the effects of different external factors on the fundamental characteristics of annihilation constitute the basis for this promising method. The ways in which the positron annihilation process operates in ionic crystals, semiconductors, metals and some condensed matter systems are analyzed. The scope of PAS is described and its prospects for the study of the electronic and defect structures are discussed. The applications of positron annihilation spectroscopy in radiation physics and chemistry of various substances as well as in physics and chemistry of solutions are exemplified.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blennow, Mattias; Clementz, Stefan, E-mail: emb@kth.se, E-mail: scl@kth.se

Current problems with the solar model may be alleviated if a significant amount of dark matter from the galactic halo is captured in the Sun. We discuss the capture process in the case where the dark matter is a Dirac fermion and the background halo consists of equal amounts of dark matter and anti-dark matter. By considering the case where dark matter and anti-dark matter have different cross sections on solar nuclei as well as the case where the capture process is considered to be a Poisson process, we find that a significant asymmetry between the captured dark particles andmore » anti-particles is possible even for an annihilation cross section in the range expected for thermal relic dark matter. Since the captured number of particles are competitive with asymmetric dark matter models in a large range of parameter space, one may expect solar physics to be altered by the capture of Dirac dark matter. It is thus possible that solutions to the solar composition problem may be searched for in these type of models.« less

Constraining antimatter domains in the early universe with big bang nucleosynthesis.

PubMed

Kurki-Suonio, H; Sihvola, E

2000-04-24

We consider the effect of a small-scale matter-antimatter domain structure on big bang nucleosynthesis and place upper limits on the amount of antimatter in the early universe. For small domains, which annihilate before nucleosynthesis, this limit comes from underproduction of 4He. For larger domains, the limit comes from 3He overproduction. Since most of the 3He from &pmacr; 4He annihilation are themselves annihilated, the main source of primordial 3He is the photodisintegration of 4He by the electromagnetic cascades initiated by the annihilation.

Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter at direct detection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giudice, Gian F.; Kim, Doojin; Park, Jong-Chul; Shin, Seodong

2018-05-01

We explore a novel class of multi-particle dark sectors, called Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter (iBDM). These models are constructed by combining properties of particles that scatter off matter by making transitions to heavier states (Inelastic Dark Matter) with properties of particles that are produced with a large Lorentz boost in annihilation processes in the galactic halo (Boosted Dark Matter). This combination leads to new signals that can be observed at ordinary direct detection experiments, but require unconventional searches for energetic recoil electrons in coincidence with displaced multi-track events. Related experimental strategies can also be used to probe MeV-range boosted dark matter via their interactions with electrons inside the target material.

Singlino resonant dark matter and 125 GeV Higgs boson in high-scale supersymmetry.

PubMed

Ishikawa, Kazuya; Kitahara, Teppei; Takimoto, Masahiro

2014-09-26

We consider a singlino dark matter (DM) scenario in a singlet extension model of the minimal supersymmetric standard model, which is the so-called the nearly minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that with high-scale supersymmetry breaking the singlino can obtain a sizable radiative correction to the mass, which opens a window for the DM scenario with resonant annihilation via the exchange of the Higgs boson. We show that the current DM relic abundance and the Higgs boson mass can be explained simultaneously. This scenario can be fully probed by XENON1T.

Fitting the Fermi-LAT GeV excess: On the importance of including the propagation of electrons from dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lacroix, Thomas; BÅ`hm, Céline; Silk, Joseph

2014-08-01

An excess of gamma rays at GeV energies has been pointed out in the Fermi-LAT data. This signal comes from a narrow region centred around the Galactic center and has been interpreted as possible evidence for light dark matter particles annihilating either into a mixture of leptons-antileptons and bb ¯ or into bb ¯ only. Focusing on the prompt gamma-ray emission, previous works found that the best fit to the data corresponds to annihilations proceeding predominantly into bb ¯. However, here we show that omitting the photon emission originating from primary and secondary electrons produced in dark matter annihilations, and undergoing diffusion through the Galactic magnetic field, can actually lead to the wrong conclusion. Accounting for this emission, we find that not only are annihilations of ˜10 GeV particles into a purely leptonic final state allowed, but the democratic scenario actually provides a better fit to the spectrum of the excess than the pure bb ¯ channel. We conclude our work with a discussion on constraints on these leptophilic scenarios based on the AMS data and the morphology of the excess.

Search for 100 MeV to 10 GeV γ-ray lines in the Fermi-LAT data and implications for gravitino dark matter in the μνSSM

DOE PAGES

Albert, Andrea; Gómez-Vargas, Germán A.; Grefe, Michael; ...

2014-10-13

We present that dark matter decay or annihilation may produce monochromatic signals in the γ-ray energy range. In this work we argue that there are strong theoretical motivations for studying these signals in the framework of gravitino dark matter decay and we perform a search for γ-ray spectral lines from 100 MeV to 10 GeV with Fermi-LAT data. In contrast to previous line searches at higher energies, the sensitivity of the present search is dominated by systematic uncertainties across most of the energy range considered. We estimate the size of systematic effects by analysing the flux from a number ofmore » control regions, and include the systematic uncertainties consistently in our fitting procedure. We have not observed any significant signals and present model-independent limits on γ-ray line emission from decaying and annihilating dark matter. We apply the former limits to the case of the gravitino, a well-known dark matter candidate in supersymmetric scenarios. In particular, the R-parity violating ''μ from ν'' Supersymmetric Standard Model μνSSM) is an attractive scenario in which including right-handed neutrinos solves the μ problem of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model while simultaneously explaining the origin of neutrino masses. At the same time, the violation of R-parity renders the gravitino unstable and subject to decay into a photon and a neutrino. Finally, as a consequence of the limits on line emission, μνSSM gravitinos with masses larger than about 5 GeV, or lifetimes smaller than about 1028 s, are excluded at 95% confidence level as dark matter candidates.« less

Scalar dark matter in leptophilic two-Higgs-doublet model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandyopadhyay, Priyotosh; Chun, Eung Jin; Mandal, Rusa

2018-04-01

Two-Higgs-Doublet Model of Type-X in the large tan ⁡ β limit becomes leptophilic to allow a light pseudo-scalar A and thus provides an explanation of the muon g - 2 anomaly. Introducing a singlet scalar dark matter S in this context, one finds that two important dark matter properties, nucleonic scattering and self-annihilation, are featured separately by individual couplings of dark matter to the two Higgs doublets. While one of the two couplings is strongly constrained by direct detection experiments, the other remains free to be adjusted for the relic density mainly through the process SS → AA. This leads to the 4τ final states which can be probed by galactic gamma ray detections.

Indirect dark matter searches in the dwarf satellite galaxy Ursa Major II with the MAGIC telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahnen, M. L.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.; Arcaro, C.; Baack, D.; Babić, A.; Banerjee, B.; Bangale, P.; Barres de Almeida, U.; Barrio, J. A.; Becerra González, J.; Bednarek, W.; Bernardini, E.; Berse, R. Ch.; Berti, A.; Bhattacharyya, W.; Biland, A.; Blanch, O.; Bonnoli, G.; Carosi, R.; Carosi, A.; Ceribella, G.; Chatterjee, A.; Colak, S. M.; Colin, P.; Colombo, E.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Covino, S.; Cumani, P.; Da Vela, P.; Dazzi, F.; De Angelis, A.; De Lotto, B.; Delfino, M.; Delgado, J.; Di Pierro, F.; Domínguez, A.; Dominis Prester, D.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Einecke, S.; Elsaesser, D.; Fallah Ramazani, V.; Fernández-Barral, A.; Fidalgo, D.; Fonseca, M. V.; Font, L.; Fruck, C.; Galindo, D.; García López, R. J.; Garczarczyk, M.; Gaug, M.; Giammaria, P.; Godinović, N.; Gora, D.; Guberman, D.; Hadasch, D.; Hahn, A.; Hassan, T.; Hayashida, M.; Herrera, J.; Hose, J.; Hrupec, D.; Ishio, K.; Konno, Y.; Kubo, H.; Kushida, J.; Kuveždić, D.; Lelas, D.; Lindfors, E.; Lombardi, S.; Longo, F.; López, M.; Maggio, C.; Majumdar, P.; Makariev, M.; Maneva, G.; Manganaro, M.; Mannheim, K.; Maraschi, L.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Masuda, S.; Mazin, D.; Mielke, K.; Minev, M.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moralejo, A.; Moreno, V.; Moretti, E.; Nagayoshi, T.; Neustroev, V.; Niedzwiecki, A.; Nievas Rosillo, M.; Nigro, C.; Nilsson, K.; Ninci, D.; Nishijima, K.; Noda, K.; Nogués, L.; Paiano, S.; Palacio, J.; Paneque, D.; Paoletti, R.; Paredes, J. M.; Pedaletti, G.; Peresano, M.; Persic, M.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Prandini, E.; Puljak, I.; Garcia, J. R.; Reichardt, I.; Rhode, W.; Ribó, M.; Rico, J.; Righi, C.; Rugliancich, A.; Saito, T.; Satalecka, K.; Schweizer, T.; Sitarek, J.; Šnidarić, I.; Sobczynska, D.; Stamerra, A.; Strzys, M.; Surić, T.; Takahashi, M.; Takalo, L.; Tavecchio, F.; Temnikov, P.; Terzić, T.; Teshima, M.; Torres-Albà, N.; Treves, A.; Tsujimoto, S.; Vanzo, G.; Vazquez Acosta, M.; Vovk, I.; Ward, J. E.; Will, M.; Zarić, D.

2018-03-01

The dwarf spheroidal galaxy Ursa Major II (UMaII) is believed to be one of the most dark-matter dominated systems among the Milky Way satellites and represents a suitable target for indirect dark matter (DM) searches. The MAGIC telescopes carried out a deep observation campaign on UMaII between 2014 and 2016, collecting almost one hundred hours of good-quality data. This campaign enlarges the pool of DM targets observed at very high energy (E gtrsim 50 GeV) in search for signatures of DM annihilation in the wide mass range between ~100 GeV and ~100 TeV. To this end, the data are analyzed with the full likelihood analysis, a method based on the exploitation of the spectral information of the recorded events for an optimal sensitivity to the explored DM models. We obtain constraints on the annihilation cross-section for different channels that are among the most robust and stringent achieved so far at the TeV mass scale from observations of dwarf satellite galaxies.

Annihilation in Gases and Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drachman, Richard J. (Editor)

1990-01-01

This publication contains most of the papers, both invited and contributed, that were presented at the Workshop of Annihilation in Gases and Galaxies. This was the fifth in a biennial series associated with the International Conference on the Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions. Subjects covered included the scattering and annihilation of positrons and positronium atoms in various media, including those of astrophysical interest. In addition, the topics of antimatter and dark matter were covered.

Fermi LAT Search for Dark Matter in Gamma-Ray Lines and the Inclusive Photon Spectrum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; Baldini, L.; Barbiellini, G.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Berenji, B.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.;

Fermi LAT search for dark matter in gamma-ray lines and the inclusive photon spectrum

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.

2012-07-05

Dark matter particle annihilation or decay can produce monochromatic gamma-ray lines and contribute to the diffuse gamma-ray background. Furthermore, we present the flux upper limits for gamma-ray spectral lines from 7 to 200 GeV and for the diffuse gamma-ray background from 4.8 GeV to 264 GeV obtained from two years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data integrated over most of the sky. Here, we give cross-section upper limits and decay lifetime lower limits for dark matter models that produce gamma-ray lines or contribute to the diffuse spectrum, including models proposed as explanations of the PAMELA and Fermi cosmic-ray data.

Constraint on the velocity dependent dark matter annihilation cross section from gamma-ray and kinematic observations of ultrafaint dwarf galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yi; Bi, Xiao-Jun; Yin, Peng-Fei; Zhang, Xinmin

2018-03-01

Searching for γ rays from dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) is a promising approach to detect dark matter (DM) due to the high DM densities and low baryon components in dSphs. The Fermi-LAT observations from dSphs have set stringent constraints on the velocity independent annihilation cross section. However, the constraints from dSphs may change in velocity dependent annihilation scenarios because of the different velocity dispersions in galaxies. In this work, we study how to set constraints on the velocity dependent annihilation cross section from the combined Fermi-LAT observations of dSphs with the kinematic data. In order to calculate the γ ray flux from the dSph, the correlation between the DM density profile and velocity dispersion at each position should be taken into account. We study such correlation and the relevant uncertainty from kinematic observations by performing a Jeans analysis. Using the observational results of three ultrafaint dSphs with large J-factors, including Willman 1, Reticulum II, and Triangulum II, we set constraints on the p-wave annihilation cross section in the Galaxy as an example.

Nonstandard Yukawa couplings and Higgs portal dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bishara, Fady; Brod, Joachim; Uttayarat, Patipan

We study the implications of non-standard Higgs Yukawa couplings to light quarks on Higgs-portal dark matter phenomenology. Saturating the present experimental bounds on up-quark, down-quark, or strange-quark Yukawa couplings, the predicted direct dark matter detection scattering rate can increase by up to four orders of magnitude. The effect on the dark matter annihilation cross-section, on the other hand, is subleading unless the dark matter is very light — a scenario that is already excluded by measurements of the Higgs invisible decay width. We investigate the expected size of corrections in multi-Higgs-doublet models with natural flavor conservation, the type-II two-Higgs-doublet model,more » the Giudice-Lebedev model of light quark masses, minimal flavor violation new physics models, Randall-Sundrum, and composite Higgs models. We find that an enhancement in the dark matter scattering rate of an order of magnitude is possible. In conclusion, we point out that a discovery of Higgs-portal dark matter could lead to interesting bounds on the light-quark Yukawa couplings.« less

Nonstandard Yukawa couplings and Higgs portal dark matter

DOE PAGES

Bishara, Fady; Brod, Joachim; Uttayarat, Patipan; ...

2016-01-04

We study the implications of non-standard Higgs Yukawa couplings to light quarks on Higgs-portal dark matter phenomenology. Saturating the present experimental bounds on up-quark, down-quark, or strange-quark Yukawa couplings, the predicted direct dark matter detection scattering rate can increase by up to four orders of magnitude. The effect on the dark matter annihilation cross-section, on the other hand, is subleading unless the dark matter is very light — a scenario that is already excluded by measurements of the Higgs invisible decay width. We investigate the expected size of corrections in multi-Higgs-doublet models with natural flavor conservation, the type-II two-Higgs-doublet model,more » the Giudice-Lebedev model of light quark masses, minimal flavor violation new physics models, Randall-Sundrum, and composite Higgs models. We find that an enhancement in the dark matter scattering rate of an order of magnitude is possible. In conclusion, we point out that a discovery of Higgs-portal dark matter could lead to interesting bounds on the light-quark Yukawa couplings.« less

Experimental results on antiproton-nuclei annihilation cross section at very low energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghai-Khozani, H.; Barna, D.; Corradini, M.; Hayano, R.; Hori, M.; Kobayashi, T.; Leali, M.; Lodi-Rizzini, E.; Mascagna, V.; Prest, M.; Soter, A.; Todoroki, K.; Vallazza, E.; Venturelli, L.; Zurlo, N.

2014-03-01

Investigating the antiproton cross section on nuclei at low energies (1 eV - 1 MeV) is of great interest for fundamental cosmology and nuclear physics as well. The process is of great relevance for the models which try to explain the matter/antimatter asymmetry in the universe assuming the existence of the so-called "island" where antinucleon-nucleon annihilations occur in the border region [1]. For the nuclear physics point of view, the annihilation process is considered a useful tool to evaluate the neutron/proton ratio probing the external region of the nucleus. Moreover, the cross section measured at LEAR in the 80s-90s showed an unexpected behaviour for energies below 1 MeV. The results showed a saturation with the atomic mass number against the A2/3 trend which is known for higher energies. The ASACUSA collaboration at CERN measured 5.3 MeV antiproton annihilation cross section on different nuclei whose results demonstrated to be consistent with the black-disk model with the Coulomb correction [2]. So far, experimental limits prevented the data acquisition for energies below 1 MeV. In 2012 the 100 keV region has been investigated for the first time [3]. We present here the results of the experiment.

Revisiting simplified dark matter models in terms of AMS-02 and Fermi-LAT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Tong

2018-01-01

We perform an analysis of the simplified dark matter models in the light of cosmic ray observables by AMS-02 and Fermi-LAT. We assume fermion, scalar or vector dark matter particle with a leptophobic spin-0 mediator that couples only to Standard Model quarks and dark matter via scalar and/or pseudo-scalar bilinear. The propagation and injection parameters of cosmic rays are determined by the observed fluxes of nuclei from AMS-02. We find that the AMS-02 observations are consistent with the dark matter framework within the uncertainties. The AMS-02 antiproton data prefer 30 (50) GeV - 5 TeV dark matter mass and require an effective annihilation cross section in the region of 4 × 10-27 (7 × 10-27) - 4 × 10-24 cm3/s for the simplified fermion (scalar and vector) dark matter models. The cross sections below 2 × 10-26 cm3/s can evade the constraint from Fermi-LAT dwarf galaxies for about 100 GeV dark matter mass.

Search for Boosted Dark Matter Interacting with Electrons in Super-Kamiokande.

PubMed

Kachulis, C; Abe, K; Bronner, C; Hayato, Y; Ikeda, M; Iyogi, K; Kameda, J; Kato, Y; Kishimoto, Y; Marti, Ll; Miura, M; Moriyama, S; Nakahata, M; Nakano, Y; Nakayama, S; Okajima, Y; Orii, A; Pronost, G; Sekiya, H; Shiozawa, M; Sonoda, Y; Takeda, A; Takenaka, A; Tanaka, H; Tasaka, S; Tomura, T; Akutsu, R; Kajita, T; Kaneyuki, K; Nishimura, Y; Okumura, K; Tsui, K M; Labarga, L; Fernandez, P; Blaszczyk, F D M; Gustafson, J; Kearns, E; Raaf, J L; Stone, J L; Sulak, L R; Berkman, S; Tobayama, S; Goldhaber, M; Elnimr, M; Kropp, W R; Mine, S; Locke, S; Weatherly, P; Smy, M B; Sobel, H W; Takhistov, V; Ganezer, K S; Hill, J; Kim, J Y; Lim, I T; Park, R G; Himmel, A; Li, Z; O'Sullivan, E; Scholberg, K; Walter, C W; Ishizuka, T; Nakamura, T; Jang, J S; Choi, K; Learned, J G; Matsuno, S; Smith, S N; Amey, J; Litchfield, R P; Ma, W Y; Uchida, Y; Wascko, M O; Cao, S; Friend, M; Hasegawa, T; Ishida, T; Ishii, T; Kobayashi, T; Nakadaira, T; Nakamura, K; Oyama, Y; Sakashita, K; Sekiguchi, T; Tsukamoto, T; Abe, K E; Hasegawa, M; Suzuki, A T; Takeuchi, Y; Yano, T; Hayashino, T; Hiraki, T; Hirota, S; Huang, K; Jiang, M; Nakamura, K E; Nakaya, T; Quilain, B; Patel, N D; Wendell, R A; Anthony, L H V; McCauley, N; Pritchard, A; Fukuda, Y; Itow, Y; Murase, M; Muto, F; Mijakowski, P; Frankiewicz, K; Jung, C K; Li, X; Palomino, J L; Santucci, G; Vilela, C; Wilking, M J; Yanagisawa, C; Ito, S; Fukuda, D; Ishino, H; Kibayashi, A; Koshio, Y; Nagata, H; Sakuda, M; Xu, C; Kuno, Y; Wark, D; Di Lodovico, F; Richards, B; Tacik, R; Kim, S B; Cole, A; Thompson, L; Okazawa, H; Choi, Y; Ito, K; Nishijima, K; Koshiba, M; Totsuka, Y; Suda, Y; Yokoyama, M; Calland, R G; Hartz, M; Martens, K; Simpson, C; Suzuki, Y; Vagins, M R; Hamabe, D; Kuze, M; Yoshida, T; Ishitsuka, M; Martin, J F; Nantais, C M; Tanaka, H A; Konaka, A; Chen, S; Wan, L; Zhang, Y; Wilkes, R J; Minamino, A

2018-06-01

A search for boosted dark matter using 161.9 kt yr of Super-Kamiokande IV data is presented. We search for an excess of elastically scattered electrons above the atmospheric neutrino background, with a visible energy between 100 MeV and 1 TeV, pointing back to the Galactic center or the Sun. No such excess is observed. Limits on boosted dark matter event rates in multiple angular cones around the Galactic center and Sun are calculated. Limits are also calculated for a baseline model of boosted dark matter produced from cold dark matter annihilation or decay. This is the first experimental search for boosted dark matter from the Galactic center or the Sun interacting in a terrestrial detector.

Search for Boosted Dark Matter Interacting with Electrons in Super-Kamiokande

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kachulis, C.; Abe, K.; Bronner, C.; Hayato, Y.; Ikeda, M.; Iyogi, K.; Kameda, J.; Kato, Y.; Kishimoto, Y.; Marti, Ll.; Miura, M.; Moriyama, S.; Nakahata, M.; Nakano, Y.; Nakayama, S.; Okajima, Y.; Orii, A.; Pronost, G.; Sekiya, H.; Shiozawa, M.; Sonoda, Y.; Takeda, A.; Takenaka, A.; Tanaka, H.; Tasaka, S.; Tomura, T.; Akutsu, R.; Kajita, T.; Kaneyuki, K.; Nishimura, Y.; Okumura, K.; Tsui, K. M.; Labarga, L.; Fernandez, P.; Blaszczyk, F. d. M.; Gustafson, J.; Kearns, E.; Raaf, J. L.; Stone, J. L.; Sulak, L. R.; Berkman, S.; Tobayama, S.; Goldhaber, M.; Elnimr, M.; Kropp, W. R.; Mine, S.; Locke, S.; Weatherly, P.; Smy, M. B.; Sobel, H. W.; Takhistov, V.; Ganezer, K. S.; Hill, J.; Kim, J. Y.; Lim, I. T.; Park, R. G.; Himmel, A.; Li, Z.; O'Sullivan, E.; Scholberg, K.; Walter, C. W.; Ishizuka, T.; Nakamura, T.; Jang, J. S.; Choi, K.; Learned, J. G.; Matsuno, S.; Smith, S. N.; Amey, J.; Litchfield, R. P.; Ma, W. Y.; Uchida, Y.; Wascko, M. O.; Cao, S.; Friend, M.; Hasegawa, T.; Ishida, T.; Ishii, T.; Kobayashi, T.; Nakadaira, T.; Nakamura, K.; Oyama, Y.; Sakashita, K.; Sekiguchi, T.; Tsukamoto, T.; Abe, KE.; Hasegawa, M.; Suzuki, A. T.; Takeuchi, Y.; Yano, T.; Hayashino, T.; Hiraki, T.; Hirota, S.; Huang, K.; Jiang, M.; Nakamura, KE.; Nakaya, T.; Quilain, B.; Patel, N. D.; Wendell, R. A.; Anthony, L. H. V.; McCauley, N.; Pritchard, A.; Fukuda, Y.; Itow, Y.; Murase, M.; Muto, F.; Mijakowski, P.; Frankiewicz, K.; Jung, C. K.; Li, X.; Palomino, J. L.; Santucci, G.; Vilela, C.; Wilking, M. J.; Yanagisawa, C.; Ito, S.; Fukuda, D.; Ishino, H.; Kibayashi, A.; Koshio, Y.; Nagata, H.; Sakuda, M.; Xu, C.; Kuno, Y.; Wark, D.; Di Lodovico, F.; Richards, B.; Tacik, R.; Kim, S. B.; Cole, A.; Thompson, L.; Okazawa, H.; Choi, Y.; Ito, K.; Nishijima, K.; Koshiba, M.; Totsuka, Y.; Suda, Y.; Yokoyama, M.; Calland, R. G.; Hartz, M.; Martens, K.; Simpson, C.; Suzuki, Y.; Vagins, M. R.; Hamabe, D.; Kuze, M.; Yoshida, T.; Ishitsuka, M.; Martin, J. F.; Nantais, C. M.; Tanaka, H. A.; Konaka, A.; Chen, S.; Wan, L.; Zhang, Y.; Wilkes, R. J.; Minamino, A.; Super-Kamiokande Collaboration

2018-06-01

A search for boosted dark matter using 161.9 kt yr of Super-Kamiokande IV data is presented. We search for an excess of elastically scattered electrons above the atmospheric neutrino background, with a visible energy between 100 MeV and 1 TeV, pointing back to the Galactic center or the Sun. No such excess is observed. Limits on boosted dark matter event rates in multiple angular cones around the Galactic center and Sun are calculated. Limits are also calculated for a baseline model of boosted dark matter produced from cold dark matter annihilation or decay. This is the first experimental search for boosted dark matter from the Galactic center or the Sun interacting in a terrestrial detector.

Supersymmetric model for dark matter and baryogenesis motivated by the recent CDMS result.

PubMed

Allahverdi, Rouzbeh; Dutta, Bhaskar; Mohapatra, Rabindra N; Sinha, Kuver

2013-08-02

We discuss a supersymmetric model for cogenesis of dark and baryonic matter where the dark matter (DM) has mass in the 8-10 GeV range as indicated by several direct detection searches, including most recently the CDMS experiment with the desired cross section. The DM candidate is a real scalar field. Two key distinguishing features of the model are the following: (i) in contrast with the conventional weakly interacting massive particle dark matter scenarios where thermal freeze-out is responsible for the observed relic density, our model uses nonthermal production of dark matter after reheating of the Universe caused by moduli decay at temperatures below the QCD phase transition, a feature which alleviates the relic overabundance problem caused by small annihilation cross section of light DM particles and (ii) baryogenesis occurs also at similar low temperatures from the decay of TeV scale mediator particles arising from moduli decay. A possible test of this model is the existence of colored particles with TeV masses accessible at the LHC.

Asymmetric capture of Dirac dark matter by the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blennow, Mattias; Clementz, Stefan

2015-08-18

Current problems with the solar model may be alleviated if a significant amount of dark matter from the galactic halo is captured in the Sun. We discuss the capture process in the case where the dark matter is a Dirac fermion and the background halo consists of equal amounts of dark matter and anti-dark matter. By considering the case where dark matter and anti-dark matter have different cross sections on solar nuclei as well as the case where the capture process is considered to be a Poisson process, we find that a significant asymmetry between the captured dark particles andmore » anti-particles is possible even for an annihilation cross section in the range expected for thermal relic dark matter. Since the captured number of particles are competitive with asymmetric dark matter models in a large range of parameter space, one may expect solar physics to be altered by the capture of Dirac dark matter. It is thus possible that solutions to the solar composition problem may be searched for in these type of models.« less

Dark Matter's secret liaisons: phenomenology of a dark U(1) sector with bound states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cirelli, Marco; Panci, Paolo; Petraki, Kalliopi; Sala, Filippo; Taoso, Marco

2017-05-01

Dark matter (DM) charged under a dark U(1) force appears in many extensions of the Standard Model, and has been invoked to explain anomalies in cosmic-ray data, as well as a self-interacting DM candidate. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive phenomenological analysis of such a model, assuming that the DM abundance arises from the thermal freeze-out of the dark interactions. We include, for the first time, bound-state effects both in the DM production and in the indirect detection signals, and quantify their importance for FERMI, AMS-02, and CMB experiments. We find that DM in the mass range 1 GeV to 100 TeV, annihilating into dark photons of MeV to GeV mass, is in conflict with observations. Instead, DM annihilation into heavier dark photons is viable. We point out that the late decays of multi-GeV dark photons can produce significant entropy and thus dilute the DM density. This can lower considerably the dark coupling needed to obtain the DM abundance, and in turn relax the existing constraints.

Dark Matter's secret liaisons: phenomenology of a dark U(1) sector with bound states

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cirelli, Marco; Petraki, Kalliopi; Sala, Filippo

Dark matter (DM) charged under a dark U(1) force appears in many extensions of the Standard Model, and has been invoked to explain anomalies in cosmic-ray data, as well as a self-interacting DM candidate. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive phenomenological analysis of such a model, assuming that the DM abundance arises from the thermal freeze-out of the dark interactions. We include, for the first time, bound-state effects both in the DM production and in the indirect detection signals, and quantify their importance for FERMI, AMS-02, and CMB experiments. We find that DM in the mass range 1 GeVmore » to 100 TeV, annihilating into dark photons of MeV to GeV mass, is in conflict with observations. Instead, DM annihilation into heavier dark photons is viable. We point out that the late decays of multi-GeV dark photons can produce significant entropy and thus dilute the DM density. This can lower considerably the dark coupling needed to obtain the DM abundance, and in turn relax the existing constraints.« less

Complementary test of the dark matter self-interaction in dark U(1) model by direct and indirect dark matter detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Chian-Shu; Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, No. 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, Taiwan, 30010 R.O.C.; Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, 128 Sec. 2,Academia Rd., Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan, 11529 R.O.C.

2016-01-07

The halo dark matter (DM) can be captured by the Sun if its final velocity after the collision with a nucleus in the Sun is less than the escape velocity. We consider a selfinteracting dark matter (SIDM) model where U(1) gauge symmetry is introduced to account for the DM self-interaction. Such a model naturally leads to isospin violating DM-nucleon interaction, although isospin symmetric interaction is still allowed as a special case. We present the IceCube-PINGU 2σ sensitivity to the parameter range of the above model with 5 years of search for neutrino signature from DM annihilation in the Sun. Thismore » indirect detection complements the direct detection by probing those SIDM parameter ranges which are either the region for very small m{sub χ} or the region opened up due to isospin violations.« less

Complementary test of the dark matter self-interaction in dark U(1) model by direct and indirect dark matter detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Chian-Shu; Lin, Guey-Lin; Lin, Yen-Hsun, E-mail: chianshu@gmail.com, E-mail: glin@cc.nctu.edu.tw, E-mail: chris.py99g@g2.nctu.edu.tw

2016-01-01

The halo dark matter (DM) can be captured by the Sun if its final velocity after the collision with a nucleus in the Sun is less than the escape velocity. We consider a selfinteracting dark matter (SIDM) model where U(1) gauge symmetry is introduced to account for the DM self-interaction. Such a model naturally leads to isospin violating DM-nucleon interaction, although isospin symmetric interaction is still allowed as a special case. We present the IceCube-PINGU 2σ sensitivity to the parameter range of the above model with 5 years of search for neutrino signature from DM annihilation in the Sun. Thismore » indirect detection complements the direct detection by probing those SIDM parameter ranges which are either the region for very small m{sub χ} or the region opened up due to isospin violations.« less

Indirect searches for dark matter with the Fermi large area telescope

DOE PAGES

Albert, Andrea

2015-03-24

There is overwhelming evidence that non-baryonic dark matter constitutes ~ 27% of the energy density of the Universe. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are promising dark matter candidates that may produce γ rays via annihilation or decay detectable by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). A detection of WIMPs would also indicate the existence of physics beyond the Standard Model. We present recent results from the two cleanest indirect WIMP searches by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration: searches for γ-ray spectral lines and γ-ray emission associated with Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies.

PeV-scale dark matter as a thermal relic of a decoupled sector

DOE PAGES

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; Krnjaic, Gordan

2016-06-21

We consider a class of scenarios in which the dark matter is part of a heavy hidden sector that is thermally decoupled from the Standard Model in the early universe. The dark matter freezes-out by annihilating to a lighter, metastable state, whose subsequent abundance can naturally come to dominate the energy density of the universe. Moreover, when this state decays, it reheats the visible sector and dilutes all relic abundances, thereby allowing the dark matter to be orders of magnitude heavier than the weak scale. For concreteness, we consider a simple realization with a Dirac fermion dark matter candidate coupledmore » to a massive gauge boson that decays to the Standard Model through its kinetic mixing with hypercharge. Finally, we identify viable parameter space in which the dark matter can be as heavy as ~1-100 PeV without being overproduced in the early universe.« less

Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation from Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with Six Years of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data.

PubMed

Ackermann, M; Albert, A; Anderson, B; Atwood, W B; Baldini, L; Barbiellini, G; Bastieri, D; Bechtol, K; Bellazzini, R; Bissaldi, E; Blandford, R D; Bloom, E D; Bonino, R; Bottacini, E; Brandt, T J; Bregeon, J; Bruel, P; Buehler, R; Caliandro, G A; Cameron, R A; Caputo, R; Caragiulo, M; Caraveo, P A; Cecchi, C; Charles, E; Chekhtman, A; Chiang, J; Chiaro, G; Ciprini, S; Claus, R; Cohen-Tanugi, J; Conrad, J; Cuoco, A; Cutini, S; D'Ammando, F; de Angelis, A; de Palma, F; Desiante, R; Digel, S W; Di Venere, L; Drell, P S; Drlica-Wagner, A; Essig, R; Favuzzi, C; Fegan, S J; Ferrara, E C; Focke, W B; Franckowiak, A; Fukazawa, Y; Funk, S; Fusco, P; Gargano, F; Gasparrini, D; Giglietto, N; Giordano, F; Giroletti, M; Glanzman, T; Godfrey, G; Gomez-Vargas, G A; Grenier, I A; Guiriec, S; Gustafsson, M; Hays, E; Hewitt, J W; Horan, D; Jogler, T; Jóhannesson, G; Kuss, M; Larsson, S; Latronico, L; Li, J; Li, L; Llena Garde, M; Longo, F; Loparco, F; Lubrano, P; Malyshev, D; Mayer, M; Mazziotta, M N; McEnery, J E; Meyer, M; Michelson, P F; Mizuno, T; Moiseev, A A; Monzani, M E; Morselli, A; Murgia, S; Nuss, E; Ohsugi, T; Orienti, M; Orlando, E; Ormes, J F; Paneque, D; Perkins, J S; Pesce-Rollins, M; Piron, F; Pivato, G; Porter, T A; Rainò, S; Rando, R; Razzano, M; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Ritz, S; Sánchez-Conde, M; Schulz, A; Sehgal, N; Sgrò, C; Siskind, E J; Spada, F; Spandre, G; Spinelli, P; Strigari, L; Tajima, H; Takahashi, H; Thayer, J B; Tibaldo, L; Torres, D F; Troja, E; Vianello, G; Werner, M; Winer, B L; Wood, K S; Wood, M; Zaharijas, G; Zimmer, S

2015-12-04

The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) of the Milky Way are some of the most dark matter (DM) dominated objects known. We report on γ-ray observations of Milky Way dSphs based on six years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data processed with the new Pass8 event-level analysis. None of the dSphs are significantly detected in γ rays, and we present upper limits on the DM annihilation cross section from a combined analysis of 15 dSphs. These constraints are among the strongest and most robust to date and lie below the canonical thermal relic cross section for DM of mass ≲100  GeV annihilating via quark and τ-lepton channels.

Non-abelian vector boson dark matter, its unified route and signatures at the LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barman, Basabendu; Bhattacharya, Subhaditya; Patra, Sunando Kumar; Chakrabortty, Joydeep

2017-12-01

Vector boson dark matter (DM) appears in SU(2)N extension (N stands for neutral) of Standard Model (SM) where an additional global U(1)P symmetry is assumed and results in a generalized lepton number defined as: L=P+T3N. Breaking of U(1)P leads to the breaking of L to (‑1)L, thus stabilizing DM through modified R=(‑1)3B+L+2J. This model, already discussed in literature, offers several novel features to elaborate upon. For example, t-channel annihilation and dominant s-channel direct search, along with co-annihilation, helps the DM to evade stringent direct search bounds from LUX and XENON1T after satisfying relic density constraints. On the other hand, the exotic particles of the model can be produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) yielding multilepton final states. Hadronically quiet four lepton signal with large missing energy, in specific, is shown to provide a smoking gun signature of such a framework. We study the details of E(6) → SM SU(2)N breaking patterns (through D-parity odd/even cases) which yield important phenomenological consequences.

Stop coannihilation in the CMSSM and SubGUT models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellis, John; Evans, Jason L.; Luo, Feng; Olive, Keith A.; Zheng, Jiaming

2018-05-01

Stop coannihilation may bring the relic density of heavy supersymmetric dark matter particles into the range allowed by cosmology. The efficiency of this process is enhanced by stop-antistop annihilations into the longitudinal (Goldstone) modes of the W and Z bosons, as well as by Sommerfeld enhancement of stop annihilations and the effects of bound states. Since the couplings of the stops to the Goldstone modes are proportional to the trilinear soft supersymmetry-breaking A-terms, these annihilations are enhanced when the A-terms are large. However, the Higgs mass may be reduced below the measured value if the A-terms are too large. Unfortunately, the interpretation of this constraint on the stop coannihilation strip is clouded by differences between the available Higgs mass calculators. For our study, we use as our default calculator FeynHiggs 2.13.0, the most recent publicly available version of this code. Exploring the CMSSM parameter space, we find that along the stop coannihilation strip the masses of the stops are severely split by the large A-terms. This suppresses the Higgs mass drastically for μ and A_0 > 0, whilst the extent of the stop coannihilation strip is limited for A_0 < 0 and either sign of μ . However, in sub-GUT models, reduced renormalization-group running mitigates the effect of the large A-terms, allowing larger LSP masses to be consistent with the Higgs mass calculation. We give examples where the dark matter particle mass may reach ≳ 8 TeV.

GEANT4-based full simulation of the PADME experiment at the DAΦNE BTF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonardi, E.; Kozhuharov, V.; Raggi, M.; Valente, P.

2017-10-01

A possible solution to the dark matter problem postulates that dark particles can interact with Standard Model particles only through a new force mediated by a “portal”. If the new force has a U(1) gauge structure, the “portal” is a massive photon-like vector particle, called dark photon or A‧. The PADME experiment at the DAΦNE Beam-Test Facility (BTF) in Frascati is designed to detect dark photons produced in positron on fixed target annihilations decaying to dark matter (e+e-→γA‧) by measuring the final state missing mass. The experiment will be composed of a thin active diamond target where a 550 MeV positron beam will impinge to produce e+e- annihilation events. The surviving beam will be deflected with a magnet while the photons produced in the annihilation will be measured by a calorimeter composed of BGO crystals. To reject the background from Bremsstrahlung gamma production, a set of segmented plastic scintillator vetoes will be used to detect positrons exiting the target with an energy lower than that of the beam, while a fast small angle calorimeter will be used to reject the e+e-→γγ(γ) background. To optimize the experimental layout in terms of signal acceptance and background rejection, the full layout of the experiment was modelled with the GEANT4 simulation package. In this paper we will describe the details of the simulation and report on the results obtained with the software.

Realistic estimation for the detectability of dark matter subhalos using Fermi-LAT catalogs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calore, Francesca; De Romeri, Valentina; Di Mauro, Mattia; Donato, Fiorenza; Marinacci, Federico

2017-09-01

Numerical simulations of structure formation have made remarkable progress in recent years, in particular due to the inclusion of baryonic physics evolving with the dark matter component. We generate Monte Carlo realizations of the dark matter subhalo population based on the results of the recent hydrodynamical simulation suite of Milky Way-sized galaxies [F. Marinacci, R. Pakmor, and V. Springel, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 437, 1750 (2014)., 10.1093/mnras/stt2003]. We then simulate the gamma-ray sky for both the setup of the 3FGL and 2FHL Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalogs, including the contribution from the annihilation of dark matter in the subhalos. We find that the flux sensitivity threshold strongly depends on the particle dark matter mass and, more mildly, also on its annihilation channel and the observation latitude. The results differ for the 3FGL and 2FHL catalogs, given their different energy thresholds. We also predict that the number of dark matter subhalos among the unassociated sources is very small. A null number of detectable subhalos in the Fermi-LAT 3FGL catalog would imply upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section into b b ¯ of 2 ×10-26(5 ×10-25) cm3 /s with MDM=50 (1000 ) GeV . We find less than one extended subhalo in the Fermi-LAT 3FGL catalog. As a matter of fact, the differences in the spatial and mass distribution of subhalos between hydrodynamic and dark matter-only runs do not have significant impact on the detectability of dark subhalos in gamma rays.

Applications of positron annihilation spectroscopy in materials research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Jag J.

1988-01-01

Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS) has emerged as a powerful technique for research in condensed matter. It has been used extensively in the study of metals, ionic crystals, glasses and polymers. The present review concentrates on applications of positron lifetime measurements for elucidation of the physicochemical structure of polymers.

Dark matter subhalos and unidentified sources in the Fermi 3FGL source catalog

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schoonenberg, Djoeke; Gaskins, Jennifer; Bertone, Gianfranco

2016-05-01

If dark matter consists of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), dark matter subhalos in the Milky Way could be detectable as gamma-ray point sources due to WIMP annihilation. In this work, we perform an updated study of the detectability of dark matter subhalos as gamma-ray sources with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi LAT). We use the results of the Via Lactea II simulation, scaled to the Planck 2015 cosmological parameters, to predict the local dark matter subhalo distribution. Under optimistic assumptions for the WIMP parameters—a 40 GeV particle annihilating to b b-bar with a thermal cross-section, as required tomore » explain the Galactic center GeV excess—we predict that at most ∼ 10 subhalos might be present in the third Fermi LAT source catalog (3FGL). This is a smaller number than has been predicted by prior studies, and we discuss the origin of this difference. We also compare our predictions for the detectability of subhalos with the number of subhalo candidate sources in 3FGL, and derive upper limits on the WIMP annihilation cross-section as a function of the particle mass. If a dark matter interpretation could be excluded for all 3FGL sources, our constraints would be competitive with those found by indirect searches using other targets, such as known Milky Way satellite galaxies.« less

Quark seesaw mechanism, dark U (1 ) symmetry, and the baryon-dark matter coincidence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Pei-Hong; Mohapatra, Rabindra N.

2017-09-01

We attempt to understand the baryon-dark matter coincidence problem within the quark seesaw extension of the standard model where parity invariance is used to solve the strong C P problem. The S U (2 )L×S U (2 )R×U (1 )B -L gauge symmetry of this model is extended by a dark U (1 )X group plus inclusion of a heavy neutral vector-like fermion χL ,R charged under the dark group which plays the role of dark matter. All fermions are Dirac type in this model. Decay of heavy scalars charged under U (1 )X leads to simultaneous asymmetry generation of the dark matter and baryons after sphaleron effects are included. The U (1 )X group not only helps to stabilize the dark matter but also helps in the elimination of the symmetric part of the dark matter via χ -χ ¯ annihilation. For dark matter mass near the proton mass, it explains why the baryon and dark matter abundances are of similar magnitude (the baryon-dark matter coincidence problem). This model is testable in low threshold (sub-keV) direct dark matter search experiments.

Solar Extreme UV radiation and quark nugget dark matter model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhitnitsky, Ariel, E-mail: arz@phas.ubc.ca

2017-10-01

We advocate the idea that the surprising emission of extreme ultra violet (EUV) radiation and soft x-rays from the Sun are powered externally by incident dark matter (DM) particles. The energy and the spectral shape of this otherwise unexpected solar irradiation is estimated within the quark nugget dark matter model. This model was originally invented as a natural explanation of the observed ratio Ω{sub dark} ∼ Ω{sub visible} when the DM and visible matter densities assume the same order of magnitude values. This generic consequence of the model is a result of the common origin of both types of mattermore » which are formed during the same QCD transition and both proportional to the same fundamental dimensional parameter Λ{sub QCD}. We also present arguments suggesting that the transient brightening-like 'nanoflares' in the Sun may be related to the annihilation events which inevitably occur in the solar atmosphere within this dark matter scenario.« less

A Scintillation Counter System Design To Detect Antiproton Annihilation using the High Performance Antiproton Trap(HiPAT)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, James J.; Lewis, Raymond A.; Stanojev, Boris

2003-01-01

The High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT), a system designed to hold up to l0(exp 12) charge particles with a storage half-life of approximately 18 days, is a tool to support basic antimatter research. NASA's interest stems from the energy density represented by the annihilation of matter with antimatter, 10(exp 2)MJ/g. The HiPAT is configured with a Penning-Malmberg style electromagnetic confinement region with field strengths up to 4 Tesla, and 20kV. To date a series of normal matter experiments, using positive and negative ions, have been performed evaluating the designs performance prior to operations with antiprotons. The primary methods of detecting and monitoring stored normal matter ions and antiprotons within the trap includes a destructive extraction technique that makes use of a micro channel plate (MCP) device and a non-destractive radio frequency scheme tuned to key particle frequencies. However, an independent means of detecting stored antiprotons is possible by making use of the actual annihilation products as a unique indicator. The immediate yield of the annihilation event includes photons and pie mesons, emanating spherically from the point of annihilation. To "count" these events, a hardware system of scintillators, discriminators, coincident meters and multi channel scalars (MCS) have been configured to surround much of the HiPAT. Signal coincidence with voting logic is an essential part of this system, necessary to weed out the single cosmic ray events from the multi-particle annihilation shower. This system can be operated in a variety of modes accommodating various conditions. The first is a low-speed sampling interval that monitors the background loss or "evaporation" rate of antiprotons held in the trap during long storage periods; provides an independent method of validating particle lifetimes. The second is a high-speed sample rate accumulating information on a microseconds time-scale; useful when trapped antiparticles are extracted against a target, providing an indication of quantity. This paper details the layout of this system, setup of the hardware components around HiPAT, and applicable checkouts using normal matter radioactive sources.

An Effective Theory of Dirac Dark Matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harnik, Roni; /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /SLAC; Kribs, Graham D.

2010-06-11

A stable Dirac fermion with four-fermion interactions to leptons suppressed by a scale {Lambda} {approx} 1 TeV is shown to provide a viable candidate for dark matter. The thermal relic abundance matches cosmology, while nuclear recoil direct detection bounds are automatically avoided in the absence of (large) couplings to quarks. The annihilation cross section in the early Universe is the same as the annihilation in our galactic neighborhood. This allows Dirac fermion dark matter to naturally explain the positron ratio excess observed by PAMELA with a minimal boost factor, given present astrophysical uncertainties. We use the Galprop program for propagationmore » of signal and background; we discuss in detail the uncertainties resulting from the propagation parameters and, more importantly, the injected spectra. Fermi/GLAST has an opportunity to see a feature in the gamma-ray spectrum at the mass of the Dirac fermion. The excess observed by ATIC/PPB-BETS may also be explained with Dirac dark matter that is heavy. A supersymmetric model with a Dirac bino provides a viable UV model of the effective theory. The dominance of the leptonic operators, and thus the observation of an excess in positrons and not in anti-protons, is naturally explained by the large hypercharge and low mass of sleptons as compared with squarks. Minimizing the boost factor implies the right-handed selectron is the lightest slepton, which is characteristic of our model. Selectrons (or sleptons) with mass less than a few hundred GeV are an inescapable consequence awaiting discovery at the LHC.« less

Is the gamma-ray source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 a dark matter subhalo?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertoni, Bridget; Hooper, Dan; Linden, Tim

2016-05-01

In a previous paper, we pointed out that the gamma-ray source 3FGL J2212.5+\\linebreak 0703 shows evidence of being spatially extended. If a gamma-ray source without detectable emission at other wavelengths were unambiguously determined to be spatially extended, it could not be explained by known astrophysics, and would constitute a smoking gun for dark matter particles annihilating in a nearby subhalo. With this prospect in mind, we scrutinize the gamma-ray emission from this source, finding that it prefers a spatially extended profile over that of a single point-like source with 5.1σ statistical significance. We also use a large sample of active galactic nuclei and other known gamma-rays sources as a control group, confirming, as expected, that statistically significant extension is rare among such objects. We argue that the most likely (non-dark matter) explanation for this apparent extension is a pair of bright gamma-ray sources that serendipitously lie very close to each other, and estimate that there is a chance probability of ~2% that such a pair would exist somewhere on the sky. In the case of 3FGL J2212.5+0703, we test an alternative model that includes a second gamma-ray point source at the position of the radio source BZQ J2212+0646, and find that the addition of this source alongside a point source at the position of 3FGL J2212.5+0703 yields a fit of comparable quality to that obtained for a single extended source. If 3FGL J2212.5+0703 is a dark matter subhalo, it would imply that dark matter particles have a mass of ~18-33 GeV and an annihilation cross section on the order of σ v ~ 10-26 cm3/s (for the representative case of annihilations to bbar b), similar to the values required to generate the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess.

Is the gamma-ray source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 a dark matter subhalo?

DOE PAGES

Bertoni, Bridget; Hooper, Dan; Linden, Tim

2016-05-23

In a previous study, we pointed out that the gamma-ray source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 shows evidence of being spatially extended. If a gamma-ray source without detectable emission at other wavelengths were unambiguously determined to be spatially extended, it could not be explained by known astrophysics, and would constitute a smoking gun for dark matter particles annihilating in a nearby subhalo. With this prospect in mind, we scrutinize the gamma-ray emission from this source, finding that it prefers a spatially extended profile over that of a single point-like source with 5.1σ statistical significance. We also use a large sample of active galactic nuclei and other known gamma-rays sources as a control group, confirming, as expected, that statistically significant extension is rare among such objects. We argue that the most likely (non-dark matter) explanation for this apparent extension is a pair of bright gamma-ray sources that serendipitously lie very close to each other, and estimate that there is a chance probability of ~2% that such a pair would exist somewhere on the sky. In the case of 3FGL J2212.5+0703, we test an alternative model that includes a second gamma-ray point source at the position of the radio source BZQ J2212+0646, and find that the addition of this source alongside a point source at the position of 3FGL J2212.5+0703 yields a fit of comparable quality to that obtained for a single extended source. If 3FGL J2212.5+0703 is a dark matter subhalo, it would imply that dark matter particles have a mass of ~18–33 GeV and an annihilation cross section on the order of σv ~ 10 –26 cm(3)/s (for the representative case of annihilations tomore » $$b\\bar{b}$$), similar to the values required to generate the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess.« less

Is the gamma-ray source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 a dark matter subhalo?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bertoni, Bridget; Hooper, Dan; Linden, Tim

In a previous study, we pointed out that the gamma-ray source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 shows evidence of being spatially extended. If a gamma-ray source without detectable emission at other wavelengths were unambiguously determined to be spatially extended, it could not be explained by known astrophysics, and would constitute a smoking gun for dark matter particles annihilating in a nearby subhalo. With this prospect in mind, we scrutinize the gamma-ray emission from this source, finding that it prefers a spatially extended profile over that of a single point-like source with 5.1σ statistical significance. We also use a large sample of active galactic nuclei and other known gamma-rays sources as a control group, confirming, as expected, that statistically significant extension is rare among such objects. We argue that the most likely (non-dark matter) explanation for this apparent extension is a pair of bright gamma-ray sources that serendipitously lie very close to each other, and estimate that there is a chance probability of ~2% that such a pair would exist somewhere on the sky. In the case of 3FGL J2212.5+0703, we test an alternative model that includes a second gamma-ray point source at the position of the radio source BZQ J2212+0646, and find that the addition of this source alongside a point source at the position of 3FGL J2212.5+0703 yields a fit of comparable quality to that obtained for a single extended source. If 3FGL J2212.5+0703 is a dark matter subhalo, it would imply that dark matter particles have a mass of ~18–33 GeV and an annihilation cross section on the order of σv ~ 10 –26 cm(3)/s (for the representative case of annihilations tomore » $$b\\bar{b}$$), similar to the values required to generate the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess.« less

Dark Matter Search in Space: Combined Analysis of Cosmic-Ray Antiproton-to-proton Flux Ratio and Positron Flux Measured by AMS-02

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Jie; Zhang, Hong-Hao

2018-05-01

Dark matter searches in space have been carried out for many years. Measurements of cosmic-ray (CR) photons, charged antiparticles, and neutrinos are useful tools for dark matter indirect searches. The antiparticle energy spectra of CRs have several exciting features, such as the unexpected positron excess at E ∼ 10–500 GeV and the remarkably flattening antiproton/proton at E ∼ 60–450 GeV precisely measured by the AMS-02 experiment, which cannot be explained simultaneously by secondary production in the interstellar medium. In this work, we report a combined analysis of CR antiproton and positron spectra arising from dark matter on the top of a secondary production in a spatial-dependent propagation model. We discuss the systematic uncertainties from the antiproton production cross section using the two latest Monte Carlo generators, i.e., EPOS LHC and QGSJET-II-04m. We compare their results. In the case of EPOS LHC, we find that the dark matter pair annihilating into τ leptons channel with a 100% branching ratio and the p-wave annihilation cross section assumption is the only possible one-channel scenario to explain the data. On the other hand, there is not a single possible channel in the case of QGSJET-II-04m. We also propose possible two-channel scenarios based on these two Monte Carlo generators.

Dynamics of optical matter creation and annihilation in colloidal liquids controlled by laser trapping power.

PubMed

Liu, Jin; Dai, Qiao-Feng; Huang, Xu-Guang; Wu, Li-Jun; Guo, Qi; Hu, Wei; Yang, Xiang-Bo; Lan, Sheng; Gopal, Achanta Venu; Trofimov, Vyacheslav A

2008-11-15

We investigate the dynamics of optical matter creation and annihilation in a colloidal liquid that was employed to construct an all-optical switch. It is revealed that the switching-on process can be characterized by the Fermi-Dirac distribution function, while the switching-off process can be described by a steady state followed by a single exponential decay. The phase transition times exhibit a strong dependence on trapping power. With an increasing trapping power, while the switching-on time decreases rapidly, the switch-off time increases significantly, indicating the effects of optical binding and van der Waals force on the lifetime of the optical matter.

Explaining dark matter and B decay anomalies with an L μ - L τ model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Altmannshofer, Wolfgang; Gori, Stefania; Profumo, Stefano

We present a dark sector model based on gauging the L μ - L τ symmetry that addresses anomalies in b→ sμ +μ - decays and that features a particle dark matter candidate. The dark matter particle candidate is a vector-like Dirac fermion coupled to the Z' gauge boson of the L μ - L τ symmetry. We compute the dark matter thermal relic density, its pair-annihilation cross section, and the loop-suppressed dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section, and compare our predictions with current and future experimental results. We demonstrate that after taking into account bounds from Bs meson oscillations, darkmore » matter direct detection, and the CMB, the model is highly predictive: B physics anomalies and a viable particle dark matter candidate, with a mass of ~ (5 - 23) GeV, can be accommodated only in a tightly-constrained region of parameter space, with sharp predictions for future experimental tests. The viable region of parameter space expands if the dark matter is allowed to have L μ - L τ charges that are smaller than those of the SM leptons.« less

Explaining dark matter and B decay anomalies with an L μ - L τ model

DOE PAGES

Altmannshofer, Wolfgang; Gori, Stefania; Profumo, Stefano; ...

2016-12-20

We present a dark sector model based on gauging the L μ - L τ symmetry that addresses anomalies in b→ sμ +μ - decays and that features a particle dark matter candidate. The dark matter particle candidate is a vector-like Dirac fermion coupled to the Z' gauge boson of the L μ - L τ symmetry. We compute the dark matter thermal relic density, its pair-annihilation cross section, and the loop-suppressed dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section, and compare our predictions with current and future experimental results. We demonstrate that after taking into account bounds from Bs meson oscillations, darkmore » matter direct detection, and the CMB, the model is highly predictive: B physics anomalies and a viable particle dark matter candidate, with a mass of ~ (5 - 23) GeV, can be accommodated only in a tightly-constrained region of parameter space, with sharp predictions for future experimental tests. The viable region of parameter space expands if the dark matter is allowed to have L μ - L τ charges that are smaller than those of the SM leptons.« less

Heavy right-handed neutrino dark matter and PeV neutrinos at IceCube

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dev, P.S. Bhupal; Kazanas, D.; Mohapatra, R.N.

2016-08-17

We discuss a simple non-supersymmetric model based on the electroweak gauge group SU(2){sub L}×SU(2){sup ′}×U(1){sub B−L} where the lightest of the right-handed neutrinos, which are part of the leptonic doublet of SU(2){sup ′}, play the role of a long-lived unstable dark matter with mass in the multi-PeV range. We use a resonant s-channel annihilation to obtain the correct thermal relic density and relax the unitarity bound on dark matter mass. In this model, there exists a 3-body dark matter decay mode producing tau leptons and neutrinos, which could be the source for the PeV cascade events observed in the IceCubemore » experiment. The model can be tested with more precise flavor information of the highest-energy neutrino events in future data.« less

Heavy Right-Handed Neutrino Dark Matter and PeV Neutrinos at IceCube

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhupal Dev, P. S.; Kazanas, D.; Mohapatra, R. N.; Teplitz, V. L.; Zhang, Yongchao

2016-01-01

We discuss a simple non-supersymmetric model based on the electroweak gauge group SU(2) (sub L) times SU(2) prime times U(1) (Sub B-L) where the lightest of the right-handed neutrinos, which are part of the leptonic doublet of SU(2) prime, play the role of a long-lived unstable dark matter with mass in the multi-Peta-electronvolt range. We use a resonant s-channel annihilation to obtain the correct thermal relic density and relax the unitarity bound on dark matter mass. In this model, there exists a 3-body dark matter decay mode producing tau leptons and neutrinos, which could be the source for the Peta-electronvolt cascade events observed in the IceCube experiment. The model can be tested with more precise flavor information of the highest-energy neutrino events in future data.

Searching for dark matter annihilation from Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies with six years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.

2015-11-30

The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) of the Milky Way are some of the most dark matter (DM) dominated objects known. We report on γ-ray observations of Milky Way dSphs based on six years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data processed with the new Pass8 event-level analysis. None of the dSphs are significantly detected in γ rays, and we present upper limits on the DM annihilation cross section from a combined analysis of 15 dSphs. As a result, these constraints are among the strongest and most robust to date and lie below the canonical thermal relic cross section for DMmore » of mass ≲100 GeV annihilating via quark and τ-lepton channels.« less

X-ray lines from dark matter: the good, the bad, and the unlikely

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frandsen, Mads T.; Sannino, Francesco; Shoemaker, Ian M.

2014-05-01

We consider three classes of dark matter (DM) models to account for the recently observed 3.5 keV line: metastable excited state DM, annihilating DM, and decaying DM. We study two examples of metastable excited state DM. The first, millicharged composite DM, has both inelasticity and photon emission built in, but with a very constrained parameter space. In the second example, up-scattering and decay come from separate sectors and is thus less constrained. The decay of the excited state can potentially be detectable at direct detection experiments. However we find that CMB constraints are at the border of excluding this asmore » an interpretation of the DAMA signal. The annihilating DM interpretation of the X-ray line is found to be in mild tension with CMB constraints. Lastly, a generalized version of decaying DM can account for the data with a lifetime exceeding the age of the Universe for masses ∼<10{sup 6} GeV.« less

Gravitational wave from dark sector with dark pion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tsumura, Koji; Yamada, Masatoshi; Yamaguchi, Yuya, E-mail: ko2@gauge.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp, E-mail: m.yamada@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de, E-mail: yy@particle.sci.hokudai.ac.jp

In this work, we investigate the spectra of gravitational waves produced by chiral symmetry breaking in dark quantum chromodynamics (dQCD) sector. The dark pion (π) can be a dark matter candidate as weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) or strongly interacting massive particle (SIMP). For a WIMP scenario, we introduce the dQCD sector coupled to the standard model (SM) sector with classical scale invariance and investigate the annihilation process of the dark pion via the 2π → 2 SM process. For a SIMP scenario, we investigate the 3π → 2π annihilation process of the dark pion as a SIMP using chiralmore » perturbation theory. We find that in the WIMP scenario the gravitational wave background spectra can be observed by future space gravitational wave antennas. On the other hand, when the dark pion is the SIMP dark matter with the constraints for the chiral perturbative limit and pion-pion scattering cross section, the chiral phase transition becomes crossover and then the gravitational waves are not produced.« less

Energetic neutrinos from heavy-neutralino annihilation in the Sun. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamionkowski, Marc

1991-01-01

Neutralinos may be captured in the sun and annihilated therein producing high-energy neutrinos. Present limits on the flux of such neutrinos from underground detectors such as IMB and Kamiokande 2 may be used to rule out certain supersymmetric dark matter candidates, while in many other supersymmetric models the rates are large enough that if neutralinos do reside in the galactic halo, observation of a neutrino signal may be possible in the near future. Neutralinos that are either nearly pure Higgsino or a Higgsino/gaugino combination are generally captured in the sun by coherent scattering off nuclei via exchange of the lightest Higgs boson. If the squark mass is not much greater than the neutralino mass, then capture of neutralinos that are primarily gaugino occurs predominantly by spin-dependent scattering off hydrogen in the sun. The neutrino signal from annihilation of WIMPs with masses in the range of 80 to 1000 GeV in the sun should generally be stronger than that from weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) annihilation in the earth, and detection rates for mixed-state neutralinos are generally higher than those for Higgsinos or gauginos.

Inflation and dark matter in the inert doublet model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choubey, Sandhya; Kumar, Abhass

2017-11-01

We discuss inflation and dark matter in the inert doublet model coupled non-minimally to gravity where the inert doublet is the inflaton and the neutral scalar part of the doublet is the dark matter candidate. We calculate the various inflationary parameters like n s , r and P s and then proceed to the reheating phase where the inflaton decays into the Higgs and other gauge bosons which are non-relativistic owing to high effective masses. These bosons further decay or annihilate to give relativistic fermions which are finally responsible for reheating the universe. At the end of the reheating phase, the inert doublet which was the inflaton enters into thermal equilibrium with the rest of the plasma and its neutral component later freezes out as cold dark matter with a mass of about 2 TeV.

Anisotropies in the diffuse gamma-ray background from dark matter with Fermi LAT: A closer look

DOE PAGES

Cuoco, A.; Sellerholm, A.; Conrad, J.; ...

2011-06-21

We perform a detailed study of the sensitivity to the anisotropies related to dark matter (DM) annihilation in the isotropic gamma-ray background (IGRB) as measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope ( Fermi LAT). For the first time, we take into account the effects of the Galactic foregrounds and use a realistic representation of the Fermi LAT. We implement an analysis pipeline which simulates Fermi LAT data sets starting from model maps of the Galactic foregrounds, the Fermi-resolved point sources, the extragalactic diffuse emission and the signal from DM annihilation. The effects of the detector are taken into account bymore » convolving the model maps with the Fermi LAT instrumental response. We then use the angular power spectrum to characterize the anisotropy properties of the simulated data and to study the sensitivity to DM. We consider DM anisotropies of extragalactic origin and of Galactic origin (which can be generated through annihilation in the Milky Way substructures) as opposed to a background of anisotropies generated by sources of astrophysical origin, blazars for example. We find that with statistics from 5 yr of observation, Fermi is sensitive to a DM contribution at the level of 1–10 per cent of the measured IGRB depending on the DM mass m χ and annihilation mode. In terms of the thermally averaged cross-section , this corresponds to ~10 –25 cm 3 s –1, i.e. slightly above the typical expectations for a thermal relic, for low values of the DM mass m χ≲ 100 GeV. As a result, the anisotropy method for DM searches has a sensitivity comparable to the usual methods based only on the energy spectrum and thus constitutes an independent and complementary piece of information in the DM puzzle.« less

Probing the coupling of heavy dark matter to nucleons by detecting neutrino signature from the Earth's core

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Guey-Lin; Lin, Yen-Hsun; Lee, Fei-Fan

2015-02-01

We argue that the detection of the neutrino signature from the Earth's core can effectively probe the coupling of heavy dark matter (mχ>104 GeV ) to nucleons. We first note that direct searches for dark matter (DM) in such a mass range provide much less stringent constraint than the constraint provided by such searches for mχ˜100 GeV . Furthermore, the energies of neutrinos arising from DM annihilation inside the Sun cannot exceed a few TeVs at the Sun's surface due to the attenuation effect. Therefore, the sensitivity to the heavy DM coupling is lost. Finally, the detection of the neutrino signature from the Galactic halo can only probe DM annihilation cross sections. We present neutrino event rates in IceCube and KM3NeT arising from the neutrino flux produced by annihilation of Earth-captured DM heavier than 104 GeV . The IceCube and KM3NeT sensitivities to spin-independent DM-proton scattering cross section σχ p in this mass range are presented for both isospin-symmetric and isospin-violating cases.

The Dirac-Milne cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benoit-Lévy, Aurélien; Chardin, Gabriel

2014-05-01

We study an unconventional cosmology, in which we investigate the consequences that antigravity would pose to cosmology. We present the main characteristics of the Dirac-Milne Universe, a cosmological model where antimatter has a negative active gravitational mass. In this non-standard Universe, separate domains of matter and antimatter coexist at our epoch without annihilation, separated by a gravitationally induced depletion zone. We show that this cosmology does not require a priori the Dark Matter and Dark Energy components of the standard model of cosmology. Additionally, inflation becomes an unnecessary ingredient. Investigating this model, we show that the classical cosmological tests such as primordial nucleosynthesis, Type Ia supernovæ and Cosmic Microwave Background are surprisingly concordant.

Gamma rays from dark matter subhalos revisited: Refining the predictions and constraints

DOE PAGES

Hooper, Dan; Witte, Samuel J.

2017-04-11

Utilizing data from the ELVIS and Via Lactea-II simulations, we characterize the local dark matter subhalo population, and use this information to refine the predictions for the gamma-ray fluxes arising from annihilating dark matter in this class of objects. We find that the shapes of nearby subhalos are significantly altered by tidal effects, and are generally not well described by NFW density profiles, instead prefering power-law profiles with an exponential cutoff. From the subhalo candidates detected by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, we place limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section that are only modestly weaker than those basedmore » on observations of dwarf galaxies. Furthermore, we also calculate the fraction of observable subhalos that are predicted to be spatially extended at a level potentially discernible to Fermi.« less

Gamma rays from dark matter subhalos revisited: refining the predictions and constraints

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hooper, Dan; Witte, Samuel J., E-mail: dhooper@fnal.gov, E-mail: switte@physics.ucla.edu

2017-04-01

Utilizing data from the ELVIS and Via Lactea-II simulations, we characterize the local dark matter subhalo population, and use this information to refine the predictions for the gamma-ray fluxes arising from annihilating dark matter in this class of objects. We find that the shapes of nearby subhalos are significantly altered by tidal effects, and are generally not well described by NFW density profiles, instead prefering power-law profiles with an exponential cutoff. From the subhalo candidates detected by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, we place limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section that are only modestly weaker than those basedmore » on observations of dwarf galaxies. We also calculate the fraction of observable subhalos that are predicted to be spatially extended at a level potentially discernible to Fermi.« less

Gamma rays from dark matter subhalos revisited: Refining the predictions and constraints

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hooper, Dan; Witte, Samuel J.

Utilizing data from the ELVIS and Via Lactea-II simulations, we characterize the local dark matter subhalo population, and use this information to refine the predictions for the gamma-ray fluxes arising from annihilating dark matter in this class of objects. We find that the shapes of nearby subhalos are significantly altered by tidal effects, and are generally not well described by NFW density profiles, instead prefering power-law profiles with an exponential cutoff. From the subhalo candidates detected by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, we place limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section that are only modestly weaker than those basedmore » on observations of dwarf galaxies. Furthermore, we also calculate the fraction of observable subhalos that are predicted to be spatially extended at a level potentially discernible to Fermi.« less

A global fit of the γ-ray galactic center excess within the scalar singlet Higgs portal model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cuoco, Alessandro; Eiteneuer, Benedikt; Heisig, Jan

2016-06-28

We analyse the excess in the γ-ray emission from the center of our galaxy observed by Fermi-LAT in terms of dark matter annihilation within the scalar Higgs portal model. In particular, we include the astrophysical uncertainties from the dark matter distribution and allow for unspecified additional dark matter components. We demonstrate through a detailed numerical fit that the strength and shape of the γ-ray spectrum can indeed be described by the model in various regions of dark matter masses and couplings. Constraints from invisible Higgs decays, direct dark matter searches, indirect searches in dwarf galaxies and for γ-ray lines, andmore » constraints from the dark matter relic density reduce the parameter space to dark matter masses near the Higgs resonance. We find two viable regions: one where the Higgs-dark matter coupling is of O(10{sup −2}), and an additional dark matter component beyond the scalar WIMP of our model is preferred, and one region where the Higgs-dark matter coupling may be significantly smaller, but where the scalar WIMP constitutes a significant fraction or even all of dark matter. Both viable regions are hard to probe in future direct detection and collider experiments.« less

Feasibility for EGRET detection of antimatter concentrations in the universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartman, R. C.

1990-01-01

Although the Grand Unified Theories of elementary particle dynamics have to some extent reduced the aesthetic attraction of matter-antimatter symmetry in the Universe, the idea is still not ruled out. Although first introduced by Alfven (1965), most of the theoretical development related to gamma-ray astronomy was carried out by Stecker, who has proposed (Stecker, Morgan, and Bredekamp, 1971) matter-antimatter annihilation extending back to large redshifts as a possible explanation of the apparently extragalactic diffuse gamma radiation. Other candidate explanations were also proposed, such as superposition of extragalactic discrete sources. Clearly, the existence of significant amounts of antimatter in the universe would be of great cosmological importance; its detection, however, is not simple. Since the photon is its own antiparticle, it carries no signature identifying whether it originated in a matter or an antimatter process; even aggregates of photons (spectra) are expected to be identical from matter and antimatter processes. The only likely indicator of the presence of concentrations of antimatter is evidence of its annihilation with normal matter, assuming there is some region of contact or overlap. The EGRET (Energetic Gamma-Ray Experimental Telescope) on the Gamma Ray Observatory, with a substantial increase in sensitivity compared with earlier high energy gamma ray telescopes, may be able to address this issue. The feasibility of using EGRET in such a search for antimatter annihilation in the Universe is considered.

Resonance enhancement of dark matter interactions: the case for early kinetic decoupling and velocity dependent resonance width

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duch, M.; Grzadkowski, B.

2017-09-01

Motivated by the possibility of enhancing dark matter (DM) self-scattering cross-section σ self , we have revisited the issue of DM annihilation through a Breit-Wigner resonance. In this case thermally averaged annihilation cross-section has strong temper-ature dependence, whereas elastic scattering of DM on the thermal bath particles is sup-pressed. This leads to the early kinetic decoupling of DM and an interesting interplay in the evolution of DM density and temperature that can be described by a set of coupled Boltzmann equations. The standard Breit-Wigner parametrization of a resonance prop-agator is also corrected by including momentum dependence of the resonance width. It has been shown that this effects may change predictions of DM relic density by more than order of magnitude in some regions of the parameter space. Model independent discussion is illustrated within a theory of Abelian vector dark matter. The model assumes extra U(1) symmetry group factor and an additional complex Higgs field needed to generate a mass for the dark vector boson, which provides an extra neutral Higgs boson h 2. We discuss the resonant amplification of σ self . It turns out that if DM abundance is properly reproduced, the Fermi-LAT data favor heavy DM and constraint the enhancement of σ self to the range, which cannot provide a solution to the small-scale structure problems.

Thermal dark matter co-annihilating with a strongly interacting scalar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biondini, S.; Laine, M.

2018-04-01

Recently many investigations have considered Majorana dark matter co-annihilating with bound states formed by a strongly interacting scalar field. However only the gluon radiation contribution to bound state formation and dissociation, which at high temperatures is subleading to soft 2 → 2 scatterings, has been included. Making use of a non-relativistic effective theory framework and solving a plasma-modified Schrödinger equation, we address the effect of soft 2 → 2 scatterings as well as the thermal dissociation of bound states. We argue that the mass splitting between the Majorana and scalar field has in general both a lower and an upper bound, and that the dark matter mass scale can be pushed at least up to 5…6TeV.

Supersymmetric dark matter above the W mass

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griest, Kim; Kamionkowski, Marc; Turner, Michael S.

1989-01-01

The cosmological consequences are studied for the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model in the case that the neutralino is heavier than W. The cross section was calculated for annihilation of heavy neutralinos into final states containing gauge and Higgs bosons (XX yields WW, ZZ, HH, HW, HZ), where X is the lightest, nth neutralino and the results are compared with the results with those previously obtained for annihilation into fermions to find the relic cosmological abundance for the most general neutralino. The new channels are particularly important for the Higgsino-like and mixed-state neutralinos, but are sub-dominant (to the fermion-antifermion annihilation channels) in the case that the neutralino is mostly a gaugino. The effect of the top quark mass is also considered. Using these cross sections and the cosmological constraint omega(sub X)h squared is less than or approximately 1, the entire range of cosmologically acceptable supersymmetric parameter space is mapped and a very general bound on the neutralino mass is discovered. For a top quark mass of less than 180 GeV, neutralinos heavier than 3200 GeV are cosmologically inconsistent, and if the top quark mass is less than 120 GeV, the bound is lowered to 2600 GeV. Neutralino states that are mostly gaugino are constrained to be lighter than 550 GeV. It is found that a heavy neutralino that contributes omega(sub X) is approximately 1 arises for a very wide range of model parameters and makes, therefore, a very natural and attractive dark matter candidate.

Global fits of GUT-scale SUSY models with GAMBIT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Athron, Peter; Balázs, Csaba; Bringmann, Torsten; Buckley, Andy; Chrząszcz, Marcin; Conrad, Jan; Cornell, Jonathan M.; Dal, Lars A.; Edsjö, Joakim; Farmer, Ben; Jackson, Paul; Krislock, Abram; Kvellestad, Anders; Mahmoudi, Farvah; Martinez, Gregory D.; Putze, Antje; Raklev, Are; Rogan, Christopher; de Austri, Roberto Ruiz; Saavedra, Aldo; Savage, Christopher; Scott, Pat; Serra, Nicola; Weniger, Christoph; White, Martin

2017-12-01

We present the most comprehensive global fits to date of three supersymmetric models motivated by grand unification: the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM), and its Non-Universal Higgs Mass generalisations NUHM1 and NUHM2. We include likelihoods from a number of direct and indirect dark matter searches, a large collection of electroweak precision and flavour observables, direct searches for supersymmetry at LEP and Runs I and II of the LHC, and constraints from Higgs observables. Our analysis improves on existing results not only in terms of the number of included observables, but also in the level of detail with which we treat them, our sampling techniques for scanning the parameter space, and our treatment of nuisance parameters. We show that stau co-annihilation is now ruled out in the CMSSM at more than 95% confidence. Stop co-annihilation turns out to be one of the most promising mechanisms for achieving an appropriate relic density of dark matter in all three models, whilst avoiding all other constraints. We find high-likelihood regions of parameter space featuring light stops and charginos, making them potentially detectable in the near future at the LHC. We also show that tonne-scale direct detection will play a largely complementary role, probing large parts of the remaining viable parameter space, including essentially all models with multi-TeV neutralinos.

Towards a supersymmetric description of the Fermi Galactic center excess

DOE PAGES

Cahill-Rowley, M.; Gainer, J. S.; Hewett, J. L.; ...

2015-02-10

We attempt to build a model that describes the Fermi galactic gamma-ray excess (FGCE) within a UV-complete Supersymmetric framework; we find this to be highly non-trivial. At the very least a successful Supersymmetric explanation must have several important ingredients in order to fit the data and satisfy other theoretical and experimental constraints. Under the assumption that a single annihilation mediator is responsible for both the observed relic density as well as the FGCE, we show that the requirements are not easily satisfied in many TeV-scale SUSY models, but can be met with some model building effort in the general NMSSMmore » with ~ 10 parameters beyond the MSSM. We find that the data selects a particular region of the parameter space with a mostly singlino lightest Supersymmetric particle and a relatively light CP-odd Higgs boson that acts as the mediator for dark matter annihilation. We study the predictions for various observables within this parameter space, and find that searches for this light CP-odd state at the LHC, as well as searches for the direct detection of dark matter, are likely to be quite challenging. It is possible that a signature could be observed in the flavor sector; however, indirect detection remains the best probe of this scenario.« less

Novel gamma-ray signatures of PeV-scale dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blanco, Carlos; Harding, J. Patrick; Hooper, Dan

2018-04-01

The gamma-ray annihilation and decay products of very heavy dark matter particles can undergo attenuation through pair production, leading to the development of electromagnetic cascades. This has a significant impact not only on the spectral shape of the gamma-ray signal, but also on the angular distribution of the observed photons. Such phenomena are particularly important in light of the new HAWC experiment, which provides unprecedented sensitivity to multi-TeV photons and thus to very heavy dark matter particles. In this study, we focus on dark matter in the 100 TeV–100 PeV mass range, and calculate the spectral and angular distribution of gamma-rays from dwarf galaxies and from nearby galaxy clusters in this class of models.

Review of Quantum Electromagnetic States

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-10-01

product space. 227 The wave functions used in the Jaynes - Cummings ’ model reside in a direct product space Va ɠ> Vf where Va and Vf are the Hubert...Dependent Probability 215 5.1.3 The Relaxation Term 217 5.2 Jaynes - Cummings ’ Model for Matter-Field Interactions 218 5.2.1 The Atomic Hamiltonian 218...5.3 The Interaction Representation for the Jaynes - Cummings ’ Model 224 5.3.1 Atomic Creation and Annihilation Operators 224 5.3.2 The Boson Creation

Universal extra dimensions and the graviton portal to dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arun, Mathew Thomas; Choudhury, Debajyoti; Sachdeva, Divya

2017-10-01

The Universal Extra Dimension (UED) paradigm is particularly attractive as it not only includes a natural candidate for the Dark Matter particle , but also addresses several issues related to particle physics. Non-observations at the Large Hadron Collider, though, has brought the paradigm into severe tension. However, a particular 5-dimensional UED model emerges from a six dimensional space-time with nested warping. The AdS6 bulk protects both the Higgs mass as well as the UED scale without invoking unnatural parameter values. The graviton excitations in the sixth direction open up new (co-)annihilation channels for the Dark Matter particle, thereby allowing for phenomenological consistency, otherwise denied to the minimal UED scenario. The model leads to unique signatures in both satellite-based experiments as well as the LHC.

Strong optimized conservative Fermi-LAT constraints on dark matter models from the inclusive photon spectrum

DOE PAGES

Massari, Andrea; Izaguirre, Eder; Essig, Rouven; ...

2015-04-29

Here, we set conservative, robust constraints on the annihilation and decay of dark matter into various Standard Model final states under various assumptions about the distribution of the dark matter in the Milky Way halo. We use the inclusive photon spectrum observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope through its main instrument, the Large Area Telescope. We use simulated data to first find the “optimal” regions of interest in the γ-ray sky, where the expected dark matter signal is largest compared with the expected astrophysical foregrounds. We then require the predicted dark matter signal to be less than the observedmore » photon counts in the a priori optimal regions. This yields a very conservative constraint as we do not attempt to model or subtract astrophysical foregrounds. The resulting limits are competitive with other existing limits and, for some final states with cuspy dark-matter distributions in the Galactic Center region, disfavor the typical cross section required during freeze-out for a weakly interacting massive particle to obtain the observed relic abundance.« less

Gamma-Ray Emission from Galaxy Clusters : DARK MATTER AND COSMIC-RAYS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinzke, Anders

The quest for the first detection of a galaxy cluster in the high energy gamma-ray regime is ongoing, and even though clusters are observed in several other wave-bands, there is still no firm detection in gamma-rays. To complement the observational efforts we estimate the gamma-ray contributions from both annihilating dark matter and cosmic-ray (CR) proton as well as CR electron induced emission. Using high-resolution simulations of galaxy clusters, we find a universal concave shaped CR proton spectrum independent of the simulated galaxy cluster. Specifically, the gamma-ray spectra from decaying neutral pions, which are produced by CR protons, dominate the cluster emission. Furthermore, based on our derived flux and luminosity functions, we identify the galaxy clusters with the brightest galaxy clusters in gamma-rays. While this emission is challenging to detect using the Fermi satellite, major observations with Cherenkov telescopes in the near future may put important constraints on the CR physics in clusters. To extend these predictions, we use a dark matter model that fits the recent electron and positron data from Fermi, PAMELA, and H.E.S.S. with remarkable precision, and make predictions about the expected gamma-ray flux from nearby clusters. In order to remain consistent with the EGRET upper limit on the gamma-ray emission from Virgo, we constrain the minimum mass of substructures for cold dark matter halos. In addition, we find comparable levels of gamma-ray emission from CR interactions and dark matter annihilations without Sommerfeld enhancement.

Baryon symmetric big bang cosmology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stecker, F. W.

1978-01-01

Both the quantum theory and Einsteins theory of special relativity lead to the supposition that matter and antimatter were produced in equal quantities during the big bang. It is noted that local matter/antimatter asymmetries may be reconciled with universal symmetry by assuming (1) a slight imbalance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, annihilation, and a subsequent remainder of matter; (2) localized regions of excess for one or the other type of matter as an initial condition; and (3) an extremely dense, high temperature state with zero net baryon number; i.e., matter/antimatter symmetry. Attention is given to the third assumption, which is the simplest and the most in keeping with current knowledge of the cosmos, especially as pertains the universality of 3 K background radiation. Mechanisms of galaxy formation are discussed, whereby matter and antimatter might have collided and annihilated each other, or have coexisted (and continue to coexist) at vast distances. It is pointed out that baryon symmetric big bang cosmology could probably be proved if an antinucleus could be detected in cosmic radiation.

Effective field theory of dark matter from membrane inflationary paradigm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choudhury, Sayantan; Dasgupta, Arnab

2016-09-01

In this article, we have studied the cosmological and particle physics constraints on dark matter relic abundance from effective field theory of inflation from tensor-to-scalar ratio (r), in case of Randall-Sundrum single membrane (RSII) paradigm. Using semi-analytical approach we establish a direct connection between the dark matter relic abundance (ΩDMh2) and primordial gravity waves (r), which establishes a precise connection between inflation and generation of dark matter within the framework of effective field theory in RSII membrane. Further assuming the UV completeness of the effective field theory perfectly holds good in the prescribed framework, we have explicitly shown that the membrane tension, σ ≤ O(10-9) Mp4 , bulk mass scale M5 ≤ O(0.04 - 0.05) Mp, and cosmological constant Λ˜5 ≥ - O(10-15) Mp5 , in RSII membrane plays the most significant role to establish the connection between dark matter and inflation, using which we have studied the features of various mediator mass scale suppressed effective field theory "relevant operators" induced from the localized s, t and u channel interactions in RSII membrane. Taking a completely model independent approach, we have studied an exhaustive list of tree-level Feynman diagrams for dark matter annihilation within the prescribed setup and to check the consistency of the obtained results, further we apply the constraints as obtained from recently observed Planck 2015 data and Planck + BICEP2 + Keck Array joint data sets. Using all of these derived results we have shown that to satisfy the bound on, ΩDMh2 = 0.1199 ± 0.0027, as from Planck 2015 data, it is possible to put further stringent constraint on r within, 0.01 ≤ r ≤ 0.12, for thermally averaged annihilation cross-section of dark matter, 〈 σv 〉 ≈ O(10-28 - 10-27) cm3 / s, which are very useful to constrain various membrane inflationary models.

Bayesian analysis of the break in DAMPE lepton spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Jia-Shu; Li, Tianjun; Ding, Ran; Zhu, Bin; Xue, Hui-Fang; Wang, Yang

2018-04-01

Recently, DAMPE has released its first results on the high-energy cosmic-ray electrons and positrons (CREs) from about 25 GeV to 4.6 TeV, which directly detect a break at ˜1 TeV . This result gives us an excellent opportunity to study the source of the CREs excess. In this work, we used the data for proton and helium flux (from AMS-02 and CREAM), p ¯/p ratio (from AMS-02), positron flux (from AMS-02) and CREs flux (from DAMPE without the peak signal point at ˜1.4 TeV ) to do global fitting simultaneously, which can account for the influence from the propagation model, the nuclei and electron primary source injection, and the secondary lepton production precisely. For an extra source to interpret the excess in lepton spectrum, we consider two separate scenarios (pulsar and dark matter annihilation via leptonic channels) to construct the bump (≳100 GeV ) and the break at ˜1 TeV . The result shows that (i) in the pulsar scenario, the spectral index of the injection should be νpsr˜0.65 and the cut-off should be Rc˜650 GV ; (ii) in dark matter scenario, the dark matter particle's mass is mχ˜1208 GeV , and the cross section is ⟨σ v ⟩˜1.48 ×10-23 cm3 s-1 . Moreover, in the dark matter scenario, the τ τ ¯ annihilation channel is highly suppressed, and a DM model is built to satisfy the fitting results.

Hidden sector dark matter and the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess: a closer look

DOE PAGES

Escudero, Miguel; Witte, Samuel J.; Hooper, Dan

2017-11-24

Stringent constraints from direct detection experiments and the Large Hadron Collider motivate us to consider models in which the dark matter does not directly couple to the Standard Model, but that instead annihilates into hidden sector particles which ultimately decay through small couplings to the Standard Model. We calculate the gamma-ray emission generated within the context of several such hidden sector models, including those in which the hidden sector couples to the Standard Model through the vector portal (kinetic mixing with Standard Model hypercharge), through the Higgs portal (mixing with the Standard Model Higgs boson), or both. In each case,more » we identify broad regions of parameter space in which the observed spectrum and intensity of the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess can easily be accommodated, while providing an acceptable thermal relic abundance and remaining consistent with all current constraints. Here, we also point out that cosmic-ray antiproton measurements could potentially discriminate some hidden sector models from more conventional dark matter scenarios.« less

Hidden Sector Dark Matter and the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess: A Closer Look

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Escudero, Miguel; Witte, Samuel J.; Hooper, Dan

2017-09-20

Stringent constraints from direct detection experiments and the Large Hadron Collider motivate us to consider models in which the dark matter does not directly couple to the Standard Model, but that instead annihilates into hidden sector particles which ultimately decay through small couplings to the Standard Model. We calculate the gamma-ray emission generated within the context of several such hidden sector models, including those in which the hidden sector couples to the Standard Model through the vector portal (kinetic mixing with Standard Model hypercharge), through the Higgs portal (mixing with the Standard Model Higgs boson), or both. In each case,more » we identify broad regions of parameter space in which the observed spectrum and intensity of the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess can easily be accommodated, while providing an acceptable thermal relic abundance and remaining consistent with all current constraints. We also point out that cosmic-ray antiproton measurements could potentially discriminate some hidden sector models from more conventional dark matter scenarios.« less

Hidden sector dark matter and the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess: a closer look

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Escudero, Miguel; Witte, Samuel J.; Hooper, Dan

2017-11-01

Stringent constraints from direct detection experiments and the Large Hadron Collider motivate us to consider models in which the dark matter does not directly couple to the Standard Model, but that instead annihilates into hidden sector particles which ultimately decay through small couplings to the Standard Model. We calculate the gamma-ray emission generated within the context of several such hidden sector models, including those in which the hidden sector couples to the Standard Model through the vector portal (kinetic mixing with Standard Model hypercharge), through the Higgs portal (mixing with the Standard Model Higgs boson), or both. In each case, we identify broad regions of parameter space in which the observed spectrum and intensity of the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess can easily be accommodated, while providing an acceptable thermal relic abundance and remaining consistent with all current constraints. We also point out that cosmic-ray antiproton measurements could potentially discriminate some hidden sector models from more conventional dark matter scenarios.

Hidden sector dark matter and the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess: a closer look

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Escudero, Miguel; Witte, Samuel J.; Hooper, Dan

Stringent constraints from direct detection experiments and the Large Hadron Collider motivate us to consider models in which the dark matter does not directly couple to the Standard Model, but that instead annihilates into hidden sector particles which ultimately decay through small couplings to the Standard Model. We calculate the gamma-ray emission generated within the context of several such hidden sector models, including those in which the hidden sector couples to the Standard Model through the vector portal (kinetic mixing with Standard Model hypercharge), through the Higgs portal (mixing with the Standard Model Higgs boson), or both. In each case,more » we identify broad regions of parameter space in which the observed spectrum and intensity of the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess can easily be accommodated, while providing an acceptable thermal relic abundance and remaining consistent with all current constraints. Here, we also point out that cosmic-ray antiproton measurements could potentially discriminate some hidden sector models from more conventional dark matter scenarios.« less

Superheavy dark matter through Higgs portal operators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolb, Edward W.; Long, Andrew J.

2017-11-01

The WIMPzilla hypothesis is that the dark matter is a super-weakly-interacting and superheavy particle. Conventionally, the WIMPzilla abundance is set by gravitational particle production during or at the end of inflation. In this study we allow the WIMPzilla to interact directly with Standard Model fields through the Higgs portal, and we calculate the thermal production (freeze-in) of WIMPzilla dark matter from the annihilation of Higgs boson pairs in the plasma. The two particle-physics model parameters are the WIMPzilla mass and the Higgs-WIMPzilla coupling. The two cosmological parameters are the reheating temperature and the expansion rate of the universe at the end of inflation. We delineate the regions of parameter space where either gravitational or thermal production is dominant, and within those regions we identify the parameters that predict the observed dark matter relic abundance. Allowing for thermal production opens up the parameter space, even for Planck-suppressed Higgs-WIMPzilla interactions.

Development of an Electron-Positron Source for Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-19

REPORT Development of an electron- positron source for positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy : FINAL REPORT 14. ABSTRACT 16. SECURITY...to generate radiation, to accelerate particles, and to produce electrons and positrons from vacuum. From applications using existing high-repetition...theoretical directions. This report reviews work directed toward the application of positron generation from laser interaction with matter 1. REPORT DATE

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS: The search for dark matter particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryabov, Vladimir A.; Tsarev, Vladimir A.; Tskhovrebov, Andrei M.

2008-11-01

Evidence of dark matter in the Universe is discussed and the most popular candidates for dark matter particles are reviewed. The review is mainly devoted to numerous experiments, both underway and planned, on the search for dark matter particles. Various experimental methods are discussed, including those involving direct registration of dark matter particles with the detector and those where the products of dark matter decay and annihilation are registered.

Compatibility of a dark matter discovery at XENONnT or LZ with the WIMP thermal production mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Catena, Riccardo; Conrad, Jan; Krauss, Martin B.

2018-05-01

The discovery of dark matter (DM) at XENONnT or LZ would place constraints on DM particle mass and coupling constants. It is interesting to ask when these constraints can be compatible with the DM thermal production mechanism. We address this question within the most general set of renormalizable models that preserve Lorentz and gauge symmetry, and that extend the standard model by one DM candidate of mass mDM and one particle of mass Mmed mediating DM-quark interactions. Our analysis divides into two parts. First, we postulate that XENONnT/LZ has detected μS˜O (100 ) signal events, and use this input to calculate the DM relic density, ΩDMh2. Then, we identify the regions in the Mmed-ΩDMh2 plane which are compatible with the observed signal and with current CMB data. We find that for most of the models considered here, O (100 ) signal events at XENONnT/LZ and the DM thermal production are only compatible for resonant DM annihilations, i.e. for Mmed≃2 mDM. In this case, XENONnT/LZ would be able to simultaneously measure mDM and Mmed. We also discuss the dependence of our results on mDM, μS and the DM spin, and provide analytic expressions for annihilation cross sections and mediator decay widths for all models considered in this study.

Hierarchical phase space structure of dark matter haloes: Tidal debris, caustics, and dark matter annihilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afshordi, Niayesh; Mohayaee, Roya; Bertschinger, Edmund

2009-04-01

Most of the mass content of dark matter haloes is expected to be in the form of tidal debris. The density of debris is not constant, but rather can grow due to formation of caustics at the apocenters and pericenters of the orbit, or decay as a result of phase mixing. In the phase space, the debris assemble in a hierarchy that is truncated by the primordial temperature of dark matter. Understanding this phase structure can be of significant importance for the interpretation of many astrophysical observations and, in particular, dark matter detection experiments. With this purpose in mind, we develop a general theoretical framework to describe the hierarchical structure of the phase space of cold dark matter haloes. We do not make any assumption of spherical symmetry and/or smooth and continuous accretion. Instead, working with correlation functions in the action-angle space, we can fully account for the hierarchical structure (predicting a two-point correlation function ∝ΔJ-1.6 in the action space), as well as the primordial discreteness of the phase space. As an application, we estimate the boost to the dark matter annihilation signal due to the structure of the phase space within virial radius: the boost due to the hierarchical tidal debris is of order unity, whereas the primordial discreteness of the phase structure can boost the total annihilation signal by up to an order of magnitude. The latter is dominated by the regions beyond 20% of the virial radius, and is largest for the recently formed haloes with the least degree of phase mixing. Nevertheless, as we argue in a companion paper, the boost due to small gravitationally-bound substructure can dominate this effect at low redshifts.

Indirect searches of Galactic diffuse dark matter in INO-MagICAL detector

DOE PAGES

Khatun, Amina; Laha, Ranjan; Agarwalla, Sanjib Kumar

2017-06-12

Here, the signatures for the existence of dark matter are revealed only through its gravitational interaction. Theoretical arguments support that the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) can be a class of dark matter and it can annihilate and/or decay to Standard Model particles, among which neutrino is a favorable candidate. We show that the proposed 50 kt Magnetized Iron CALorimeter (MagICAL) detector under the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project can play an important role in the indirect searches of Galactic diffuse dark matter in the neutrino and antineutrino mode separately. We present the sensitivity of 500 kt·yr MagICAL detector to set limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section (more » $$\\langle$$σv$$\\rangle$$) and decay lifetime (τ) of dark matter having mass in the range of 2 GeV ≤ m χ ≤ 90 GeV and 4 GeV ≤ m χ ≤ 180 GeV respectively, assuming no excess over the conventional atmospheric neutrino and antineutrino fluxes at the INO site. Our limits for low mass dark matter constrain the parameter space which has not been explored before. We show that MagICAL will be able to set competitive constraints, $$\\langle$$σv$$\\rangle$$ ≤ 1.87 × 10 -24 cm 3 s -1 for χχ→$$ν\\overline{v}$$ χχ→$$ν\\overline{v}$$ and τ ≥ 4.8 × 10 24s for χ → $$ν\\overline{v}$$ χ → $$ν\\overline{v}$$ at 90% C.L. (1 d.o.f.) for m χ = 10 GeV assuming the NFW as dark matter density profile.« less

Indirect searches of Galactic diffuse dark matter in INO-MagICAL detector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khatun, Amina; Laha, Ranjan; Agarwalla, Sanjib Kumar

Here, the signatures for the existence of dark matter are revealed only through its gravitational interaction. Theoretical arguments support that the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) can be a class of dark matter and it can annihilate and/or decay to Standard Model particles, among which neutrino is a favorable candidate. We show that the proposed 50 kt Magnetized Iron CALorimeter (MagICAL) detector under the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project can play an important role in the indirect searches of Galactic diffuse dark matter in the neutrino and antineutrino mode separately. We present the sensitivity of 500 kt·yr MagICAL detector to set limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section (more » $$\\langle$$σv$$\\rangle$$) and decay lifetime (τ) of dark matter having mass in the range of 2 GeV ≤ m χ ≤ 90 GeV and 4 GeV ≤ m χ ≤ 180 GeV respectively, assuming no excess over the conventional atmospheric neutrino and antineutrino fluxes at the INO site. Our limits for low mass dark matter constrain the parameter space which has not been explored before. We show that MagICAL will be able to set competitive constraints, $$\\langle$$σv$$\\rangle$$ ≤ 1.87 × 10 -24 cm 3 s -1 for χχ→$$ν\\overline{v}$$ χχ→$$ν\\overline{v}$$ and τ ≥ 4.8 × 10 24s for χ → $$ν\\overline{v}$$ χ → $$ν\\overline{v}$$ at 90% C.L. (1 d.o.f.) for m χ = 10 GeV assuming the NFW as dark matter density profile.« less

Two component Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP) dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandey, Madhurima; Majumdar, Debasish; Prasad Modak, Kamakshya

2018-06-01

We explore the idea of an alternative candidate for particle dark matter namely Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP) in the framework of a two component singlet scalar model. Singlet scalar dark matter has already been demonstrated to be a viable candidate for WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle) dark matter in literature. In the FIMP scenario, dark matter particles are slowly produced via "thermal freeze-in" mechanism in the early Universe and are never abundant enough to reach thermal equilibrium or to undergo pair annihilation inside the Universe's plasma due to their extremely small couplings. We demonstrate that for smaller couplings too, required for freeze-in process, a two component scalar dark matter model considered here could well be a viable candidate for FIMP . In this scenario, the Standard Model of particle physics is extended by two gauge singlet real scalars whose stability is protected by an unbroken Z2× Z'2 symmetry and they are assumed to acquire no VEV after Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking. We explore the viable mass regions in the present two scalar DM model that is in accordance with the FIMP scenario. We also explore the upper limits of masses of the two components from the consideration of their self interactions.

Galactic center γ-ray excess in hidden sector DM models with dark gauge symmetries: local Z{sub 3} symmetry as an example

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ko, P.; Tang, Yong

We show that hidden sector dark matter (DM) models with local dark gauge symmetries make a natural playground for the possible γ-ray excess from the galactic center (GC). We first discuss in detail the GC γ-ray excess in a scalar dark matter (DM) model with local Z{sub 3} symmetry which was recently proposed by the present authors. Within this model, scalar DM with mass 30–70 GeV is allowed due to the newly-opened (semi-)annihilation channels of a DM pair into dark Higgs ϕ and/or dark photon Z′ pair, and the γ-ray spectrum from the GC can be fit within this model.more » Then we argue that the GC gamma ray excess can be easily accommodated within hidden sector dark matter models where DM is stabilized by local gauge symmetries, due to the presence of dark Higgs (and also dark photon for Abelian dark gauge symmetry)« less

Dark matter "transporting" mechanism explaining positron excesses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Doojin; Park, Jong-Chul; Shin, Seodong

2018-04-01

We propose a novel mechanism to explain the positron excesses, which are observed by satellite-based telescopes including PAMELA and AMS-02, in dark matter (DM) scenarios. The novelty behind the proposal is that it makes direct use of DM around the Galactic Center where DM populates most densely, allowing us to avoid tensions from cosmological and astrophysical measurements. The key ingredients of this mechanism include DM annihilation into unstable states with a very long laboratory-frame life time and their "retarded" decay near the Earth to electron-positron pair(s) possibly with other (in)visible particles. We argue that this sort of explanation is not in conflict with relevant constraints from big bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background. Regarding the resultant positron spectrum, we provide a generalized source term in the associated diffusion equation, which can be readily applicable to any type of two-"stage" DM scenarios wherein production of Standard Model particles occurs at completely different places from those of DM annihilation. We then conduct a data analysis with the recent AMS-02 data to validate our proposal.

The pinching method for Galactic cosmic ray positrons: Implications in the light of precision measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudaud, M.; Bueno, E. F.; Caroff, S.; Genolini, Y.; Poulin, V.; Poireau, V.; Putze, A.; Rosier, S.; Salati, P.; Vecchi, M.

2017-09-01

Context. Two years ago, the Ams-02 collaboration released the most precise measurement of the cosmic ray positron flux. In the conventional approach, in which positrons are considered as purely secondary particles, the theoretical predictions fall way below the data above 10 GeV. One suggested explanation for this anomaly is the annihilation of dark matter particles, the so-called weakly interactive massive particles (WIMPs), into standard model particles. Most analyses have focused on the high-energy part of the positron spectrum, where the anomaly lies, disregarding the complicated GeV low-energy region where Galactic cosmic ray transport is more difficult to model and solar modulation comes into play. Aims: Given the high quality of the latest measurements by Ams-02, it is now possible to systematically re-examine the positron anomaly over the entire energy range, this time taking into account transport processes so far neglected, such as Galactic convection or diffusive re-acceleration. These might impact somewhat on the high-energy positron flux so that a complete and systematic estimate of the secondary component must be performed and compared to the Ams-02 measurements. The flux yielded by WIMPs also needs to be re-calculated more accurately to explore how dark matter might source the positron excess. Methods: We devise a new semi-analytical method to take into account transport processes thus far neglected, but important below a few GeV. It is essentially based on the pinching of inverse Compton and synchrotron energy losses from the magnetic halo, where they take place, inside the Galactic disc. The corresponding energy loss rate is artificially enhanced by the so-called pinching factor, which needs to be calculated at each energy. We have checked that this approach reproduces the results of the Green function method at the per mille level. This new tool is fast and allows one to carry out extensive scans over the cosmic ray propagation parameters. Results: We derive the positron flux from sub-GeV to TeV energies for both gas spallation and dark matter annihilation. We carry out a scan over the cosmic ray propagation parameters, which we strongly constrain by requiring that the secondary component does not overshoot the Ams-02 measurements. We find that only models with large diffusion coefficients are selected by this test. We then add to the secondary component the positron flux yielded by dark matter annihilation. We carry out a scan over WIMP mass to fit the annihilation cross-section and branching ratios, successively exploring the cases of a typical beyond-the-standard-model WIMP and an annihilation through light mediators. In the former case, the best fit yields a p-value of 0.4% for a WIMP mass of 264 GeV, a value that does not allow to reproduce the highest energy data points. If we require the mass to be larger than 500 GeV, the best-fit χ2 per degree of freedom always exceeds a value of 3. The case of light mediators is even worse, with a best-fit χ2 per degree of freedom always larger than 15. Conclusions: We explicitly show that the cosmic ray positron flux is a powerful and independent probe of Galactic cosmic ray propagation. It should be used as a complementary observable to other tracers such as the boron-to-carbon ratio. This analysis shows also that the pure dark matter interpretation of the positron excess is strongly disfavoured. This conclusion is based solely on the positron data, and no other observation, such as the antiproton flux or the CMB anisotropies, needs to be invoked.

Flavored Dark Matter and the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agrawal, Prateek; Batell, Brian; Hooper, Dan

Thermal relic dark matter particles with a mass of 31-40 GeV and that dominantly annihilate to bottom quarks have been shown to provide an excellent description of the excess gamma rays observed from the center of the Milky Way. Flavored dark matter provides a well-motivated framework in which the dark matter can dominantly couple to bottom quarks in a flavor-safe manner. We propose a phenomenologically viable model of bottom flavored dark matter that can account for the spectral shape and normalization of the gamma-ray excess while naturally suppressing the elastic scattering cross sections probed by direct detection experiments. This modelmore » will be definitively tested with increased exposure at LUX and with data from the upcoming high-energy run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Chuan-Ren; Hamaguchi, Koichi; Nojiri, Mihoko M.

We argue that we may be able to sort out dark matter models in which electrons are generated through the annihilation and/or decay of dark matter, by using a fact that the initial energy spectrum is reflected in the cosmic-ray electron flux observed at the Earth even after propagation through the Galactic magnetic field. To illustrate our idea we focus on three representative initial spectra: monochromatic, flat and double-peak ones. We find that those three cases result in significantly different energy spectra, which may be probed by the Fermi satellite in operation or an up-coming cosmic-ray detector such as CALET.

Higgs portal dark matter in non-standard cosmological histories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardy, Edward

2018-06-01

A scalar particle with a relic density set by annihilations through a Higgs portal operator is a simple and minimal possibility for dark matter. However, assuming a thermal cosmological history this model is ruled out over most of parameter space by collider and direct detection constraints. We show that in theories with a non-thermal cosmological history Higgs portal dark matter is viable for a wide range of dark matter masses and values of the portal coupling, evading existing limits. In particular, we focus on the string theory motivated scenario of a period of matter domination due to a light modulus with a decay rate that is suppressed by the Planck scale. Dark matter with a mass ≲ GeV is possible without additional hidden sector states, and this can have astrophysically relevant self-interactions. We also study the signatures of such models at future direct, indirect, and collider experiments. Searches for invisible Higgs decays at the high luminosity LHC or an e + e - collider could cover a significant proportion of the parameter space for low mass dark matter, and future direct detection experiments will play a complementary role.

Extremal noncommutative black holes as dark matter furnaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawamoto, Shoichi; Wei, Chun-Yu; Wen, Wen-Yu

2017-09-01

In this paper, we consider dark matter annihilation in the gravitational field of noncommutative black holes. Instead of a violent fate predicted in the usual Hawking radiation, we propose a thermal equilibrium state where a mildly burning black hole relic is fueled by dark matter accretion at the final stage of evaporation.

Thermal dark matter from a highly decoupled sector

DOE PAGES

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; Krnjaic, Gordan

2016-11-17

It has recently been shown that if the dark matter is in thermal equilibrium with a sector that is highly decoupled from the Standard Model, it can freeze out with an acceptable relic abundance, even if the dark matter is as heavy as ~1–100 PeV. In such scenarios, both the dark and visible sectors are populated after inflation, but with independent temperatures. The lightest particle in the dark sector will be generically long-lived and can come to dominate the energy density of the Universe. Upon decaying, these particles can significantly reheat the visible sector, diluting the abundance of dark mattermore » and thus allowing for dark matter particles that are much heavier than conventional WIMPs. In this study, we present a systematic and pedagogical treatment of the cosmological history in this class of models, emphasizing the simplest scenarios in which a dark matter candidate annihilates into hidden sector particles which then decay into visible matter through the vector, Higgs, or lepton portals. In each case, we find ample parameter space in which very heavy dark matter particles can provide an acceptable thermal relic abundance. We also discuss possible extensions of models featuring these dynamics.« less

Thermal dark matter from a highly decoupled sector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan; Krnjaic, Gordan

It has recently been shown that if the dark matter is in thermal equilibrium with a sector that is highly decoupled from the Standard Model, it can freeze out with an acceptable relic abundance, even if the dark matter is as heavy as ~1–100 PeV. In such scenarios, both the dark and visible sectors are populated after inflation, but with independent temperatures. The lightest particle in the dark sector will be generically long-lived and can come to dominate the energy density of the Universe. Upon decaying, these particles can significantly reheat the visible sector, diluting the abundance of dark mattermore » and thus allowing for dark matter particles that are much heavier than conventional WIMPs. In this study, we present a systematic and pedagogical treatment of the cosmological history in this class of models, emphasizing the simplest scenarios in which a dark matter candidate annihilates into hidden sector particles which then decay into visible matter through the vector, Higgs, or lepton portals. In each case, we find ample parameter space in which very heavy dark matter particles can provide an acceptable thermal relic abundance. We also discuss possible extensions of models featuring these dynamics.« less

Search for dark matter in events with heavy quarks and missing transverse momentum in [Formula: see text] collisions with the ATLAS detector.

PubMed

Aad, G; Abbott, B; Abdallah, J; Abdel Khalek, S; Abdinov, O; Aben, R; Abi, B; Abolins, M; AbouZeid, O S; Abramowicz, H; Abreu, H; Abreu, R; Abulaiti, Y; Acharya, B S; Adamczyk, L; Adams, D L; Adelman, J; Adomeit, S; Adye, T; Agatonovic-Jovin, T; Aguilar-Saavedra, J A; Agustoni, M; Ahlen, S P; Ahmadov, F; Aielli, G; Akerstedt, H; Åkesson, T P A; Akimoto, G; Akimov, A V; Alberghi, G L; Albert, J; Albrand, S; Alconada Verzini, M J; Aleksa, M; Aleksandrov, I N; Alexa, C; Alexander, G; Alexandre, G; Alexopoulos, T; Alhroob, M; Alimonti, G; Alio, L; Alison, J; Allbrooke, B M M; Allison, L J; Allport, P P; Aloisio, A; Alonso, A; Alonso, F; Alpigiani, C; Altheimer, A; Alvarez Gonzalez, B; Alviggi, M G; Amako, K; Amaral Coutinho, Y; Amelung, C; Amidei, D; Amor Dos Santos, S P; Amorim, A; Amoroso, S; Amram, N; Amundsen, G; Anastopoulos, C; Ancu, L S; Andari, N; Andeen, T; Anders, C F; Anders, G; Anderson, K J; Andreazza, A; Andrei, V; Anduaga, X S; Angelidakis, S; Angelozzi, I; Anger, P; Angerami, A; Anghinolfi, F; Anisenkov, A V; Anjos, N; Annovi, A; Antonaki, M; Antonelli, M; Antonov, A; Antos, J; Anulli, F; Aoki, M; Aperio Bella, L; Apolle, R; Arabidze, G; Aracena, I; Arai, Y; Araque, J P; Arce, A T H; Arduh, F A; Arguin, J-F; Argyropoulos, S; Arik, M; Armbruster, A J; Arnaez, O; Arnal, V; Arnold, H; Arratia, M; Arslan, O; Artamonov, A; Artoni, G; Asai, S; Asbah, N; Ashkenazi, A; Åsman, B; Asquith, L; Assamagan, K; Astalos, R; Atkinson, M; Atlay, N B; Auerbach, B; Augsten, K; Aurousseau, M; Avolio, G; Axen, B; Azuelos, G; Azuma, Y; Baak, M A; Baas, A E; Bacci, C; Bachacou, H; Bachas, K; Backes, M; Backhaus, M; Badescu, E; Bagiacchi, P; Bagnaia, P; Bai, Y; Bain, T; Baines, J T; Baker, O K; Balek, P; Balli, F; Banas, E; Banerjee, Sw; Bannoura, A A E; Bansil, H S; Barak, L; Baranov, S P; Barberio, E L; Barberis, D; Barbero, M; Barillari, T; Barisonzi, M; Barklow, T; Barlow, N; Barnes, S L; Barnett, B M; Barnett, R M; Barnovska, Z; Baroncelli, A; Barone, G; Barr, A J; Barreiro, F; Barreiro Guimarães da Costa, J; 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This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with bottom or top quarks in [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] collisions collected at [Formula: see text] TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events with large missing transverse momentum are selected when produced in association with high-momentum jets of which one or more are identified as jets containing [Formula: see text]-quarks. Final states with top quarks are selected by requiring a high jet multiplicity and in some cases a single lepton. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations and limits are set on the mass scale of effective field theories that describe scalar and tensor interactions between dark matter and Standard Model particles. Limits on the dark-matter-nucleon cross-section for spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions are also provided. These limits are particularly strong for low-mass dark matter. Using a simplified model, constraints are set on the mass of dark matter and of a coloured mediator suitable to explain a possible signal of annihilating dark matter.

Implications of two-component dark matter induced by forbidden channels and thermal freeze-out

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aoki, Mayumi; Toma, Takashi, E-mail: mayumi@hep.s.kanazawa-u.ac.jp, E-mail: takashi.toma@tum.de

2017-01-01

We consider a model of two-component dark matter based on a hidden U(1) {sub D} symmetry, in which relic densities of the dark matter are determined by forbidden channels and thermal freeze-out. The hidden U(1) {sub D} symmetry is spontaneously broken to a residual Z{sub 4} symmetry, and the lightest Z{sub 4} charged particle can be a dark matter candidate. Moreover, depending on the mass hierarchy in the dark sector, we have two-component dark matter. We show that the relic density of the lighter dark matter component can be determined by forbidden annihilation channels which require larger couplings compared tomore » the normal freeze-out mechanism. As a result, a large self-interaction of the lighter dark matter component can be induced, which may solve small scale problems of ΛCDM model. On the other hand, the heavier dark matter component is produced by normal freeze-out mechanism. We find that interesting implications emerge between the two dark matter components in this framework. We explore detectabilities of these dark matter particles and show some parameter space can be tested by the SHiP experiment.« less

Enhanced lines and box-shaped features in the gamma-ray spectrum from annihilating dark matter in the NMSSM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cerdeño, D.G.; Peiró, M.; Robles, S., E-mail: davidg.cerdeno@gmail.com, E-mail: miguel.peiro@uam.es, E-mail: sandra.robles@uam.es

2016-04-01

We study spectral features in the gamma-ray emission from dark matter (DM) annihilation in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM), with either neutralino or right-handed (RH) sneutrino DM . We perform a series of scans over the NMSSM parameter space, compute the DM annihilation cross section into two photons and the contribution of box-shaped features, and compare them with the limits derived from the Fermi-LAT search for gamma-ray lines using the latest Pass 8 data. We implement the LHC bounds on the Higgs sector and on the masses of supersymmetric particles as well as the constraints on low-energy observables. Wemore » also consider the recent upper limits from the Fermi-LAT satellite on the continuum gamma-ray emission from dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). We show that in the case of the RH sneutrino the constraint on gamma-ray spectral features can be more stringent than the dSph bounds. This is due to the Breit-Wigner enhancement near the ubiquitous resonances with a CP even Higgs and the contribution of scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs final states to box-shaped features. By contrast, for neutralino DM, the di-photon final state is only enhanced in the resonance with a Z boson and box-shaped features are even more suppressed. Therefore, the observation of spectral features could constitute a discriminating factor between both models. In addition, we compare our results with direct DM searches, including the SuperCDMS and LUX limits on the elastic DM-nucleus scattering cross section and show that some of these scenarios would be accessible to next generation experiments. Thus, our findings strengthen the idea of complementarity among distinct DM search strategies.« less

Astrophysical signatures of leptonium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ellis, Simon C.; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

2018-01-01

More than 1043 positrons annihilate every second in the centre of our Galaxy yet, despite four decades of observations, their origin is still unknown. Many candidates have been proposed, such as supernovae and low mass X-ray binaries. However, these models are difficult to reconcile with the distribution of positrons, which are highly concentrated in the Galactic bulge, and therefore require specific propagation of the positrons through the interstellar medium. Alternative sources include dark matter decay, or the supermassive black hole, both of which would have a naturally high bulge-to-disc ratio. The chief difficulty in reconciling models with the observations is the intrinsically poor angular resolution of gamma-ray observations, which cannot resolve point sources. Essentially all of the positrons annihilate via the formation of positronium. This gives rise to the possibility of observing recombination lines of positronium emitted before the atom annihilates. These emission lines would be in the UV and the NIR, giving an increase in angular resolution of a factor of 104 compared to gamma ray observations, and allowing the discrimination between point sources and truly diffuse emission. Analogously to the formation of positronium, it is possible to form atoms of true muonium and true tauonium. Since muons and tauons are intrinsically unstable, the formation of such leptonium atoms will be localised to their places of origin. Thus observations of true muonium or true tauonium can provide another way to distinguish between truly diffuse sources such as dark matter decay, and an unresolved distribution of point sources. Contribution to the Topical Issue "Low Energy Positron and Electron Interactions", edited by James Sullivan, Ron White, Michael Bromley, Ilya Fabrikant and David Cassidy.

Investigating the uniformity of the excess gamma rays towards the galactic center region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Horiuchi, Shunsaku; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Kwa, Anna, E-mail: horiuchi@vt.edu, E-mail: mkapling@uci.edu, E-mail: akwa@uci.edu

2016-11-01

We perform a composite likelihood analysis of subdivided regions within the central 26° × 20° of the Milky Way, with the aim of characterizing the spectrum of the gamma-ray galactic center excess in regions of varying galactocentric distance. Outside of the innermost few degrees, we find that the radial profile of the excess is background-model dependent and poorly constrained. The spectrum of the excess emission is observed to extend upwards of 10 GeV outside ∼5° in radius, but cuts off steeply between 10–20 GeV only in the innermost few degrees. If interpreted as a real feature of the excess, thismore » radial variation in the spectrum has important implications for both astrophysical and dark matter interpretations of the galactic center excess. Single-component dark matter annihilation models face challenges in reproducing this variation; on the other hand, a population of unresolved millisecond pulsars contributing both prompt and secondary inverse Compton emission may be able to explain the spectrum as well as its spatial dependency. We show that the expected differences in the photon-count distributions of a smooth dark matter annihilation signal and an unresolved point source population are an order of magnitude smaller than the fluctuations in residuals after fitting the data, which implies that mismodeling is an important systematic effect in point source analyses aimed at resolving the gamma-ray excess.« less

Detailed line shape analysis of the C KVV Auger peak of two carbon allotropes measured using a time of flight positron annihilation induced Auger electron spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fairchild, A. J.; Chirayath, V. A.; Chrysler, M. D.; Gladen, R. W.; Imam, S. K.; Koymen, A. R.; Weiss, A. H.

We report a detailed line shape analysis of the positron induced C KVV Auger line shape from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and a single layer of graphene grown on polycrystalline Cu. A model consisting of the self-fold of the one-electron density of states including terms for hole-hole interactions, charge screening effects, and intrinsic loss mechanisms is compared to experimental C KVV line shapes measured using a positron induced Auger electron spectrometer (PAES). In traditional Auger spectroscopies which use an electron or photon to initiate the Auger process, extracting the relatively small Auger signal from the large secondary background can be quite difficult. Using a very low energy positron beam to create the core hole through an anti-matter matter annihilation entirely eliminates this background. Additionally, PAES has sensitivity to the top most atomic layer since the positron becomes trapped in an image potential well at the surface before annihilation. Therefore, the PAES signal from a single layer of graphene on polycrystalline Cu is primarily from the graphene overlayer with small contributions from the Cu substrate while the PAES signal from HOPG can be viewed as a single graphene layer with a graphite substrate. The influence of these two substrates on C KVV line shape is discussed. This work was supported by NSF Grant No. DMR 1508719 and DMR 1338130.

Spherical cows in dark matter indirect detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bernal, Nicolás; Necib, Lina; Slatyer, Tracy R., E-mail: nicolas.bernal@uan.edu.co, E-mail: lnecib@mit.edu, E-mail: tslatyer@mit.edu

2016-12-01

Dark matter (DM) halos have long been known to be triaxial, but in studies of possible annihilation and decay signals they are often treated as approximately spherical. In this work, we examine the asymmetry of potential indirect detection signals of DM annihilation and decay, exploiting the large statistics of the hydrodynamic simulation Illustris. We carefully investigate the effects of the baryons on the sphericity of annihilation and decay signals for both the case where the observer is at 8.5 kpc from the center of the halo (exemplified in the case of Milky Way-like halos), and for an observer situated wellmore » outside the halo. In the case of Galactic signals, we find that both annihilation and decay signals are expected to be quite symmetric, with axis ratios very different from 1 occurring rarely. In the case of extragalactic signals, while decay signals are still preferentially spherical, the axis ratio for annihilation signals has a much flatter distribution, with elongated profiles appearing frequently. Many of these elongated profiles are due to large subhalos and/or recent mergers. Comparing to gamma-ray emission from the Milky Way and X-ray maps of clusters, we find that the gamma-ray background appears less spherical/more elongated than the expected DM signal from the large majority of halos, and the Galactic gamma ray excess appears very spherical, while the X-ray data would be difficult to distinguish from a DM signal by elongation/sphericity measurements alone.« less

Spherical cows in dark matter indirect detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernal, Nicolás; Necib, Lina; Slatyer, Tracy R.

2016-12-01

Dark matter (DM) halos have long been known to be triaxial, but in studies of possible annihilation and decay signals they are often treated as approximately spherical. In this work, we examine the asymmetry of potential indirect detection signals of DM annihilation and decay, exploiting the large statistics of the hydrodynamic simulation Illustris. We carefully investigate the effects of the baryons on the sphericity of annihilation and decay signals for both the case where the observer is at 8.5 kpc from the center of the halo (exemplified in the case of Milky Way-like halos), and for an observer situated well outside the halo. In the case of Galactic signals, we find that both annihilation and decay signals are expected to be quite symmetric, with axis ratios very different from 1 occurring rarely. In the case of extragalactic signals, while decay signals are still preferentially spherical, the axis ratio for annihilation signals has a much flatter distribution, with elongated profiles appearing frequently. Many of these elongated profiles are due to large subhalos and/or recent mergers. Comparing to gamma-ray emission from the Milky Way and X-ray maps of clusters, we find that the gamma-ray background appears less spherical/more elongated than the expected DM signal from the large majority of halos, and the Galactic gamma ray excess appears very spherical, while the X-ray data would be difficult to distinguish from a DM signal by elongation/sphericity measurements alone.

Zero-range effective field theory for resonant wino dark matter. Part III. Annihilation effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braaten, Eric; Johnson, Evan; Zhang, Hong

2018-05-01

Near a critical value of the wino mass where there is a zero-energy S-wave resonance at the neutral-wino-pair threshold, low-energy winos can be described by a zero-range effective field theory (ZREFT) in which the winos interact nonperturbatively through a contact interaction and through Coulomb interactions. The effects of wino-pair annihilation into electroweak gauge bosons are taken into account through the analytic continuation of the real parameters for the contact interaction to complex values. The parameters of ZREFT can be determined by matching wino-wino scattering amplitudes calculated by solving the Schrödinger equation for winos interacting through a real potential due to the exchange of electroweak gauge bosons and an imaginary potential due to wino-pair annihilation into electroweak gauge bosons. ZREFT at leading order gives an accurate analytic description of low-energy wino-wino scattering, inclusive wino-pair annihilation, and a wino-pair bound state. ZREFT can also be applied to partial annihilation rates, such as the Sommerfeld enhancement of the annihilation rate of wino pairs into monochromatic photons.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blennow, Mattias; Herrero-Garcia, Juan; Schwetz, Thomas, E-mail: emb@kth.se, E-mail: juhg@kth.se, E-mail: schwetz@fysik.su.se

We show that a positive signal in a dark matter (DM) direct detection experiment can be used to place a lower bound on the DM capture rate in the Sun, independent of the DM halo. For a given particle physics model and DM mass we obtain a lower bound on the capture rate independent of the local DM density, velocity distribution, galactic escape velocity, as well as the scattering cross section. We illustrate this lower bound on the capture rate by assuming that upcoming direct detection experiments will soon obtain a significant signal. When comparing the lower bound on themore » capture rate with limits on the high-energy neutrino flux from the Sun from neutrino telescopes, we can place upper limits on the branching fraction of DM annihilation channels leading to neutrinos. With current data from IceCube and Super-Kamiokande non-trivial limits can be obtained for spin-dependent interactions and direct annihilations into neutrinos. In some cases also annihilations into ττ or b b start getting constrained. For spin-independent interactions current constraints are weak, but they may become interesting for data from future neutrino telescopes.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blennow, Mattias; Herrero-Garcia, Juan; Schwetz, Thomas

We show that a positive signal in a dark matter (DM) direct detection experiment can be used to place a lower bound on the DM capture rate in the Sun, independent of the DM halo. For a given particle physics model and DM mass we obtain a lower bound on the capture rate independent of the local DM density, velocity distribution, galactic escape velocity, as well as the scattering cross section. We illustrate this lower bound on the capture rate by assuming that upcoming direct detection experiments will soon obtain a significant signal. When comparing the lower bound on themore » capture rate with limits on the high-energy neutrino flux from the Sun from neutrino telescopes, we can place upper limits on the branching fraction of DM annihilation channels leading to neutrinos. With current data from IceCube and Super-Kamiokande non-trivial limits can be obtained for spin-dependent interactions and direct annihilations into neutrinos. In some cases also annihilations into ττ or bb start getting constrained. For spin-independent interactions current constraints are weak, but they may become interesting for data from future neutrino telescopes.« less

Non-Abelian dark forces and the relic densities of dark glueballs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forestell, Lindsay; Morrissey, David E.; Sigurdson, Kris

2017-01-01

Our understanding of the Universe is known to be incomplete, and new gauge forces beyond those of the Standard Model might be crucial to describing its observed properties. A minimal and well-motivated possibility is a pure Yang-Mills non-Abelian dark gauge force with no direct connection to the Standard Model. We determine here the relic abundances of the glueball bound states that arise in such theories and investigate their cosmological effects. Glueballs are first formed in a confining phase transition, and their relic densities are set by a network of annihilation and transfer reactions. The lightest glueball has no lighter states to annihilate into, and its yield is set mainly by 3 →2 number-changing processes which persistently release energy into the glueball gas during freeze-out. The abundances of the heavier glueballs are dominated by 2 →2 transfer reactions and tend to be much smaller than the lightest state. We also investigate potential connectors between the dark force and the Standard Model that allow some or all of the dark glueballs to decay. If the connection is weak, the lightest glueball can be very long-lived or stable and is a viable dark matter candidate. For stronger connections, the lightest glueball will decay quickly, but other heavier glueball states can remain stable and contribute to the dark matter density.

Dark matter and pulsar model constraints from Galactic center Fermi/LAT γ-ray observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Chris; Macias, Oscar

2014-05-01

Employing Fermi/LAT γ-ray observations, several independent groups have found excess extended γ-ray emission at the Galactic center (GC). Both, annihilating dark matter (DM) or a population of ~ 103 unresolved millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are regarded as well motivated possible explanations. However, there is significant uncertainties in the diffuse Galactic background at the GC. We have performed a revaluation of these two models for the extended γ-ray source at the GC by accounting for the systematic uncertainties of the Galactic diffuse emission model. We also marginalize over point source and diffuse background parameters in the region of interest. We show that the excess emission is significantly more extended than a point source. We find that the DM (or pulsar population) signal is larger than the systematic errors and therefore proceed to determine the sectors of parameter space that provide an acceptable fit to the data. We found that a population of several thousand MSPs with parameters consistent with the average spectral shape of Fermi/LAT measured MSPs was able to fit the GC excess emission. For DM, we found that a pure τ+τ- annihilation channel is not a good fit to the data. But a mixture of τ+τ- and bb with a <σ v> of order the thermal relic value and a DM mass of around 20 to 60 GeV provides an adequate fit.

Dark matter and pulsar model constraints from Galactic Center Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Chris; Macías, Oscar

2013-10-01

Employing Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations, several independent groups have found excess extended gamma-ray emission at the Galactic Center (GC). Both annihilating dark matter (DM) or a population of ˜103 unresolved millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are regarded as well-motivated possible explanations. However, there are significant uncertainties in the diffuse galactic background at the GC. We have performed a revaluation of these two models for the extended gamma-ray source at the GC by accounting for the systematic uncertainties of the Galactic diffuse emission model. We also marginalize over point-source and diffuse background parameters in the region of interest. We show that the excess emission is significantly more extended than a point source. We find that the DM (or pulsar-population) signal is larger than the systematic errors and therefore proceed to determine the sectors of parameter space that provide an acceptable fit to the data. We find that a population of 1000-2000 MSPs with parameters consistent with the average spectral shape of Fermi-LAT measured MSPs is able to fit the GC excess emission. For DM, we find that a pure τ+τ- annihilation channel is not a good fit to the data. But a mixture of τ+τ- and bb¯ with a ⟨σv⟩ of order the thermal relic value and a DM mass of around 20 to 60 GeV provides an adequate fit.

Pre-launch estimates for GLAST sensitivity to dark matter annihilation signals

DOE PAGES

Baltz, E. A.; Berenji, B.; Bertone, G.; ...

2008-07-17

Here, we investigate the sensitivity of the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) to indirectly detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) through the γ-ray signal that their pair annihilation produces. WIMPs are among the favorite candidates to explain the compelling evidence that about 80% of the mass in the Universe is non-baryonic dark matter (DM). They are serendipitously motivated by various extensions of the standard model of particle physics such as Supersymmetry and Universal Extra Dimensions (UED). With its unprecedented sensitivity and its very large energy range (20 MeV to more than 300 GeV) the main instrument on board themore » GLAST satellite, the Large Area Telescope (LAT), will open a new window of discovery. As our estimates show, the LAT will be able to detect an indirect DM signature for a large class of WIMP models given a cuspy profile for the DM distribution. Using the current state of the art Monte Carlo and event reconstruction software developed within the LAT collaboration, we present preliminary sensitivity studies for several possible sources inside and outside the Galaxy. Lastly, we also discuss the potential of the LAT to detect UED via the electron/positron channel. Diffuse background modeling and other background issues that will be important in setting limits or seeing a signal are presented.« less

Antimatter rockets and interstellar propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cassenti, B. N.

1993-06-01

Propulsions systems based on the annihilation of matter can not only open up the solar system for human colonization but can reach the nearer stars. The nearest star to the sun, Alpha-Centauri C, is four light years distant (about 40 trillion km). Completing round trips to the nearer stars within the working lifetime of the crew will require velocities in excess of 20 percent of the speed of light. Of the rockets being considered today only rockets based on the annihilation of mass can complete these interstellar missions. This paper reviews the special theory of relativity and mass annihilation rockets and demonstrate the potential performance of antimatter rockets.

Fermi large area telescope search for photon lines from 30 to 200 GeV and dark matter implications.

PubMed

Abdo, A A; Ackermann, M; Ajello, M; Atwood, W B; Baldini, L; Ballet, J; Barbiellini, G; Bastieri, D; Bechtol, K; Bellazzini, R; Berenji, B; Bloom, E D; Bonamente, E; Borgland, A W; Bouvier, A; Bregeon, J; Brez, A; Brigida, M; Bruel, P; Burnett, T H; Buson, S; Caliandro, G A; Cameron, R A; Caraveo, P A; Carrigan, S; Casandjian, J M; Cecchi, C; Celik, O; Chekhtman, A; Chiang, J; Ciprini, S; Claus, R; Cohen-Tanugi, J; Conrad, J; Dermer, C D; de Angelis, A; de Palma, F; Digel, S W; do Couto E Silva, E; Drell, P S; Drlica-Wagner, A; Dubois, R; Dumora, D; Edmonds, Y; Essig, R; Farnier, C; Favuzzi, C; Fegan, S J; Focke, W B; Fortin, P; Frailis, M; Fukazawa, Y; Funk, S; Fusco, P; Gargano, F; Gasparrini, D; Gehrels, N; Germani, S; Giglietto, N; Giordano, F; Glanzman, T; Godfrey, G; Grenier, I A; Grove, J E; Guillemot, L; Guiriec, S; Gustafsson, M; Hadasch, D; Harding, A K; Horan, D; Hughes, R E; Jackson, M S; Jóhannesson, G; Johnson, A S; Johnson, R P; Johnson, W N; Kamae, T; Katagiri, H; Kataoka, J; Kawai, N; Kerr, M; Knödlseder, J; Kuss, M; Lande, J; Latronico, L; Llena Garde, M; Longo, F; Loparco, F; Lott, B; Lovellette, M N; Lubrano, P; Makeev, A; Mazziotta, M N; McEnery, J E; Meurer, C; Michelson, P F; Mitthumsiri, W; Mizuno, T; Moiseev, A A; Monte, C; Monzani, M E; Morselli, A; Moskalenko, I V; Murgia, S; Nolan, P L; Norris, J P; Nuss, E; Ohsugi, T; Omodei, N; Orlando, E; Ormes, J F; Ozaki, M; Paneque, D; Panetta, J H; Parent, D; Pelassa, V; Pepe, M; Pesce-Rollins, M; Piron, F; Rainò, S; Rando, R; Razzano, M; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Reposeur, T; Ripken, J; Ritz, S; Rodriguez, A Y; Roth, M; Sadrozinski, H F-W; Sander, A; Parkinson, P M Saz; Scargle, J D; Schalk, T L; Sellerholm, A; Sgrò, C; Siskind, E J; Smith, D A; Smith, P D; Spandre, G; Spinelli, P; Starck, J-L; Strickman, M S; Suson, D J; Tajima, H; Takahashi, H; Tanaka, T; Thayer, J B; Thayer, J G; Tibaldo, L; Torres, D F; Uchiyama, Y; Usher, T L; Vasileiou, V; Vilchez, N; Vitale, V; Waite, A P; Wang, P; Winer, B L; Wood, K S; Ylinen, T; Ziegler, M

2010-03-05

Dark matter (DM) particle annihilation or decay can produce monochromatic gamma rays readily distinguishable from astrophysical sources. gamma-ray line limits from 30 to 200 GeV obtained from 11 months of Fermi Large Area Space Telescope data from 20-300 GeV are presented using a selection based on requirements for a gamma-ray line analysis, and integrated over most of the sky. We obtain gamma-ray line flux upper limits in the range 0.6-4.5x10{-9} cm{-2} s{-1}, and give corresponding DM annihilation cross-section and decay lifetime limits. Theoretical implications are briefly discussed.

Angular power spectrum of the diffuse gamma-ray emission as measured by the Fermi Large Area Telescope and constraints on its dark matter interpretation

DOE PAGES

Fornasa, Mattia; Cuoco, Alessandro; Zavala, Jesús; ...

2016-12-09

The isotropic gamma-ray background arises from the contribution of unresolved sources, including members of confirmed source classes and proposed gamma-ray emitters such as the radiation induced by dark matter annihilation and decay. Clues about the properties of the contributing sources are imprinted in the anisotropy characteristics of the gamma-ray background. We use 81 months of Pass 7 Reprocessed data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to perform a measurement of the anisotropy angular power spectrum of the gamma-ray background. Here, we analyze energies between 0.5 and 500 GeV, extending the range considered in the previous measurement based on 22 monthsmore » of data. We also compute, for the first time, the cross-correlation angular power spectrum between different energy bins. The derived angular spectra are compatible with being Poissonian, i.e. constant in multipole. Furthermore, the energy dependence of the anisotropy suggests that the signal is due to two populations of sources, contributing, respectively, below and above ~ 2 GeV . Finally, using data from state-of-the-art numerical simulations to model the dark matter distribution, we constrain the contribution from dark matter annihilation and decay in Galactic and extra-Galactic structures to the measured anisotropy. These constraints are competitive with those that can be derived from the average intensity of the isotropic gamma-ray background.« less

Indirect dark matter signatures in the cosmic dark ages. II. Ionization, heating, and photon production from arbitrary energy injections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slatyer, Tracy R.

2016-01-01

Any injection of electromagnetically interacting particles during the cosmic dark ages will lead to increased ionization, heating, production of Lyman-α photons and distortions to the energy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background, with potentially observable consequences. In this paper we describe numerical results for the low-energy electrons and photons produced by the cooling of particles injected at energies from keV to multi-TeV scales, at arbitrary injection redshifts (but focusing on the post-recombination epoch). We use these data, combined with existing calculations modeling the cooling of these low-energy particles, to estimate the resulting contributions to ionization, excitation and heating of the gas, and production of low-energy photons below the threshold for excitation and ionization. We compute corrected deposition-efficiency curves for annihilating dark matter, and demonstrate how to compute equivalent curves for arbitrary energy-injection histories. These calculations provide the necessary inputs for the limits on dark matter annihilation presented in the accompanying paper I, but also have potential applications in the context of dark matter decay or deexcitation, decay of other metastable species, or similar energy injections from new physics. We make our full results publicly available at http://nebel.rc.fas.harvard.edu/epsilon, to facilitate further independent studies. In particular, we provide the full low-energy electron and photon spectra, to allow matching onto more detailed codes that describe the cooling of such particles at low energies.

Search for dark matter in events with heavy quarks and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.

2015-02-24

This article reports on a search for dark matter pair production in association with bottom or top quarks in 20.3 fb –1 of pp collisions collected at √s=8 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events with large missing transverse momentum are selected when produced in association with high-momentum jets of which one or more are identified as jets containing b-quarks. Final states with top quarks are selected by requiring a high jet multiplicity and in some cases a single lepton. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations and limits are set on themore » mass scale of effective field theories that describe scalar and tensor interactions between dark matter and Standard Model particles. Limits on the dark-matter–nucleon cross-section for spin-independent and spin-dependent interactions are also provided. These limits are particularly strong for low-mass dark matter. Using a simplified model, constraints are set on the mass of dark matter and of a colored mediator suitable to explain a possible signal of annihilating dark matter.« less

A precision search for WIMPs with charged cosmic rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinert, Annika; Winkler, Martin Wolfgang

2018-01-01

AMS-02 has reached the sensitivity to probe canonical thermal WIMPs by their annihilation into antiprotons. Due to the high precision of the data, uncertainties in the astrophysical background have become the most limiting factor for indirect dark matter detection. In this work we systematically quantify and—where possible—reduce uncertainties in the antiproton background. We constrain the propagation of charged cosmic rays through the combination of antiproton, B/C and positron data. Cross section uncertainties are determined from a wide collection of accelerator data and are—for the first time ever—fully taken into account. This allows us to robustly constrain even subdominant dark matter signals through their spectral properties. For a standard NFW dark matter profile we are able to exclude thermal WIMPs with masses up to 570 GeV which annihilate into bottom quarks. While we confirm a reported excess compatible with dark matter of mass around 80 GeV, its local (global) significance only reaches 2.2 σ (1.1 σ) in our analysis.

The Production and Study of Antiprotons and Cold Antihydrogen

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-10

techniques required to produce and store atoms made entirely of anti- matter . Anti- matter provides high-density energy storage that far outstrips even nuclear...materials. Potential applications for anti- matter include rocketry and explosives. In the last grant period, a new positron accumulator was developed...encounter with ordinary matter will cause them to turn all their mass into energy as they annihilate. The scientific goal, which gives this program a

Simplified phenomenology for colored dark sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Hedri, Sonia; Kaminska, Anna; de Vries, Maikel; Zurita, Jose

2017-04-01

We perform a general study of the relic density and LHC constraints on simplified models where the dark matter coannihilates with a strongly interacting particle X. In these models, the dark matter depletion is driven by the self-annihilation of X to pairs of quarks and gluons through the strong interaction. The phenomenology of these scenarios therefore only depends on the dark matter mass and the mass splitting between dark matter and X as well as the quantum numbers of X. In this paper, we consider simplified models where X can be either a scalar, a fermion or a vector, as well as a color triplet, sextet or octet. We compute the dark matter relic density constraints taking into account Sommerfeld corrections and bound state formation. Furthermore, we examine the restrictions from thermal equilibrium, the lifetime of X and the current and future LHC bounds on X pair production. All constraints are comprehensively presented in the mass splitting versus dark matter mass plane. While the relic density constraints can lead to upper bounds on the dark matter mass ranging from 2 TeV to more than 10 TeV across our models, the prospective LHC bounds range from 800 to 1500 GeV. A full coverage of the strongly coannihilating dark matter parameter space would therefore require hadron colliders with significantly higher center-of-mass energies.

Distinguishing dark matter from unresolved point sources in the Inner Galaxy with photon statistics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Samuel K.; Lisanti, Mariangela; Safdi, Benjamin R., E-mail: samuelkl@princeton.edu, E-mail: mlisanti@princeton.edu, E-mail: bsafdi@princeton.edu

2015-05-01

Data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope suggests that there is an extended excess of GeV gamma-ray photons in the Inner Galaxy. Identifying potential astrophysical sources that contribute to this excess is an important step in verifying whether the signal originates from annihilating dark matter. In this paper, we focus on the potential contribution of unresolved point sources, such as millisecond pulsars (MSPs). We propose that the statistics of the photons—in particular, the flux probability density function (PDF) of the photon counts below the point-source detection threshold—can potentially distinguish between the dark-matter and point-source interpretations. We calculate the flux PDFmore » via the method of generating functions for these two models of the excess. Working in the framework of Bayesian model comparison, we then demonstrate that the flux PDF can potentially provide evidence for an unresolved MSP-like point-source population.« less

Search for a gamma-ray line feature from a group of nearby galaxy clusters with Fermi LAT Pass 8 data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Yun-Feng; Shen, Zhao-Qiang; Li, Xiang; Fan, Yi-Zhong; Huang, Xiaoyuan; Lei, Shi-Jun; Feng, Lei; Liang, En-Wei; Chang, Jin

2016-05-01

Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe and may be suitable targets for indirect dark matter searches. With 85 months of Fermi LAT Pass 8 publicly available data, we analyze the gamma-ray emission in the direction of 16 nearby galaxy clusters with an unbinned likelihood analysis. No statistically or globally significant γ -ray line feature is identified and a tentative line signal may present at ˜43 GeV . The 95% confidence level upper limits on the velocity-averaged cross section of dark matter particles annihilating into double γ rays (i.e., ⟨σ v ⟩χχ →γ γ) are derived. Unless very optimistic boost factors of dark matter annihilation in these galaxy clusters have been assumed, such constraints are much weaker than the bounds set by the Galactic γ -ray data.

A novel method to extract dark matter parameters from neutrino telescope data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Esmaili, Arman; Farzan, Yasaman, E-mail: arman@ipm.ir, E-mail: yasaman@theory.ipm.ac.ir

2011-04-01

Recently it has been shown that when the Dark Matter (DM) particles captured in the Sun directly annihilate into neutrino pairs, the oscillatory terms in the oscillation probability do not average to zero and can lead to a seasonal variation as the distance between the Sun and Earth changes in time. In this paper, we explore this feature as a novel method to extract information on the properties of dark matter. We show that by studying the variation of the flux over a few months, it would in principle be possible to derive the DM mass as well as newmore » information on the flavor structure of the DM annihilation modes. In addition to analytic analysis, we present the results of our numerical calculations that take into account scattering and regeneration of neutrinos traversing the Sun.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Motz, H.; Asaoka, Y.; Torii, S.

CALET (Calorimetric Electron Telescope), installed on the ISS in August 2015, directly measures the electron+positron cosmic rays flux up to 20 TeV. With its proton rejection capability of 1 : 10{sup 5} and an aperture of 1200 cm{sup 2·} sr, it will provide good statistics even well above one TeV, while also featuring an energy resolution of 2%, which allows it to detect fine structures in the spectrum. Such structures may originate from Dark Matter annihilation or decay, making indirect Dark Matter search one of CALET's main science objectives among others such as identification of signatures from nearby supernova remnants, study ofmore » the heavy nuclei spectra and gamma astronomy. The latest results from AMS-02 on positron fraction and total electron+positron flux can be fitted with a parametrization including a single pulsar as an extra power law source with exponential cut-off, which emits an equal amount of electrons and positrons. This single pulsar scenario for the positron excess is extrapolated into the TeV region and the expected CALET data for this case are simulated. Based on this prediction for CALET data, the sensitivity of CALET to Dark Matter annihilation in the galactic halo has been calculated. It is shown that CALET could significantly improve the limits compared to current data, especially for those Dark Matter candidates that feature a large fraction of annihilation directly into e{sup +} + e{sup −}, such as the LKP (Lightest Kaluza-Klein particle)« less

Search for γ -Ray Line Signals from Dark Matter Annihilations in the Inner Galactic Halo from 10 Years of Observations with H.E.S.S.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdallah, H.; Abramowski, A.; Aharonian, F.; Ait Benkhali, F.; Angüner, E. O.; Arakawa, M.; Arrieta, M.; Aubert, P.; Backes, M.; Balzer, A.; Barnard, M.; Becherini, Y.; Becker Tjus, J.; Berge, D.; Bernhard, S.; Bernlöhr, K.; Blackwell, R.; Böttcher, M.; Boisson, C.; Bolmont, J.; Bonnefoy, S.; Bordas, P.; Bregeon, J.; Brun, F.; Brun, P.; Bryan, M.; Büchele, M.; Bulik, T.; Capasso, M.; Caroff, S.; Carosi, A.; Carr, J.; Casanova, S.; Cerruti, M.; Chakraborty, N.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Chen, A.; Chevalier, J.; Colafrancesco, S.; Condon, B.; Conrad, J.; Davids, I. D.; Decock, J.; Deil, C.; Devin, J.; deWilt, P.; Dirson, L.; Djannati-Ataï, A.; Domainko, W.; Donath, A.; Drury, L. O'C.; Dutson, K.; Dyks, J.; Edwards, T.; Egberts, K.; Eger, P.; Emery, G.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Eschbach, S.; Farnier, C.; Fegan, S.; Fernandes, M. V.; Fiasson, A.; Fontaine, G.; Förster, A.; Funk, S.; Füßling, M.; Gabici, S.; Gallant, Y. A.; Garrigoux, T.; Gaté, F.; Giavitto, G.; Giebels, B.; Glawion, D.; Glicenstein, J. F.; Gottschall, D.; Grondin, M.-H.; Hahn, J.; Haupt, M.; Hawkes, J.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hinton, J. A.; Hofmann, W.; Hoischen, C.; Holch, T. L.; Holler, M.; Horns, D.; Ivascenko, A.; Iwasaki, H.; Jacholkowska, A.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Jankowsky, D.; Jankowsky, F.; Jingo, M.; Jouvin, L.; Jung-Richardt, I.; Kastendieck, M. A.; Katarzyński, K.; Katsuragawa, M.; Katz, U.; Kerszberg, D.; Khangulyan, D.; Khélifi, B.; King, J.; Klepser, S.; Klochkov, D.; Kluźniak, W.; Komin, Nu.; Kosack, K.; Krakau, S.; Kraus, M.; Krüger, P. P.; Laffon, H.; Lamanna, G.; Lau, J.; Lees, J.-P.; Lefaucheur, J.; Lemière, A.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Lenain, J.-P.; Leser, E.; Liu, R.; Lohse, T.; Lorentz, M.; López-Coto, R.; Lypova, I.; Malyshev, D.; Marandon, V.; Marcowith, A.; Mariaud, C.; Marx, R.; Maurin, G.; Maxted, N.; Mayer, M.; Meintjes, P. J.; Meyer, M.; Mitchell, A. M. W.; Moderski, R.; Mohamed, M.; Mohrmann, L.; Morâ, K.; Moulin, E.; Murach, T.; Nakashima, S.; de Naurois, M.; Ndiyavala, H.; Niederwanger, F.; Niemiec, J.; Oakes, L.; O'Brien, P.; Odaka, H.; Ohm, S.; Ostrowski, M.; Oya, I.; Padovani, M.; Panter, M.; Parsons, R. D.; Pekeur, N. W.; Pelletier, G.; Perennes, C.; Petrucci, P.-O.; Peyaud, B.; Piel, Q.; Pita, S.; Poireau, V.; Poon, H.; Prokhorov, D.; Prokoph, H.; Pühlhofer, G.; Punch, M.; Quirrenbach, A.; Raab, S.; Rauth, R.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Renaud, M.; de los Reyes, R.; Rieger, F.; Rinchiuso, L.; Romoli, C.; Rowell, G.; Rudak, B.; Rulten, C. B.; Sahakian, V.; Saito, S.; Sanchez, D. A.; Santangelo, A.; Sasaki, M.; Schandri, M.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schüssler, F.; Schulz, A.; Schwanke, U.; Schwemmer, S.; Seglar-Arroyo, M.; Settimo, M.; Seyffert, A. S.; Shafi, N.; Shilon, I.; Shiningayamwe, K.; Simoni, R.; Sol, H.; Spanier, F.; Spir-Jacob, M.; Stawarz, Ł.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Steppa, C.; Sushch, I.; Takahashi, T.; Tavernet, J.-P.; Tavernier, T.; Taylor, A. M.; Terrier, R.; Tibaldo, L.; Tiziani, D.; Tluczykont, M.; Trichard, C.; Tsirou, M.; Tsuji, N.; Tuffs, R.; Uchiyama, Y.; van der Walt, J.; van Eldik, C.; van Rensburg, C.; van Soelen, B.; Vasileiadis, G.; Veh, J.; Venter, C.; Viana, A.; Vincent, P.; Vink, J.; Voisin, F.; Völk, H. J.; Vuillaume, T.; Wadiasingh, Z.; Wagner, S. J.; Wagner, P.; Wagner, R. M.; White, R.; Wierzcholska, A.; Willmann, P.; Wörnlein, A.; Wouters, D.; Yang, R.; Zaborov, D.; Zacharias, M.; Zanin, R.; Zdziarski, A. A.; Zech, A.; Zefi, F.; Ziegler, A.; Zorn, J.; Żywucka, N.; H. E. S. S. Collaboration

2018-05-01

Spectral lines are among the most powerful signatures for dark matter (DM) annihilation searches in very-high-energy γ rays. The central region of the Milky Way halo is one of the most promising targets given its large amount of DM and proximity to Earth. We report on a search for a monoenergetic spectral line from self-annihilations of DM particles in the energy range from 300 GeV to 70 TeV using a two-dimensional maximum likelihood method taking advantage of both the spectral and spatial features of the signal versus background. The analysis makes use of Galactic center observations accumulated over ten years (2004-2014) with the H.E.S.S. array of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. No significant γ -ray excess above the background is found. We derive upper limits on the annihilation cross section ⟨σ v ⟩ for monoenergetic DM lines at the level of 4 ×10-28 cm3 s-1 at 1 TeV, assuming an Einasto DM profile for the Milky Way halo. For a DM mass of 1 TeV, they improve over the previous ones by a factor of 6. The present constraints are the strongest obtained so far for DM particles in the mass range 300 GeV-70 TeV. Ground-based γ -ray observations have reached sufficient sensitivity to explore relevant velocity-averaged cross sections for DM annihilation into two γ -ray photons at the level expected from the thermal relic density for TeV DM particles.

Is scale-invariance in gauge-Yukawa systems compatible with the graviton?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christiansen, Nicolai; Eichhorn, Astrid; Held, Aaron

2017-10-01

We explore whether perturbative interacting fixed points in matter systems can persist under the impact of quantum gravity. We first focus on semisimple gauge theories and show that the leading order gravity contribution evaluated within the functional Renormalization Group framework preserves the perturbative fixed-point structure in these models discovered in [J. K. Esbensen, T. A. Ryttov, and F. Sannino, Phys. Rev. D 93, 045009 (2016)., 10.1103/PhysRevD.93.045009]. We highlight that the quantum-gravity contribution alters the scaling dimension of the gauge coupling, such that the system exhibits an effective dimensional reduction. We secondly explore the effect of metric fluctuations on asymptotically safe gauge-Yukawa systems which feature an asymptotically safe fixed point [D. F. Litim and F. Sannino, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2014) 178., 10.1007/JHEP12(2014)178]. The same effective dimensional reduction that takes effect in pure gauge theories also impacts gauge-Yukawa systems. There, it appears to lead to a split of the degenerate free fixed point into an interacting infrared attractive fixed point and a partially ultraviolet attractive free fixed point. The quantum-gravity induced infrared fixed point moves towards the asymptotically safe fixed point of the matter system, and annihilates it at a critical value of the gravity coupling. Even after that fixed-point annihilation, graviton effects leave behind new partially interacting fixed points for the matter sector.

Naturalness of MSSM dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cabrera, María Eugenia; Casas, J. Alberto; Delgado, Antonio; Robles, Sandra; de Austri, Roberto Ruiz

2016-08-01

There exists a vast literature examining the electroweak (EW) fine-tuning problem in supersymmetric scenarios, but little concerned with the dark matter (DM) one, which should be combined with the former. In this paper, we study this problem in an, as much as possible, exhaustive and rigorous way. We have considered the MSSM framework, assuming that the LSP is the lightest neutralino, χ 1 0 , and exploring the various possibilities for the mass and composition of χ 1 0 , as well as different mechanisms for annihilation of the DM particles in the early Universe (well-tempered neutralinos, funnels and co-annihilation scenarios). We also present a discussion about the statistical meaning of the fine-tuning and how it should be computed for the DM abundance, and combined with the EW fine-tuning. The results are very robust and model-independent and favour some scenarios (like the h-funnel when {M}_{χ_1^0} is not too close to m h /2) with respect to others (such as the pure wino case). These features should be taken into account when one explores "natural SUSY" scenarios and their possible signatures at the LHC and in DM detection experiments.

Long-range Self-interacting Dark Matter in the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jing; Liang, Zheng-Liang; Wu, Yue-Liang; Zhou, Yu-Feng

2015-12-01

We investigate the implications of the long-rang self-interaction on both the self-capture and the annihilation of the self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) trapped in the Sun. Our discussion is based on a specific SIDM model in which DM particles self-interact via a light scalar mediator, or Yukawa potential, in the context of quantum mechanics. Within this framework, we calculate the self-capture rate across a broad region of parameter space. While the self-capture rate can be obtained separately in the Born regime with perturbative method, and in the classical limits with the Rutherford formula, our calculation covers the gap between in a non-perturbative fashion. Besides, the phenomenology of both the Sommerfeld-enhanced s- and p-wave annihilation of the solar SIDM is also involved in our discussion. Moreover, by combining the analysis of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) data and the observed DM relic density, we constrain the nuclear capture rate of the DM particles in the presence of the dark Yukawa potential. The consequence of the long-range dark force on probing the solar SIDM turns out to be significant if the force-carrier is much lighter than the DM particle, and a quantitative analysis is provided.

Directional searches at DUNE for sub-GeV monoenergetic neutrinos arising from dark matter annihilation in the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rott, Carsten; In, Seongjin; Kumar, Jason

We consider the use of directionality in the search for monoenergetic sub-GeV neutrinos arising from the decay of stopped kaons, which can be produced by dark matter annihilation in the core of the Sun. When these neutrinos undergo charged-current interactions with a nucleus at a neutrino detector, they often eject a proton which is highly peaked in the forward direction. The direction of this track can be measured at DUNE, allowing one to distinguish signal from background by comparing on-source and off-source event rates. We find that directional information can enhance the signal to background ratio by up to amore » factor of 5.« less

Theoretical uncertainties in the calculation of supersymmetric dark matter observables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergeron, Paul; Sandick, Pearl; Sinha, Kuver

2018-05-01

We estimate the current theoretical uncertainty in supersymmetric dark matter predictions by comparing several state-of-the-art calculations within the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). We consider standard neutralino dark matter scenarios — coannihilation, well-tempering, pseudoscalar resonance — and benchmark models both in the pMSSM framework and in frameworks with Grand Unified Theory (GUT)-scale unification of supersymmetric mass parameters. The pipelines we consider are constructed from the publicly available software packages SOFTSUSY, SPheno, FeynHiggs, SusyHD, micrOMEGAs, and DarkSUSY. We find that the theoretical uncertainty in the relic density as calculated by different pipelines, in general, far exceeds the statistical errors reported by the Planck collaboration. In GUT models, in particular, the relative discrepancies in the results reported by different pipelines can be as much as a few orders of magnitude. We find that these discrepancies are especially pronounced for cases where the dark matter physics relies critically on calculations related to electroweak symmetry breaking, which we investigate in detail, and for coannihilation models, where there is heightened sensitivity to the sparticle spectrum. The dark matter annihilation cross section today and the scattering cross section with nuclei also suffer appreciable theoretical uncertainties, which, as experiments reach the relevant sensitivities, could lead to uncertainty in conclusions regarding the viability or exclusion of particular models.

Time-varying q-deformed dark energy interacts with dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dil, Emre; Kolay, Erdinç

We propose a new model for studying the dark constituents of the universe by regarding the dark energy as a q-deformed scalar field interacting with the dark matter, in the framework of standard general relativity. Here we assume that the number of particles in each mode of the q-deformed scalar field varies in time by the particle creation and annihilation. We first describe the q-deformed scalar field dark energy quantum-field theoretically, then construct the action and the dynamical structure of these interacting dark sectors, in order to study the dynamics of the model. We perform the phase space analysis of the model to confirm and interpret our proposal by searching the stable attractor solutions implying the late-time accelerating phase of the universe. We then obtain the result that when interaction and equation-of-state parameter of the dark matter evolve from the present day values into a particular value, the dark energy turns out to be a q-deformed scalar field.

Re-derived overclosure bound for the inert doublet model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biondini, S.; Laine, M.

2017-08-01

We apply a formalism accounting for thermal effects (such as modified Sommerfeld effect; Salpeter correction; decohering scatterings; dissociation of bound states), to one of the simplest WIMP-like dark matter models, associated with an "inert" Higgs doublet. A broad temperature range T ˜ M/20 . . . M/104 is considered, stressing the importance and less-understood nature of late annihilation stages. Even though only weak interactions play a role, we find that resummed real and virtual corrections increase the tree-level overclosure bound by 1 . . . 18%, depending on quartic couplings and mass splittings.

Electroweak baryogenesis and dark matter via a pseudoscalar vs. scalar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghorbani, Parsa Hossein

2017-08-01

We study the electroweak baryogenesis in a fermionic dark matter scenario with a (pseudo)scalar being the mediator in the Higgs portal. It is discussed that the electroweak phase transition turns to be first-order after taking into account the role of the (pseudo)scalar in the thermal effective potential in our extended standard model. Imposing the relic density constraint from the WMAP/Planck and the bounds from the direct detection experiments XENON100/LUX, we show that the dark matter scenario with a scalar mediator is hardly capable of explaining the baryogenesis while the same model with a pseudoscalar mediator is able to explain the baryon asymmetry. For the latter, we constrain more the model with Fermi-LAT upper limit on dark matter annihilation into b\\overline{b} and τ + τ -. The allowed dark matter mass that leads to correct relic abundance, renders the electroweak phase transition strongly first-order, and respects the Fermi-LAT limit, will be in the range 110-320 GeV. The exotic and invisible Higgs decay bounds and the mono-jet search limit at the LHC do not affect the viable space of parameters.

Capture and decay of electroweak WIMPonium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asadi, Pouya; Baumgart, Matthew; Fitzpatrick, Patrick J.; Krupczak, Emmett; Slatyer, Tracy R.

2017-02-01

The spectrum of Weakly-Interacting-Massive-Particle (WIMP) dark matter generically possesses bound states when the WIMP mass becomes sufficiently large relative to the mass of the electroweak gauge bosons. The presence of these bound states enhances the annihilation rate via resonances in the Sommerfeld enhancement, but they can also be produced directly with the emission of a low-energy photon. In this work we compute the rate for SU(2) triplet dark matter (the wino) to bind into WIMPonium—which is possible via single-photon emission for wino masses above 5 TeV for relative velocity v < O(10-2) —and study the subsequent decays of these bound states. We present results with applications beyond the wino case, e.g. for dark matter inhabiting a nonabelian dark sector; these include analytic capture and transition rates for general dark sectors in the limit of vanishing force carrier mass, efficient numerical routines for calculating positive and negative-energy eigenstates of a Hamiltonian containing interactions with both massive and massless force carriers, and a study of the scaling of bound state formation in the short-range Hulth&apos{e}n potential. In the specific case of the wino, we find that the rate for bound state formation is suppressed relative to direct annihilation, and so provides only a small correction to the overall annihilation rate. The soft photons radiated by the capture process and by bound state transitions could permit measurement of the dark matter's quantum numbers; for wino-like dark matter, such photons are rare, but might be observable by a future ground-based gamma-ray telescope combining large effective area and a low energy threshold.

Dark matter and neutrino mass from the smallest non-Abelian chiral dark sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berryman, Jeffrey M.; de Gouvêa, André; Kelly, Kevin J.; Zhang, Yue

2017-10-01

All pieces of concrete evidence for phenomena outside the standard model (SM)—neutrino masses and dark matter—are consistent with the existence of new degrees of freedom that interact very weakly, if at all, with those in the SM. We propose that these new degrees of freedom organize themselves into a simple dark sector, a chiral S U (3 )×S U (2 ) gauge theory with the smallest nontrivial fermion content. Similar to the SM, the dark S U (2 ) is spontaneously broken while the dark S U (3 ) confines at low energies. At the renormalizable level, the dark sector contains massless fermions—dark leptons—and stable massive particles—dark protons. We find that dark protons with masses between 10 and 100 TeV satisfy all current cosmological and astrophysical observations concerning dark matter even if dark protons are a symmetric thermal relic. The dark leptons play the role of right-handed neutrinos and allow simple realizations of the seesaw mechanism or the possibility that neutrinos are Dirac fermions. In the latter case, neutrino masses are also parametrically different from charged-fermion masses and the lightest neutrino is predicted to be massless. Since the new "neutrino" and "dark-matter" degrees of freedom interact with one another, these two new-physics phenomena are intertwined. Dark leptons play a nontrivial role in early Universe cosmology while indirect searches for dark matter involve, decisively, dark-matter annihilations into dark leptons. These, in turn, may lead to observable signatures at high-energy neutrino and gamma-ray observatories, especially once one accounts for the potential Sommerfeld enhancement of the annihilation cross section, derived from the low-energy dark-sector effective theory, a possibility we explore quantitatively in some detail.

Antiproton-Induced Microfission

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-02-21

than chemical propulsion, other systems may prove even more efficient. Matter -antimatter reactions release enormous amounts of energy, mostly in the form...and matter -antimatter annihilation, to that of H2+0 2 combustion. Table 1.1 Theorectical specific energies of various reactions. System eth J/kg...For the case of hydrogen plasma, protons represent the ions. It would seem that two fluids interacting 25 would greatly complicate matters ; however

A model explaining neutrino masses and the DAMPE cosmic ray electron excess

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Yi-Zhong; Huang, Wei-Chih; Spinrath, Martin; Tsai, Yue-Lin Sming; Yuan, Qiang

2018-06-01

We propose a flavored U(1)eμ neutrino mass and dark matter (DM) model to explain the recent DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) data, which feature an excess on the cosmic ray electron plus positron flux around 1.4 TeV. Only the first two lepton generations of the Standard Model are charged under the new U(1)eμ gauge symmetry. A vector-like fermion ψ, which is our DM candidate, annihilates into e± and μ± via the new gauge boson Z‧ exchange and accounts for the DAMPE excess. We have found that the data favors a ψ mass around 1.5 TeV and a Z‧ mass around 2.6 TeV, which can potentially be probed by the next generation lepton colliders and DM direct detection experiments.

EDITORIAL: Focus on Dark Matter and Particle Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aprile, Elena; Profumo, Stefano

2009-10-01

The quest for the nature of dark matter has reached a historical point in time, with several different and complementary experiments on the verge of conclusively exploring large portions of the parameter space of the most theoretically compelling particle dark matter models. This focus issue on dark matter and particle physics brings together a broad selection of invited articles from the leading experimental and theoretical groups in the field. The leitmotif of the collection is the need for a multi-faceted search strategy that includes complementary experimental and theoretical techniques with the common goal of a sound understanding of the fundamental particle physical nature of dark matter. These include theoretical modelling, high-energy colliders and direct and indirect searches. We are confident that the works collected here present the state of the art of this rapidly changing field and will be of interest to both experts in the topic of dark matter as well as to those new to this exciting field. Focus on Dark Matter and Particle Physics Contents DARK MATTER AND ASTROPHYSICS Scintillator-based detectors for dark matter searches I S K Kim, H J Kim and Y D Kim Cosmology: small-scale issues Joel R Primack Big Bang nucleosynthesis and particle dark matter Karsten Jedamzik and Maxim Pospelov Particle models and the small-scale structure of dark matter Torsten Bringmann DARK MATTER AND COLLIDERS Dark matter in the MSSM R C Cotta, J S Gainer, J L Hewett and T G Rizzo The role of an e+e- linear collider in the study of cosmic dark matter M Battaglia Collider, direct and indirect detection of supersymmetric dark matter Howard Baer, Eun-Kyung Park and Xerxes Tata INDIRECT PARTICLE DARK MATTER SEARCHES:EXPERIMENTS PAMELA and indirect dark matter searches M Boezio et al An indirect search for dark matter using antideuterons: the GAPS experiment C J Hailey Perspectives for indirect dark matter search with AMS-2 using cosmic-ray electrons and positrons B Beischer, P von Doetinchem, H Gast, T Kirn and S Schael Axion searches with helioscopes and astrophysical signatures for axion(-like) particles K Zioutas, M Tsagri, Y Semertzidis, T Papaevangelou, T Dafni and V Anastassopoulos The indirect search for dark matter with IceCube Francis Halzen and Dan Hooper DIRECT DARK MATTER SEARCHES:EXPERIMENTS Gaseous dark matter detectors G Sciolla and C J Martoff Search for dark matter with CRESST Rafael F Lang and Wolfgang Seidel DIRECT AND INDIRECT PARTICLE DARK MATTER SEARCHES:THEORY Dark matter annihilation around intermediate mass black holes: an update Gianfranco Bertone, Mattia Fornasa, Marco Taoso and Andrew R Zentner Update on the direct detection of dark matter in MSSM models with non-universal Higgs masses John Ellis, Keith A Olive and Pearl Sandick Dark stars: a new study of the first stars in the Universe Katherine Freese, Peter Bodenheimer, Paolo Gondolo and Douglas Spolyar Determining the mass of dark matter particles with direct detection experiments Chung-Lin Shan The detection of subsolar mass dark matter halos Savvas M Koushiappas Neutrino coherent scattering rates at direct dark matter detectors Louis E Strigari Gamma rays from dark matter annihilation in the central region of the Galaxy Pasquale Dario Serpico and Dan Hooper DARK MATTER MODELS The dark matter interpretation of the 511 keV line Céline Boehm Axions as dark matter particles Leanne D Duffy and Karl van Bibber Sterile neutrinos Alexander Kusenko Dark matter candidates Lars Bergström Minimal dark matter: model and results Marco Cirelli and Alessandro Strumia Shedding light on the dark sector with direct WIMP production Partha Konar, Kyoungchul Kong, Konstantin T Matchev and Maxim Perelstein Axinos as dark matter particles Laura Covi and Jihn E Kim

The semi-Hooperon: Gamma-ray and anti-proton excesses in the Galactic Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcadi, Giorgio; Queiroz, Farinaldo S.; Siqueira, Clarissa

2017-12-01

A puzzling excess in gamma-rays at GeV energies has been observed in the center of our galaxy using Fermi-LAT data. Its origin is still unknown, but it is well fitted by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) annihilations into quarks with a cross section around 10-26 cm3s-1 with masses of 20-50 GeV, scenario which is promptly revisited. An excess favoring similar WIMP properties has also been seen in anti-protons with AMS-02 data potentially coming from the Galactic Center as well. In this work, we explore the possibility of fitting these excesses in terms of semi-annihilating dark matter, dubbed as semi-Hooperon, with the process WIMP WIMP → WIMP X being responsible for the gamma-ray excess, where X = h , Z. An interesting feature of semi-annihilations is the change in the relic density prediction compared to the standard case, and the possibility to alleviate stringent limits stemming from direct detection searches. Moreover, we discuss which models might give rise to a successful semi-Hooperon setup in the context of Z3,Z4 and extra "dark" gauge symmetries.

A Sommerfeld toolbox for colored dark sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Hedri, Sonia; Kaminska, Anna; de Vries, Maikel

2017-09-01

We present analytical formulas for the Sommerfeld corrections to the annihilation of massive colored particles into quarks and gluons through the strong interaction. These corrections are essential to accurately compute the dark matter relic density for coannihilation with colored partners. Our formulas allow us to compute the Sommerfeld effect, not only for the lowest term in the angular momentum expansion of the amplitude, but for all orders in the partial wave expansion. In particular, we carefully account for the effects of the spin of the annihilating particle on the symmetry of the two-particle wave function. This work focuses on strongly interacting particles of arbitrary spin in the triplet, sextet and octet color representations. For typical velocities during freeze-out, we find that including Sommerfeld corrections on the next-to-leading order partial wave leads to modifications of up to 10 to 20 percent on the total annihilation cross section. Complementary to QCD, we generalize our results to particles charged under an arbitrary unbroken SU( N) gauge group, as encountered in dark glueball models. In connection with this paper a Mathematica notebook is provided to compute the Sommerfeld corrections for colored particles up to arbitrary order in the angular momentum expansion.

Toward (finally!) ruling out Z and Higgs mediated dark matter models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Escudero, Miguel; Berlin, Asher; Hooper, Dan

2016-12-01

In recent years, direct detection, indirect detection, and collider experiments have placed increasingly stringent constraints on particle dark matter, exploring much of the parameter space associated with the WIMP paradigm. In this paper, we focus on the subset of WIMP models in which the dark matter annihilates in the early universe through couplings to either the Standard Model Z or the Standard Model Higgs boson. Considering fermionic, scalar, and vector dark matter candidates within a model-independent context, we find that the overwhelming majority of these dark matter candidates are already ruled out by existing experiments. In the case of Zmore » mediated dark matter, the only scenarios that are not currently excluded are those in which the dark matter is a fermion with an axial coupling and with a mass either within a few GeV of the Z resonance ( m {sub DM} ≅ m {sub Z} /2) or greater than 200 GeV, or with a vector coupling and with m {sub DM} > 6 TeV . Several Higgs mediated scenarios are currently viable if the mass of the dark matter is near the Higgs pole ( m {sub DM} ≅ m {sub H} /2). Otherwise, the only scenarios that are not excluded are those in which the dark matter is a scalar (vector) heavier than 400 GeV (1160 GeV) with a Higgs portal coupling, or a fermion with a pseudoscalar (CP violating) coupling to the Standard Model Higgs boson. With the exception of dark matter with a purely pseudoscalar coupling to the Higgs, it is anticipated that planned direct detection experiments will probe nearly the entire range of models considered in this study.« less

Toward (finally!) ruling out Z and Higgs mediated dark matter models

DOE PAGES

Escudero, Miguel; Fermi National Accelerator Lab.; Berlin, Asher; ...

2016-12-15

In recent years, direct detection, indirect detection, and collider experiments have placed increasingly stringent constraints on particle dark matter, exploring much of the parameter space associated with the WIMP paradigm. In this paper, we focus on the subset of WIMP models in which the dark matter annihilates in the early universe through couplings to either the Standard Model Z or the Standard Model Higgs boson. Considering fermionic, scalar, and vector dark matter candidates within a model-independent context, we find that the overwhelming majority of these dark matter candidates are already ruled out by existing experiments. In the case of Zmore » mediated dark matter, the only scenarios that are not currently excluded are those in which the dark matter is a fermion with an axial coupling and with a mass either within a few GeV of the Z resonance (m DM ≃ m Z/2) or greater than 200 GeV, or with a vector coupling and with m DM > 6 TeV . Several Higgs mediated scenarios are currently viable if the mass of the dark matter is near the Higgs pole (m DM ≃ m H/2). Otherwise, the only scenarios that are not excluded are those in which the dark matter is a scalar (vector) heavier than 400 GeV (1160 GeV) with a Higgs portal coupling, or a fermion with a pseudoscalar (CP violating) coupling to the Standard Model Higgs boson. Furthermore, with the exception of dark matter with a purely pseudoscalar coupling to the Higgs, it is anticipated that planned direct detection experiments will probe nearly the entire range of models considered in this study.« less

Toward (finally!) ruling out Z and Higgs mediated dark matter models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Escudero, Miguel; Fermi National Accelerator Lab.; Berlin, Asher

In recent years, direct detection, indirect detection, and collider experiments have placed increasingly stringent constraints on particle dark matter, exploring much of the parameter space associated with the WIMP paradigm. In this paper, we focus on the subset of WIMP models in which the dark matter annihilates in the early universe through couplings to either the Standard Model Z or the Standard Model Higgs boson. Considering fermionic, scalar, and vector dark matter candidates within a model-independent context, we find that the overwhelming majority of these dark matter candidates are already ruled out by existing experiments. In the case of Zmore » mediated dark matter, the only scenarios that are not currently excluded are those in which the dark matter is a fermion with an axial coupling and with a mass either within a few GeV of the Z resonance (m DM ≃ m Z/2) or greater than 200 GeV, or with a vector coupling and with m DM > 6 TeV . Several Higgs mediated scenarios are currently viable if the mass of the dark matter is near the Higgs pole (m DM ≃ m H/2). Otherwise, the only scenarios that are not excluded are those in which the dark matter is a scalar (vector) heavier than 400 GeV (1160 GeV) with a Higgs portal coupling, or a fermion with a pseudoscalar (CP violating) coupling to the Standard Model Higgs boson. Furthermore, with the exception of dark matter with a purely pseudoscalar coupling to the Higgs, it is anticipated that planned direct detection experiments will probe nearly the entire range of models considered in this study.« less

Extended Higgs-portal dark matter and the Fermi-LAT Galactic Center Excess

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casas, J. A.; Gómez Vargas, G. A.; Moreno, J. M.; Quilis, J.; Ruiz de Austri, R.

2018-06-01

In the present work, we show that the Galactic Center Excess (GCE) emission, as recently updated by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration, could be explained by a mixture of Fermi-bubbles-like emission plus dark matter (DM) annihilation, in the context of a scalar-singlet Higgs portal scenario (SHP). In fact, the standard SHP, where the DM particle, S, only has renormalizable interactions with the Higgs, is non-operational due to strong constraints, especially from DM direct detection limits. Thus we consider the most economical extension, called ESHP (for extended SHP), which consists solely in the addition of a second (more massive) scalar singlet in the dark sector. The second scalar can be integrated-out, leaving a standard SHP plus a dimension-6 operator. Mainly, this model has only two relevant parameters (the DM mass and the coupling of the dim-6 operator). DM annihilation occurs mainly into two Higgs bosons, SS→ hh. We demonstrate that, despite its economy, the ESHP model provides an excellent fit to the GCE (with p-value ~ 0.6‑0.7) for very reasonable values of the parameters, in particular, mS simeq 130 GeV. This agreement of the DM candidate to the GCE properties does not clash with other observables and keep the S‑particle relic density at the accepted value for the DM content in the universe.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arun, Mathew Thomas; Choudhury, Debajyoti; Sachdeva, Divya, E-mail: thomas.mathewarun@gmail.com, E-mail: debajyoti.choudhury@gmail.com, E-mail: divyasachdeva951@gmail.com

The Universal Extra Dimension (UED) paradigm is particularly attractive as it not only includes a natural candidate for the Dark Matter particle , but also addresses several issues related to particle physics. Non-observations at the Large Hadron Collider, though, has brought the paradigm into severe tension. However, a particular 5-dimensional UED model emerges from a six dimensional space-time with nested warping. The AdS {sub 6} bulk protects both the Higgs mass as well as the UED scale without invoking unnatural parameter values. The graviton excitations in the sixth direction open up new (co-)annihilation channels for the Dark Matter particle, therebymore » allowing for phenomenological consistency, otherwise denied to the minimal UED scenario. The model leads to unique signatures in both satellite-based experiments as well as the LHC.« less

Multiwavelength analysis of annihilating dark matter as the origin of the gamma-ray emission from M31

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDaniel, Alex; Jeltema, Tesla; Profumo, Stefano

2018-05-01

Indirect detection of dark matter (DM) by multiwavelength astronomical observations provides a promising avenue for probing the particle nature of DM. In the case of DM consisting of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), self-annihilation ultimately produces various observable products including e± pairs and gamma rays. The gamma rays can be detected directly, while the e± pairs can be detected by radio emission from synchrotron radiation or X rays and soft gamma rays from inverse Compton scattering. An intriguing region to search for astrophysical signs of DM is the Galactic center (GC) of the Milky Way, due in part to an observed excess of gamma rays that could be DM. A recent observation by the Fermi-LAT collaboration of a similar excess in the central region of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) leads us to explore the possibility of a DM-induced signal there as well. We use the RX-DMFIT tool to perform a multifrequency analysis of potential DM annihilation emissions in M31. We consider WIMP particle models consistent with the GC excess and calculate the expected emission across the electromagnetic spectrum in comparison with available observational data from M31. We find that the particle models that best fit the M31 excess favor lower masses than the GC excess. The best-fitting models are for a b b ¯ final state with Mχ=11 GeV and ⟨σ v ⟩ =2.6 ×10-26 cm3 s-1 , as well as an evenly mixed b b ¯ /τ+τ- final state with Mχ=5.8 GeV and ⟨σ v ⟩=2.03 ×10-26 cm3 s-1 . For conservative estimates of the diffusion and magnetic field models the expected radio emissions appear to be in tension with currently available data in the central region of M31, although this constraint has a fairly strong dependence on the values chosen for parameters describing the magnetic field strength and geometry.

Boosted dark matter signals uplifted with self-interaction

DOE PAGES

Kong, Kyoungchul; Mohlabeng, Gopolang; Park, Jong -Chul

2015-04-01

We explore detection prospects of a non-standard dark sector in the context of boosted dark matter. We focus on a scenario with two dark matter particles of a large mass difference, where the heavier candidate is secluded and interacts with the standard model particles only at loops, escaping existing direct and indirect detection bounds. Yet its pair annihilation in the galactic center or in the Sun may produce boosted stable particles, which could be detected as visible Cherenkov light in large volume neutrino detectors. In such models with multiple candidates, self-interaction of dark matter particles is naturally utilized in themore » assisted freeze-out mechanism and is corroborated by various cosmological studies such as N-body simulations of structure formation, observations of dwarf galaxies, and the small scale problem. We show that self-interaction of the secluded (heavier) dark matter greatly enhances the capture rate in the Sun and results in promising signals at current and future experiments. We perform a detailed analysis of the boosted dark matter events for Super-Kamiokande, Hyper-Kamiokande and PINGU, including notable effects such as evaporation due to self-interaction and energy loss in the Sun.« less

Boosted dark matter signals uplifted with self-interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, Kyoungchul; Mohlabeng, Gopolang; Park, Jong-Chul

2015-04-01

We explore detection prospects of a non-standard dark sector in the context of boosted dark matter. We focus on a scenario with two dark matter particles of a large mass difference, where the heavier candidate is secluded and interacts with the standard model particles only at loops, escaping existing direct and indirect detection bounds. Yet its pair annihilation in the galactic center or in the Sun may produce boosted stable particles, which could be detected as visible Cherenkov light in large volume neutrino detectors. In such models with multiple candidates, self-interaction of dark matter particles is naturally utilized in the assisted freeze-out mechanism and is corroborated by various cosmological studies such as N-body simulations of structure formation, observations of dwarf galaxies, and the small scale problem. We show that self-interaction of the secluded (heavier) dark matter greatly enhances the capture rate in the Sun and results in promising signals at current and future experiments. We perform a detailed analysis of the boosted dark matter events for Super-Kamiokande, Hyper-Kamiokande and PINGU, including notable effects such as evaporation due to self-interaction and energy loss in the Sun.

Worlds and Anti-worlds Revisted

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolff, Milo

1996-05-01

In =D2Worlds and Anti-worlds=D3 (1960) Hannes Alfven=20 described a universe symmetric in matter and anti-matter. Today we cannot decide if galaxies and anti-galaxies exist because radiation from both=20 is alike. If matter attracts anti-matter by gravity, intense annihilation= =20 radiation is expected. Since this is not observed, cosmologists concluded the universe is un-symmetrical and tailored the big-bang accordingly. But there is another possibility. The anti-symmetry of particles and anti-particles, suggests repulsive gravity. The rarity of anti-matter and the weakness of gravity makes tesing difficult. But indeed if it is repulsive, galaxies and anti-galaxies would separate and the annihilation radiation would be small as observed. A first guess is 50-50 that anti-gravity exists but there is other evidence: Gamma-ray bursts observed by NASA satellites, solar anti-neutrino flux, and a proposed wave-structure of the electron: =D2Exploring the Physics of the Unknown Universe=D3(1991), ISBN 0-9627787-0-2, suggest that anti-gravity may exist. If true, expect a rush back to the drawing board to revise the expansion and structure of the universe.

Updated search for spectral lines from Galactic dark matter interactions with pass 8 data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; ...

2015-06-15

Dark matter in the Milky Way may annihilate directly into γ rays, producing a monoenergetic spectral line. Therefore, detecting such a signature would be strong evidence for dark matter annihilation or decay. We search for spectral lines in the Fermi Large Area Telescope observations of the Milky Way halo in the energy range 200 MeV–500 GeV using analysis methods from our most recent line searches. The main improvements relative to previous works are our use of 5.8 years of data reprocessed with the Pass 8 event-level analysis and the additional data resulting from the modified observing strategy designed to increasemore » exposure of the Galactic center region. Furthermore, we search in five sky regions selected to optimize sensitivity to different theoretically motivated dark matter scenarios and find no significant detections. In addition to presenting the results from our search for lines, we also investigate the previously reported tentative detection of a line at 133 GeV using the new Pass 8 data.« less

Search for γ-Ray Line Signals from Dark Matter Annihilations in the Inner Galactic Halo from 10 Years of Observations with H.E.S.S.

PubMed

Abdallah, H; Abramowski, A; Aharonian, F; Ait Benkhali, F; Angüner, E O; Arakawa, M; Arrieta, M; Aubert, P; Backes, M; Balzer, A; Barnard, M; Becherini, Y; Becker Tjus, J; Berge, D; Bernhard, S; Bernlöhr, K; Blackwell, R; Böttcher, M; Boisson, C; Bolmont, J; Bonnefoy, S; Bordas, P; Bregeon, J; Brun, F; Brun, P; Bryan, M; Büchele, M; Bulik, T; Capasso, M; Caroff, S; Carosi, A; Carr, J; Casanova, S; Cerruti, M; Chakraborty, N; Chaves, R C G; Chen, A; Chevalier, J; Colafrancesco, S; Condon, B; Conrad, J; Davids, I D; Decock, J; Deil, C; Devin, J; deWilt, P; Dirson, L; Djannati-Ataï, A; Domainko, W; Donath, A; Drury, L O'C; Dutson, K; Dyks, J; Edwards, T; Egberts, K; Eger, P; Emery, G; Ernenwein, J-P; Eschbach, S; Farnier, C; Fegan, S; Fernandes, M V; Fiasson, A; Fontaine, G; Förster, A; Funk, S; Füßling, M; Gabici, S; Gallant, Y A; Garrigoux, T; Gaté, F; Giavitto, G; Giebels, B; Glawion, D; Glicenstein, J F; Gottschall, D; Grondin, M-H; Hahn, J; Haupt, M; Hawkes, J; Heinzelmann, G; Henri, G; Hermann, G; Hinton, J A; Hofmann, W; Hoischen, C; Holch, T L; Holler, M; Horns, D; Ivascenko, A; Iwasaki, H; Jacholkowska, A; Jamrozy, M; Janiak, M; Jankowsky, D; Jankowsky, F; Jingo, M; Jouvin, L; Jung-Richardt, I; Kastendieck, M A; Katarzyński, K; Katsuragawa, M; Katz, U; Kerszberg, D; Khangulyan, D; Khélifi, B; King, J; Klepser, S; Klochkov, D; Kluźniak, W; Komin, Nu; Kosack, K; Krakau, S; Kraus, M; Krüger, P P; Laffon, H; Lamanna, G; Lau, J; Lees, J-P; Lefaucheur, J; Lemière, A; Lemoine-Goumard, M; Lenain, J-P; Leser, E; Liu, R; Lohse, T; Lorentz, M; López-Coto, R; Lypova, I; Malyshev, D; Marandon, V; Marcowith, A; Mariaud, C; Marx, R; Maurin, G; Maxted, N; Mayer, M; Meintjes, P J; Meyer, M; Mitchell, A M W; Moderski, R; Mohamed, M; Mohrmann, L; Morå, K; Moulin, E; Murach, T; Nakashima, S; de Naurois, M; Ndiyavala, H; Niederwanger, F; Niemiec, J; Oakes, L; O'Brien, P; Odaka, H; Ohm, S; Ostrowski, M; Oya, I; Padovani, M; Panter, M; Parsons, R D; Pekeur, N W; Pelletier, G; Perennes, C; Petrucci, P-O; Peyaud, B; Piel, Q; Pita, S; Poireau, V; Poon, H; Prokhorov, D; Prokoph, H; Pühlhofer, G; Punch, M; Quirrenbach, A; Raab, S; Rauth, R; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Renaud, M; de Los Reyes, R; Rieger, F; Rinchiuso, L; Romoli, C; Rowell, G; Rudak, B; Rulten, C B; Sahakian, V; Saito, S; Sanchez, D A; Santangelo, A; Sasaki, M; Schandri, M; Schlickeiser, R; Schüssler, F; Schulz, A; Schwanke, U; Schwemmer, S; Seglar-Arroyo, M; Settimo, M; Seyffert, A S; Shafi, N; Shilon, I; Shiningayamwe, K; Simoni, R; Sol, H; Spanier, F; Spir-Jacob, M; Stawarz, Ł; Steenkamp, R; Stegmann, C; Steppa, C; Sushch, I; Takahashi, T; Tavernet, J-P; Tavernier, T; Taylor, A M; Terrier, R; Tibaldo, L; Tiziani, D; Tluczykont, M; Trichard, C; Tsirou, M; Tsuji, N; Tuffs, R; Uchiyama, Y; van der Walt, J; van Eldik, C; van Rensburg, C; van Soelen, B; Vasileiadis, G; Veh, J; Venter, C; Viana, A; Vincent, P; Vink, J; Voisin, F; Völk, H J; Vuillaume, T; Wadiasingh, Z; Wagner, S J; Wagner, P; Wagner, R M; White, R; Wierzcholska, A; Willmann, P; Wörnlein, A; Wouters, D; Yang, R; Zaborov, D; Zacharias, M; Zanin, R; Zdziarski, A A; Zech, A; Zefi, F; Ziegler, A; Zorn, J; Żywucka, N

2018-05-18

Spectral lines are among the most powerful signatures for dark matter (DM) annihilation searches in very-high-energy γ rays. The central region of the Milky Way halo is one of the most promising targets given its large amount of DM and proximity to Earth. We report on a search for a monoenergetic spectral line from self-annihilations of DM particles in the energy range from 300 GeV to 70 TeV using a two-dimensional maximum likelihood method taking advantage of both the spectral and spatial features of the signal versus background. The analysis makes use of Galactic center observations accumulated over ten years (2004-2014) with the H.E.S.S. array of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. No significant γ-ray excess above the background is found. We derive upper limits on the annihilation cross section ⟨σv⟩ for monoenergetic DM lines at the level of 4×10^{-28}  cm^{3} s^{-1} at 1 TeV, assuming an Einasto DM profile for the Milky Way halo. For a DM mass of 1 TeV, they improve over the previous ones by a factor of 6. The present constraints are the strongest obtained so far for DM particles in the mass range 300 GeV-70 TeV. Ground-based γ-ray observations have reached sufficient sensitivity to explore relevant velocity-averaged cross sections for DM annihilation into two γ-ray photons at the level expected from the thermal relic density for TeV DM particles.

The lightest supersymmetric particle and the extragalactic gamma-ray background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gao, Yi-Tian; Stecker, Floyd W.; Cline, David B.

1991-01-01

The possibility that cosmological photino annihilation is caused by the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB) is examined with particular attention given to the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). The LSP is considered a general type of the best-motivated candidates for cosmic dark matter (CDM). The theoretical analysis employs a corrected assumption for the annihilation cross section, and cosmological integrations are performed through the early phases of the universe. Romberg's method is used for numerical integration, and the total optical depth is developed for the gamma-ray region. The computed LSP-type annihilation fluxes are found to be negligible when compared to the total EGB observed, suggesting that the LSP candidates for CDM are not significant contributors to the EGB.

PPPC 4 DM secondary: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for secondary radiation from Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buch, Jatan; Cirelli, Marco; Giesen, Gaëlle; Taoso, Marco

2015-09-01

We enlarge the set of recipes and ingredients at disposal of any poor particle physicist eager to cook up signatures from weak-scale Dark Matter models by computing two secondary emissions due to DM particles annihilating or decaying in the galactic halo, namely the radio signals from synchrotron emission and the gamma rays from bremsstrahlung. We consider several magnetic field configurations and propagation scenarios for electrons and positrons. We also provide an improved energy loss function for electrons and positrons in the Galaxy, including synchrotron losses in the different configurations, bremsstrahlung losses, ionization losses and Inverse Compton losses with an updated InterStellar Radiation Field.

Neutrinos from cosmic ray interactions in the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Edsjö, J.; Elevant, J.; Niblaeus, C.

Cosmic rays hitting the solar atmosphere generate neutrinos that interact and oscillate in the Sun and oscillate on the way to Earth. These neutrinos could potentially be detected with neutrino telescopes and will be a background for searches for neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Sun. We calculate the flux of neutrinos from these cosmic ray interactions in the Sun and also investigate the interactions near a detector on Earth that give rise to muons. We compare this background with both regular Earth-atmospheric neutrinos and signals from dark matter annihilation in the Sun. Our calculation is performed with anmore » event-based Monte Carlo approach that should be suitable as a simulation tool for experimental collaborations. Our program package is released publicly along with this paper.« less

Soft collinear effective theory for heavy WIMP annihilation

DOE PAGES

Bauer, Martin; Cohen, Timothy; Hill, Richard J.; ...

2015-01-19

In a large class of models for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), the WIMP mass M lies far above the weak scale m W . This work identifies universal Sudakov-type logarithms ~ α log 2(2 M/m W) that spoil the naive convergence of perturbation theory for annihilation processes. An effective field theory (EFT) framework is presented, allowing the systematic resummation of these logarithms. Another impact of the large separation of scales is that a long-distance wavefunction distortion from electroweak boson exchange leads to observable modifications of the cross section. Careful accounting of momentum regions in the EFT allows the rigorousmore » disentanglement of this so-called Sommerfeld enhancement from the short-distance hard annihilation process. In addition, the WIMP is described as a heavy-particle field, while the electroweak gauge bosons are treated as soft and collinear fields. Hard matching coefficients are computed at renormalization scale μ ~ 2 M , then evolved down to μ ~ m W , where electroweak symmetry breaking is incorporated and the matching onto the relevant quantum mechanical Hamiltonian is performed. The example of an SU(2) W triplet scalar dark matter candidate annihilating to line photons is used for concreteness, allowing the numerical exploration of the impact of next-to-leading order corrections and log resummation. As a result, for M ≃ 3 TeV, the resummed Sommerfeld enhanced cross section is reduced by a factor of ~ 3 with respect to the treelevel fixed order result.« less

The Galactic Isotropic γ-ray Background and Implications for Dark Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, Sheldon S.; Kwa, Anna; Kaplinghat, Manoj

2018-06-01

We present an analysis of the radial angular profile of the galacto-isotropic (GI) γ-ray flux-the statistically uniform flux in angular annuli centred on the Galactic centre. Two different approaches are used to measure the GI flux profile in 85 months of Fermi-LAT data: the BDS statistical method which identifies spatial correlations, and a new Poisson ordered-pixel method which identifies non-Poisson contributions. Both methods produce similar GI flux profiles. The GI flux profile is well-described by an existing model of bremsstrahlung, π0 production, inverse Compton scattering, and the isotropic background. Discrepancies with data in our full-sky model are not present in the GI component, and are therefore due to mis-modelling of the non-GI emission. Dark matter annihilation constraints based solely on the observed GI profile are close to the thermal WIMP cross section below 100 GeV, for fixed models of the dark matter density profile and astrophysical γ-ray foregrounds. Refined measurements of the GI profile are expected to improve these constraints by a factor of a few.

Earth-mass dark-matter haloes as the first structures in the early Universe.

PubMed

Diemand, J; Moore, B; Stadel, J

2005-01-27

The Universe was nearly smooth and homogeneous before a redshift of z = 100, about 20 million years after the Big Bang. After this epoch, the tiny fluctuations imprinted upon the matter distribution during the initial expansion began to collapse because of gravity. The properties of these fluctuations depend on the unknown nature of dark matter, the determination of which is one of the biggest challenges in present-day science. Here we report supercomputer simulations of the concordance cosmological model, which assumes neutralino dark matter (at present the preferred candidate), and find that the first objects to form are numerous Earth-mass dark-matter haloes about as large as the Solar System. They are stable against gravitational disruption, even within the central regions of the Milky Way. We expect over 10(15) to survive within the Galactic halo, with one passing through the Solar System every few thousand years. The nearest structures should be among the brightest sources of gamma-rays (from particle-particle annihilation).

DAMA confronts null searches in the effective theory of dark matter-nucleon interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Catena, Riccardo; Ibarra, Alejandro; Wild, Sebastian

2016-05-17

We examine the dark matter interpretation of the modulation signal reported by the DAMA experiment from the perspective of effective field theories displaying Galilean invariance. We consider the most general effective coupling leading to the elastic scattering of a dark matter particle with spin 0 or 1/2 off a nucleon, and we analyze the compatibility of the DAMA signal with the null results from other direct detection experiments, as well as with the non-observation of a high energy neutrino flux in the direction of the Sun from dark matter annihilation. To this end, we develop a novel semi-analytical approach formore » comparing experimental results in the high-dimensional parameter space of the non-relativistic effective theory. Assuming the standard halo model, we find a strong tension between the dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal and the null result experiments. We also list possible ways-out of this conclusion.« less

Background model systematics for the Fermi GeV excess

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Calore, Francesca; Cholis, Ilias; Weniger, Christoph

2015-03-01

The possible gamma-ray excess in the inner Galaxy and the Galactic center (GC) suggested by Fermi-LAT observations has triggered a large number of studies. It has been interpreted as a variety of different phenomena such as a signal from WIMP dark matter annihilation, gamma-ray emission from a population of millisecond pulsars, or emission from cosmic rays injected in a sequence of burst-like events or continuously at the GC. We present the first comprehensive study of model systematics coming from the Galactic diffuse emission in the inner part of our Galaxy and their impact on the inferred properties of the excessmore » emission at Galactic latitudes 2° < |b| < 20° and 300 MeV to 500 GeV. We study both theoretical and empirical model systematics, which we deduce from a large range of Galactic diffuse emission models and a principal component analysis of residuals in numerous test regions along the Galactic plane. We show that the hypothesis of an extended spherical excess emission with a uniform energy spectrum is compatible with the Fermi-LAT data in our region of interest at 95% CL. Assuming that this excess is the extended counterpart of the one seen in the inner few degrees of the Galaxy, we derive a lower limit of 10.0° (95% CL) on its extension away from the GC. We show that, in light of the large correlated uncertainties that affect the subtraction of the Galactic diffuse emission in the relevant regions, the energy spectrum of the excess is equally compatible with both a simple broken power-law of break energy E(break) = 2.1 ± 0.2 GeV, and with spectra predicted by the self-annihilation of dark matter, implying in the case of bar bb final states a dark matter mass of m(χ)=49(+6.4)(-)(5.4)  GeV.« less

Dark Matter Coannihilation with a Lighter Species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berlin, Asher

2017-09-01

We propose a new thermal freeze-out mechanism for ultraheavy dark matter. Dark matter coannihilates with a lighter unstable species that is nearby in mass, leading to an annihilation rate that is exponentially enhanced relative to standard weakly interactive massive particles. This scenario destabilizes any potential dark matter candidate. In order to remain consistent with astrophysical observations, our proposal necessitates very long-lived states, motivating striking phenomenology associated with the late decays of ultraheavy dark matter, potentially as massive as the scale of grand unified theories, MGUT˜1016 GeV .

Dark Matter Coannihilation with a Lighter Species.

PubMed

Berlin, Asher

2017-09-22

We propose a new thermal freeze-out mechanism for ultraheavy dark matter. Dark matter coannihilates with a lighter unstable species that is nearby in mass, leading to an annihilation rate that is exponentially enhanced relative to standard weakly interactive massive particles. This scenario destabilizes any potential dark matter candidate. In order to remain consistent with astrophysical observations, our proposal necessitates very long-lived states, motivating striking phenomenology associated with the late decays of ultraheavy dark matter, potentially as massive as the scale of grand unified theories, M_{GUT}∼10^{16}  GeV.

Intermediate-mass Black Holes and Dark Matter at the Galactic Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lacroix, Thomas; Silk, Joseph

2018-01-01

Could there be a large population of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) formed in the early universe? Whether primordial or formed in Population III, these are likely to be very subdominant compared to the dark matter density, but could seed early dwarf galaxy/globular cluster and supermassive black hole formation. Via survival of dark matter density spikes, we show here that a centrally concentrated relic population of IMBHs, along with ambient dark matter, could account for the Fermi gamma-ray “excess” in the Galactic center because of dark matter particle annihilations.

Large-scale anisotropy in the extragalactic gamma-ray background as a probe for cosmological antimatter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gao, Yi-Tian; Stecker, Floyd W.; Gleiser, Marcelo; Cline, David B.

1990-01-01

Intrinsic anisotropies in the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGB), which should be detectable with the forthcoming Gamma Ray Observatory, can be used to examine some of the mechanisms proposed to explain its origin, one of which, the baryon-symmetric big bang (BSBB) model, is investigated here. In this simulation, large domains containing matter and antimatter galaxies produce gamma rays by annihilation at the domain boundaries. This mechanism can produce mountain-chain-shaped angular fluctuations in the EGB flux.

Local Group dSph radio survey with ATCA (III): constraints on particle dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Regis, Marco; Colafrancesco, Sergio; Profumo, Stefano; de Blok, W. J. G.; Massardi, Marcella; Richter, Laura

2014-10-01

We performed a deep search for radio synchrotron emissions induced by weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) annihilation or decay in six dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies of the Local Group. Observations were conducted with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at 16 cm wavelength, with an rms sensitivity better than 0.05 mJy/beam in each field. In this work, we first discuss the uncertainties associated with the modeling of the expected signal, such as the shape of the dark matter (DM) profile and the dSph magnetic properties. We then investigate the possibility that point-sources detected in the proximity of the dSph optical center might be due to the emission from a DM cuspy profile. No evidence for an extended emission over a size of few arcmin (which is the DM halo size) has been detected. We present the associated bounds on the WIMP parameter space for different annihilation/decay final states and for different astrophysical assumptions. If the confinement of electrons and positrons in the dSph is such that the majority of their power is radiated within the dSph region, we obtain constraints on the WIMP annihilation rate which are well below the thermal value for masses up to few TeV. On the other hand, for conservative assumptions on the dSph magnetic properties, the bounds can be dramatically relaxed. We show however that, within the next 10 years and regardless of the astrophysical assumptions, it will be possible to progressively close in on the full parameter space of WIMPs by searching for radio signals in dSphs with SKA and its precursors.

Diffuse radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

A diffuse celestial radiation which is isotropic at least on a course scale were measured from the soft X-ray region to about 150 MeV, at which energy the intensity falls below that of the galactic emission for most galactic latitudes. The spectral shape, the intensity, and the established degree of isotropy of this diffuse radiation already place severe constraints on the possible explanations for this radiation. Among the extragalactic theories, the more promising explanations of the isotropic diffuse emission appear to be radiation from exceptional galaxies from matter antimatter annihilation at the boundaries of superclusters of galaxies of matter and antimatter in baryon symmetric big bang models. Other possible sources for extragalactic diffuse gamma radiation are discussed and include normal galaxies, clusters of galaxies, primordial cosmic rays interacting with intergalactic matter, primordial black holes, and cosmic ray leakage from galaxies.

Universal clustering of dark matter in phase space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zavala, Jesús; Afshordi, Niayesh

2016-03-01

We have recently introduced a novel statistical measure of dark matter clustering in phase space, the particle phase-space average density (P2SAD). In a two-paper series, we studied the structure of P2SAD in the Milky Way-size Aquarius haloes, constructed a physically motivated model to describe it, and illustrated its potential as a powerful tool to predict signals sensitive to the nanostructure of dark matter haloes. In this work, we report a remarkable universality of the clustering of dark matter in phase space as measured by P2SAD within the subhaloes of host haloes across different environments covering a range from dwarf-size to cluster-size haloes (1010-1015 M⊙). Simulations show that the universality of P2SAD holds for more than seven orders of magnitude, over a 2D phase space, covering over three orders of magnitude in distance/velocity, with a simple functional form that can be described by our model. Invoking the universality of P2SAD, we can accurately predict the non-linear power spectrum of dark matter at small scales all the way down to the decoupling mass limit of cold dark matter particles. As an application, we compute the subhalo boost to the annihilation of dark matter in a wide range of host halo masses.

Antiproton signatures from astrophysical and dark matter sources at the galactic center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cembranos, J. A. R.; Gammaldi, V.; Maroto, A. L.

2015-03-01

The center of our Galaxy is a complex region characterized by extreme phenomena. The presence of the supermassive Sagittarius A* black hole, a high dark matter density and an even higher baryonic density are able to produce very energetic processes. Indeed, high energetic gamma-rays have been observed by different telescopes, although their origin is not clear. In this work, we estimate the possible antiproton flux component associated with this signal. The expected secondary astrophysical antiproton background already saturates the observed data. It implies that any other important astrophysical source leads to an inconsistent excess. We estimate the sensitivity of PAMELA to this new primary antiproton source, which depends on the diffusion model and its spectral features. In particular, we consider antiproton spectra described by a power-law, a monochromatic signal and a Standard Model particle-antiparticle channel production. This latter spectrum is typical in the production from annihilating or decaying dark matter. We pay particular attention to the case of a heavy dark matter candidate, which could be associated with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) data observed from the J1745-290 source.

Searching for Dark Matter with Cosmic Rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Eun-Suk

2015-04-01

One of the most exciting possibilities in cosmic ray research is the potential to discover new phenomena. A number of elementary particles were discovered in cosmic rays before modern-day accelerators became available to study their detailed properties. Since the discovery of cosmic ray antiprotons in 1979 using a balloon-borne magnet spectrometer, a series of magnet spectrometers have been flown to search for the signature of dark matter annihilation in antiprotons and positrons. Being the same as particles except for their opposite charge sign, antiparticles are readily distinguished as they bend in opposite directions in the magnetic field. As long-duration balloon flights over Antarctica became available, not only antiproton to proton ratios but also measurements of antiproton energy spectra became possible. More recently, space missions are also providing precision measurements of electron and position energy spectra. With other measurements to constrain cosmic ray propagation models, these new measurements play key roles in constraining dark-matter models for understanding the nature of dark matter. Recent results, their implications, and outlook for the field will be presented.

Asymmetric dark matter in extended exo-Higgs scenarios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davoudiasl, Hooman; Giardino, Pier Paolo; Zhang, Cen

Here, the exo-Higgs model can accommodate a successful baryogenesis mechanism that closely mirrors electroweak baryogenesis in the Standard Model, but avoids its shortcomings. We extend the exo- Higgs model by the addition of a singlet complex scalar. In our model, Χ can be a viable asymmetric dark matter (ADM) candidate. We predict the mass of the ADM particle to be m x ≈ 1.3 GeV. The leptophilic couplings of can provide for efficient annihilation of the ADM pairs. We also discuss the LHC signals of our scenario, and in particular the production and decays of exo-leptons which would lead tomore » "lepton pair plus missing energy" final states. Our model typically predicts potentially detectable gravitational waves originating from the assumed strong first order phase transition at a temperature of ~TeV. If the model is further extended to include new heavy vector-like fermions, e.g. from an ultraviolet extension, Χ couplings could explain the ~3.5 muon g – 2 anomaly.« less

Asymmetric dark matter in extended exo-Higgs scenarios

DOE PAGES

Davoudiasl, Hooman; Giardino, Pier Paolo; Zhang, Cen

2017-07-17

Here, the exo-Higgs model can accommodate a successful baryogenesis mechanism that closely mirrors electroweak baryogenesis in the Standard Model, but avoids its shortcomings. We extend the exo- Higgs model by the addition of a singlet complex scalar. In our model, Χ can be a viable asymmetric dark matter (ADM) candidate. We predict the mass of the ADM particle to be m x ≈ 1.3 GeV. The leptophilic couplings of can provide for efficient annihilation of the ADM pairs. We also discuss the LHC signals of our scenario, and in particular the production and decays of exo-leptons which would lead tomore » "lepton pair plus missing energy" final states. Our model typically predicts potentially detectable gravitational waves originating from the assumed strong first order phase transition at a temperature of ~TeV. If the model is further extended to include new heavy vector-like fermions, e.g. from an ultraviolet extension, Χ couplings could explain the ~3.5 muon g – 2 anomaly.« less

Probing GeV-scale MSSM neutralino dark matter in collider and direct detection experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Guang Hua; Wang, Wenyu; Wu, Lei; Yang, Jin Min; Zhao, Jun

2018-03-01

Given the recent constraints from the dark matter (DM) direct detections, we examine a light GeV-scale (2-30 GeV) neutralino DM in the alignment limit of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). In this limit without decoupling, the heavy CP-even scalar H plays the role of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson while the other scalar h can be rather light so that the DM can annihilate through the h resonance or into a pair of h to achieve the observed relic density. With the current collider and cosmological constraints, we find that such a light neutralino DM above 6 GeV can be excluded by the XENON-1T (2017) limits while the survivied parameter space below 6 GeV can be fully tested by the future germanium-based light dark matter detections (such as CDEX), by the Higgs coupling precison measurements or by the production process e+e- → hA at an electron-positron collider (Higgs factory).

Secluded WIMPs, Dark QED with Massive Photons, and the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fortes, E. C. F. S.; Pleitez, V.; Stecker, F. W.

2015-01-01

We discuss a particular secluded WIMP dark matter model consisting of neutral fermions as the dark matter candidate and a Proca-Wentzel (PW) field as a mediator. In the model that we consider here, dark matter WIMPs interact with standard model (SM) particles only through the PW field of approximately MeV-multi-GeV mass particles. The interactions occur via a U(1)' mediator, V'(sub mu), which couples to the SM by kinetic mixing with U(1) hypercharge bosons, B'(sub mu). One important difference between our model and other such models in the literature is the absence of an extra singlet scalar, so that the parameter with dimension of mass M(sup 2, sub V) is not related to a spontaneous symmetry breaking. This QED based model is also renormalizable. The mass scale of the mediator and the absence of the singlet scalar can lead to interesting astrophysical signatures. The dominant annihilation channels are different from those usually considered in previous work. We show that the GeV energy gamma-ray excess in the galactic center region, as derived from Fermi-LAT Gamma-ray Space Telescope data, can be attributed to such secluded dark matter WIMPs, given parameters of the model that are consistent with both the cosmological dark matter density and the upper limits on WIMP spin-independent elastic scattering. Secluded WIMP models are also consistent with suggested upper limits on a DM contribution to the cosmic-ray antiproton flux.

The Particle Adventure | What is fundamental? | Fundamental

Science.gov Websites

Quiz - What particles are made of The four interactions How does matter interact? The unseen effect Half life Missing mass Particle decay mediators Virtual particles Different interactions Annihilations

Fermi Bubbles under Dark Matter Scrutiny Part II: Particle Physics Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Wei-Chih; Urbano, Alfredo; Xue, Wei, E-mail: whuang@sissa.it, E-mail: alfredo.urbano@sissa.it, E-mail: wxue@sissa.it

2014-04-01

The analysis of the gamma-ray photons collected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope reveals, after removal of astrophysical background, the existence of an excess towards the Galactic center. This excess peaks around few GeV, and its origin is compatible with the gamma-ray flux originating from Dark Matter annihilation. In this work we take a closer look on this interpretation; we investigate which kind of Dark Matter, and which type of interactions with the Standard Model fields are able to reproduce the observed signal. The structure of the paper is twofold. In the first part, we follow an effective field theorymore » approach considering both fermionic and scalar Dark Matter. The computation of the relic density, the constraint imposed from the null result of direct searches, and the reliability of the effective field theory description allow us to single out only two viable dim-6 operators in the case of fermionic Dark Matter. In the second part, we analyze some concrete models. In particular, we find that the scalar Higgs portal can provide a simple, concrete and realistic scenario able to explain the GeV excess under scrutiny.« less

Long-range Self-interacting Dark Matter in the Sun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Jing; State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China,Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science,Zhong Guan Cun East Street 55#, Beijing, 100190; Liang, Zheng-Liang

2015-12-10

We investigate the implications of the long-rang self-interaction on both the self-capture and the annihilation of the self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) trapped in the Sun. Our discussion is based on a specific SIDM model in which DM particles self-interact via a light scalar mediator, or Yukawa potential, in the context of quantum mechanics. Within this framework, we calculate the self-capture rate across a broad region of parameter space. While the self-capture rate can be obtained separately in the Born regime with perturbative method, and in the classical limits with the Rutherford formula, our calculation covers the gap between in amore » non-perturbative fashion. Besides, the phenomenology of both the Sommerfeld-enhanced s- and p-wave annihilation of the solar SIDM is also involved in our discussion. Moreover, by combining the analysis of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) data and the observed DM relic density, we constrain the nuclear capture rate of the DM particles in the presence of the dark Yukawa potential. The consequence of the long-range dark force on probing the solar SIDM turns out to be significant if the force-carrier is much lighter than the DM particle, and a quantitative analysis is provided.« less

Status of Heavy-lepton Searches

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Perl, M. L.

1981-06-01

Searches for heavy leptons using e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilation, lepton-hadron collisions, photon-hadron collisions, hadron-hadron collisions, and studies of macroscopic matter are reviewed. The present experimental status and future possibilities are summarized.

A multi-frequency analysis of possible dark matter contributions to M31 gamma-ray emissions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beck, G.; Colafrancesco, S., E-mail: geoffrey.beck@wits.ac.za, E-mail: sergio.colafrancesco@wits.ac.za

We examine the possibility of a dark matter (DM) contribution to the recently observed gamma-ray spectrum seen in the M31 galaxy. In particular, we apply limits on Weakly Interacting Massive Particle DM annihilation cross-sections derived from the Coma galaxy cluster and the Reticulum II dwarf galaxy to determine the maximal flux contribution by DM annihilation to both the M31 gamma-ray spectrum and that of the Milky-Way Galactic Centre. We limit the energy range between 1 and 12 GeV in M31 and Galactic Centre spectra due to the limited range of former's data, as well as to encompass the high-energy gamma-raymore » excess observed in the latter target. In so doing, we will make use of Fermi-LAT data for all mentioned targets, as well as diffuse radio data for the Coma cluster. The multi-target strategy using both Coma and Reticulum II to derive cross-section limits, as well as multi-frequency data, ensures that our results are robust against the various uncertainties inherent in modelling of indirect DM emissions. Our results indicate that, when a Navarro-Frenk-White (or shallower) radial density profile is assumed, severe constraints can be imposed upon the fraction of the M31 and Galactic Centre spectra that can be accounted for by DM, with the best limits arising from cross-section constraints from Coma radio data and Reticulum II gamma-ray limits. These particular limits force all the studied annihilation channels to contribute 1% or less to the total integrated gamma-ray flux within both M31 and Galactic Centre targets. In contrast, considerably more, 10−100%, of the flux can be attributed to DM when a contracted Navarro-Frenk-White profile is assumed. This demonstrates how sensitive DM contributions to gamma-ray emissions are to the possibility of cored profiles in galaxies. The only channel consistently excluded for all targets and profiles (except for ∼ 10 GeV WIMPs) is the direct annihilation into photons. Finally, we discuss the ramifications of evidence in favour of cored halo density profiles for DM explanations of galactic gamma-ray emission.« less

The zero age main sequence of WIMP burners

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fairbairn, Malcolm; Scott, Pat; Edsjoe, Joakim

2008-02-15

We modify a stellar structure code to estimate the effect upon the main sequence of the accretion of weakly-interacting dark matter onto stars and its subsequent annihilation. The effect upon the stars depends upon whether the energy generation rate from dark matter annihilation is large enough to shut off the nuclear burning in the star. Main sequence weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMP) burners look much like proto-stars moving on the Hayashi track, although they are in principle completely stable. We make some brief comments about where such stars could be found, how they might be observed and more detailed simulations whichmore » are currently in progress. Finally we comment on whether or not it is possible to link the paradoxically hot, young stars found at the galactic center with WIMP burners.« less

The multiple roles of small-angle tilt grain boundaries in annihilating radiation damage in SiC

DOE PAGES

Jiang, Hao; Wang, Xing; Szlufarska, Izabela

2017-02-09

Lattice defects generated by radiation damage can diffuse to grain boundaries (GBs) and be annihilated at GBs. However, the precise role of GBs in annihilating the segregated defects remains unclear. Here, we employed multi-scale models to determine how interstitials are annihilated at small-angle tilt GBs (STGBs) in SiC. First of all, we found the pipe diffusion of interstitials in STGBs is slower than bulk diffusion. This is because the increased interatomic distance at dislocation cores raises the migration barrier of interstitial dumbbells. Furthermore, we found both the annihilation of interstitials at jogs and jog nucleation from clusters are diffusion-controlled andmore » can occur under off-stoichiometric interstitial fluxes. Finally, a dislocation line model is developed to predict the role of STGBs in annihilating radiation damage. This model includes defect flux to GBs, pipe diffusion in STGBs, and the interaction of defects with jogs. The model predicts the role of STGBs in annihilating defects depends on the rate of defects segregation to and diffusion along STGBs. STGBs mainly serve as diffusion channel for defects to reach other sinks when defect diffusivity is high at boundaries. As a result, when defect diffusivity is low, most of the defects segregated to STGBs are annihilated by dislocation climb.« less

The multiple roles of small-angle tilt grain boundaries in annihilating radiation damage in SiC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiang, Hao; Wang, Xing; Szlufarska, Izabela

Lattice defects generated by radiation damage can diffuse to grain boundaries (GBs) and be annihilated at GBs. However, the precise role of GBs in annihilating the segregated defects remains unclear. Here, we employed multi-scale models to determine how interstitials are annihilated at small-angle tilt GBs (STGBs) in SiC. First of all, we found the pipe diffusion of interstitials in STGBs is slower than bulk diffusion. This is because the increased interatomic distance at dislocation cores raises the migration barrier of interstitial dumbbells. Furthermore, we found both the annihilation of interstitials at jogs and jog nucleation from clusters are diffusion-controlled andmore » can occur under off-stoichiometric interstitial fluxes. Finally, a dislocation line model is developed to predict the role of STGBs in annihilating radiation damage. This model includes defect flux to GBs, pipe diffusion in STGBs, and the interaction of defects with jogs. The model predicts the role of STGBs in annihilating defects depends on the rate of defects segregation to and diffusion along STGBs. STGBs mainly serve as diffusion channel for defects to reach other sinks when defect diffusivity is high at boundaries. As a result, when defect diffusivity is low, most of the defects segregated to STGBs are annihilated by dislocation climb.« less

Complementarity of dark matter searches in the phenomenological MSSM

DOE PAGES

Cahill-Rowley, Matthew; Cotta, Randy; Drlica-Wagner, Alex; ...

2015-03-11

As is well known, the search for and eventual identification of dark matter in supersymmetry requires a simultaneous, multipronged approach with important roles played by the LHC as well as both direct and indirect dark matter detection experiments. We examine the capabilities of these approaches in the 19-parameter phenomenological MSSM which provides a general framework for complementarity studies of neutralino dark matter. We summarize the sensitivity of dark matter searches at the 7 and 8 (and eventually 14) TeV LHC, combined with those by Fermi, CTA, IceCube/DeepCore, COUPP, LZ and XENON. The strengths and weaknesses of each of these techniques aremore » examined and contrasted and their interdependent roles in covering the model parameter space are discussed in detail. We find that these approaches explore orthogonal territory and that advances in each are necessary to cover the supersymmetric weakly interacting massive particle parameter space. We also find that different experiments have widely varying sensitivities to the various dark matter annihilation mechanisms, some of which would be completely excluded by null results from these experiments.« less

H.E.S.S. Limits on Linelike Dark Matter Signatures in the 100 GeV to 2 TeV Energy Range Close to the Galactic Center.

PubMed

Abdalla, H; Abramowski, A; Aharonian, F; Ait Benkhali, F; Akhperjanian, A G; Andersson, T; Angüner, E O; Arrieta, M; Aubert, P; Backes, M; Balzer, A; Barnard, M; Becherini, Y; Becker Tjus, J; Berge, D; Bernhard, S; Bernlöhr, K; Birsin, E; Blackwell, R; Böttcher, M; Boisson, C; Bolmont, J; Bordas, P; Bregeon, J; Brun, F; Brun, P; Bryan, M; Bulik, T; Capasso, M; Carr, J; Casanova, S; Chakraborty, N; Chalme-Calvet, R; Chaves, R C G; Chen, A; Chevalier, J; Chrétien, M; Colafrancesco, S; Cologna, G; Condon, B; Conrad, J; Couturier, C; Cui, Y; Davids, I D; Degrange, B; Deil, C; Devin, J; deWilt, P; Djannati-Ataï, A; Domainko, W; Donath, A; Drury, L O'C; Dubus, G; Dutson, K; Dyks, J; Dyrda, M; Edwards, T; Egberts, K; Eger, P; Ernenwein, J-P; Eschbach, S; Farnier, C; Fegan, S; Fernandes, M V; Fiasson, A; Fontaine, G; Förster, A; Funk, S; Füßling, M; Gabici, S; Gajdus, M; Gallant, Y A; Garrigoux, T; Giavitto, G; Giebels, B; Glicenstein, J F; Gottschall, D; Goyal, A; Grondin, M-H; Grudzińska, M; Hadasch, D; Hahn, J; Hawkes, J; Heinzelmann, G; Henri, G; Hermann, G; Hervet, O; Hillert, A; Hinton, J A; Hofmann, W; Hoischen, C; Holler, M; Horns, D; Ivascenko, A; Jacholkowska, A; Jamrozy, M; Janiak, M; Jankowsky, D; Jankowsky, F; Jingo, M; Jogler, T; Jouvin, L; Jung-Richardt, I; Kastendieck, M A; Katarzyński, K; Katz, U; Kerszberg, D; Khélifi, B; Kieffer, M; King, J; Klepser, S; Klochkov, D; Kluźniak, W; Kolitzus, D; Komin, Nu; Kosack, K; Krakau, S; Kraus, M; Krayzel, F; Krüger, P P; Laffon, H; Lamanna, G; Lau, J; Lees, J-P; Lefaucheur, J; Lefranc, V; Lemière, A; Lemoine-Goumard, M; Lenain, J-P; Leser, E; Liu, R; Lohse, T; Lorentz, M; Lypova, I; Marandon, V; Marcowith, A; Mariaud, C; Marx, R; Maurin, G; Maxted, N; Mayer, M; Meintjes, P J; Meyer, M; Mitchell, A M W; Moderski, R; Mohamed, M; Morå, K; Moulin, E; Murach, T; de Naurois, M; Niederwanger, F; Niemiec, J; Oakes, L; O'Brien, P; Odaka, H; Ohm, S; Ostrowski, M; Öttl, S; Oya, I; Padovani, M; Panter, M; Parsons, R D; Paz Arribas, M; Pekeur, N W; Pelletier, G; Perennes, C; Petrucci, P-O; Peyaud, B; Pita, S; Poon, H; Prokhorov, D; Prokoph, H; Pühlhofer, G; Punch, M; Quirrenbach, A; Raab, S; Reimer, A; Reimer, O; Renaud, M; de Los Reyes, R; Rieger, F; Romoli, C; Rosier-Lees, S; Rowell, G; Rudak, B; Rulten, C B; Sahakian, V; Salek, D; Sanchez, D A; Santangelo, A; Sasaki, M; Schlickeiser, R; Schüssler, F; Schulz, A; Schwanke, U; Schwemmer, S; Settimo, M; Seyffert, A S; Shafi, N; Shilon, I; Simoni, R; Sol, H; Spanier, F; Spengler, G; Spies, F; Stawarz, Ł; Steenkamp, R; Stegmann, C; Stinzing, F; Stycz, K; Sushch, I; Tavernet, J-P; Tavernier, T; Taylor, A M; Terrier, R; Tibaldo, L; Tluczykont, M; Trichard, C; Tuffs, R; van der Walt, J; van Eldik, C; van Soelen, B; Vasileiadis, G; Veh, J; Venter, C; Viana, A; Vincent, P; Vink, J; Voisin, F; Völk, H J; Vuillaume, T; Wadiasingh, Z; Wagner, S J; Wagner, P; Wagner, R M; White, R; Wierzcholska, A; Willmann, P; Wörnlein, A; Wouters, D; Yang, R; Zabalza, V; Zaborov, D; Zacharias, M; Zdziarski, A A; Zech, A; Zefi, F; Ziegler, A; Żywucka, N

2016-10-07

A search for dark matter linelike signals iss performed in the vicinity of the Galactic Center by the H.E.S.S. experiment on observational data taken in 2014. An unbinned likelihood analysis iss developed to improve the sensitivity to linelike signals. The upgraded analysis along with newer data extend the energy coverage of the previous measurement down to 100 GeV. The 18 h of data collected with the H.E.S.S. array allow one to rule out at 95% C.L. the presence of a 130 GeV line (at l=-1.5°, b=0° and for a dark matter profile centered at this location) previously reported in Fermi-LAT data. This new analysis overlaps significantly in energy with previous Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. No significant excess associated with dark matter annihilations was found in the energy range of 100 GeV to 2 TeV and upper limits on the gamma-ray flux and the velocity weighted annihilation cross section are derived adopting an Einasto dark matter halo profile. Expected limits for present and future large statistics H.E.S.S. observations are also given.

H.E.S.S. Limits on Linelike Dark Matter Signatures in the 100 GeV to 2 TeV Energy Range Close to the Galactic Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdalla, H.; Abramowski, A.; Aharonian, F.; Ait Benkhali, F.; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Andersson, T.; Angüner, E. O.; Arrieta, M.; Aubert, P.; Backes, M.; Balzer, A.; Barnard, M.; Becherini, Y.; Becker Tjus, J.; Berge, D.; Bernhard, S.; Bernlöhr, K.; Birsin, E.; Blackwell, R.; Böttcher, M.; Boisson, C.; Bolmont, J.; Bordas, P.; Bregeon, J.; Brun, F.; Brun, P.; Bryan, M.; Bulik, T.; Capasso, M.; Carr, J.; Casanova, S.; Chakraborty, N.; Chalme-Calvet, R.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Chen, A.; Chevalier, J.; Chrétien, M.; Colafrancesco, S.; Cologna, G.; Condon, B.; Conrad, J.; Couturier, C.; Cui, Y.; Davids, I. D.; Degrange, B.; Deil, C.; Devin, J.; deWilt, P.; Djannati-Ataï, A.; Domainko, W.; Donath, A.; Drury, L. O'C.; Dubus, G.; Dutson, K.; Dyks, J.; Dyrda, M.; Edwards, T.; Egberts, K.; Eger, P.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Eschbach, S.; Farnier, C.; Fegan, S.; Fernandes, M. V.; Fiasson, A.; Fontaine, G.; Förster, A.; Funk, S.; Füßling, M.; Gabici, S.; Gajdus, M.; Gallant, Y. A.; Garrigoux, T.; Giavitto, G.; Giebels, B.; Glicenstein, J. F.; Gottschall, D.; Goyal, A.; Grondin, M.-H.; Grudzińska, M.; Hadasch, D.; Hahn, J.; Hawkes, J.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hervet, O.; Hillert, A.; Hinton, J. A.; Hofmann, W.; Hoischen, C.; Holler, M.; Horns, D.; Ivascenko, A.; Jacholkowska, A.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Jankowsky, D.; Jankowsky, F.; Jingo, M.; Jogler, T.; Jouvin, L.; Jung-Richardt, I.; Kastendieck, M. A.; Katarzyński, K.; Katz, U.; Kerszberg, D.; Khélifi, B.; Kieffer, M.; King, J.; Klepser, S.; Klochkov, D.; Kluźniak, W.; Kolitzus, D.; Komin, Nu.; Kosack, K.; Krakau, S.; Kraus, M.; Krayzel, F.; Krüger, P. P.; Laffon, H.; Lamanna, G.; Lau, J.; Lees, J.-P.; Lefaucheur, J.; Lefranc, V.; Lemière, A.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Lenain, J.-P.; Leser, E.; Liu, R.; Lohse, T.; Lorentz, M.; Lypova, I.; Marandon, V.; Marcowith, A.; Mariaud, C.; Marx, R.; Maurin, G.; Maxted, N.; Mayer, M.; Meintjes, P. J.; Meyer, M.; Mitchell, A. M. W.; Moderski, R.; Mohamed, M.; Morâ, K.; Moulin, E.; Murach, T.; de Naurois, M.; Niederwanger, F.; Niemiec, J.; Oakes, L.; O'Brien, P.; Odaka, H.; Ohm, S.; Ostrowski, M.; Öttl, S.; Oya, I.; Padovani, M.; Panter, M.; Parsons, R. D.; Paz Arribas, M.; Pekeur, N. W.; Pelletier, G.; Perennes, C.; Petrucci, P.-O.; Peyaud, B.; Pita, S.; Poon, H.; Prokhorov, D.; Prokoph, H.; Pühlhofer, G.; Punch, M.; Quirrenbach, A.; Raab, S.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Renaud, M.; de los Reyes, R.; Rieger, F.; Romoli, C.; Rosier-Lees, S.; Rowell, G.; Rudak, B.; Rulten, C. B.; Sahakian, V.; Salek, D.; Sanchez, D. A.; Santangelo, A.; Sasaki, M.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schüssler, F.; Schulz, A.; Schwanke, U.; Schwemmer, S.; Settimo, M.; Seyffert, A. S.; Shafi, N.; Shilon, I.; Simoni, R.; Sol, H.; Spanier, F.; Spengler, G.; Spies, F.; Stawarz, Ł.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Stinzing, F.; Stycz, K.; Sushch, I.; Tavernet, J.-P.; Tavernier, T.; Taylor, A. M.; Terrier, R.; Tibaldo, L.; Tluczykont, M.; Trichard, C.; Tuffs, R.; van der Walt, J.; van Eldik, C.; van Soelen, B.; Vasileiadis, G.; Veh, J.; Venter, C.; Viana, A.; Vincent, P.; Vink, J.; Voisin, F.; Völk, H. J.; Vuillaume, T.; Wadiasingh, Z.; Wagner, S. J.; Wagner, P.; Wagner, R. M.; White, R.; Wierzcholska, A.; Willmann, P.; Wörnlein, A.; Wouters, D.; Yang, R.; Zabalza, V.; Zaborov, D.; Zacharias, M.; Zdziarski, A. A.; Zech, A.; Zefi, F.; Ziegler, A.; Żywucka, N.; H. E. S. S. Collaboration

2016-10-01

A search for dark matter linelike signals iss performed in the vicinity of the Galactic Center by the H.E.S.S. experiment on observational data taken in 2014. An unbinned likelihood analysis iss developed to improve the sensitivity to linelike signals. The upgraded analysis along with newer data extend the energy coverage of the previous measurement down to 100 GeV. The 18 h of data collected with the H.E.S.S. array allow one to rule out at 95% C.L. the presence of a 130 GeV line (at l =-1.5 ° , b =0 ° and for a dark matter profile centered at this location) previously reported in Fermi-LAT data. This new analysis overlaps significantly in energy with previous Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. results. No significant excess associated with dark matter annihilations was found in the energy range of 100 GeV to 2 TeV and upper limits on the gamma-ray flux and the velocity weighted annihilation cross section are derived adopting an Einasto dark matter halo profile. Expected limits for present and future large statistics H.E.S.S. observations are also given.

Light dark matter and galaxy formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ascasibar, Yago

2006-11-01

What if dark matter particles were as light as a few MeV? Well, they would ``just'' need to decay or annihilate in exactly the right amount to explain the observed dark matter density... However, such a process would yield a detectable imprint on both particle and cosmological scales. Some of the signatures would be difficult to measure; some others would determine whether a galaxy can form stars or not. Does any (actually all) of these weird things happen?

NMSSM interpretation of the Galactic Center excess

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheung, Clifford; Papucci, Michele; Sanford, David; Shah, Nausheen R.; Zurek, Kathryn M.

2014-10-01

We explore models for the GeV Galactic Center excess (GCE) observed by the Fermi Telescope, focusing on χχ→ff ¯ annihilation processes in the Z3 next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). We begin by examining the requirements for a simplified model [parametrized by the couplings and masses of dark matter (DM) and mediator particles] to reproduce the GCE via χχ→ff ¯, while simultaneously thermally producing the observed relic abundance. We apply the results of our simplified model to the Z3 NMSSM for singlino/Higgsino (S/H) or bino/Higgsino (B/H) DM. In the case of S/H DM, we find that the DM must be very close to a pseudoscalar resonance to be viable, and large tanβ and positive values of μ are preferred for evading direct detection constraints while simultaneously obtaining the observed Higgs mass. In the case of B/H DM, by contrast, the situation is much less tuned: annihilation generally occurs off resonance, and for large tanβ, direct detection constraints are easily satisfied by choosing μ sufficiently large and negative. The B/H model generally has a light, largely MSSM-like pseudoscalar with no accompanying charged Higgs, which could be searched for at the LHC.

The Gamma-ray Sky with Fermi

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, David

2012-01-01

Gamma rays reveal extreme, nonthermal conditions in the Universe. The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has been exploring the gamma-ray sky for more than four years, enabling a search for powerful transients like gamma-ray bursts, novae, solar flares, and flaring active galactic nuclei, as well as long-term studies including pulsars, binary systems, supernova remnants, and searches for predicted sources of gamma rays such as dark matter annihilation. Some results include a stringent limit on Lorentz invariance derived from a gamma-ray burst, unexpected gamma-ray variability from the Crab Nebula, a huge gamma-ray structure associated with the center of our galaxy, surprising behavior from some gamma-ray binary systems, and a possible constraint on some WIMP models for dark matter.

Constraints on the dark matter neutralinos from the radio emissions of galaxy clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiew, Ching-Yee; Hwang, Chorng-Yuan; Zainal Abibin, Zamri

2017-05-01

By assuming the dark matter to be composed of neutralinos, we used the detection of upper limit on diffuse radio emission in a sample of galaxy clusters to put constraint on the properties of neutralinos. We showed the upper limit constraint on <σv>-mχ space with neutralino annihilation through b\\bar{b} and μ+μ- channels. The best constraint is from the galaxy clusters A2199 and A1367. We showed the uncertainty due to the density profile and cluster magnetic field. The largest uncertainty comes from the uncertainty in dark matter spatial distribution. We also investigated the constraints on minimal Supergravity (mSUGRA) and minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) parameter space by scanning the parameters using the darksusy package. By using the current radio observation, we managed to exclude 40 combinations of mSUGRA parameters. On the other hand, 573 combinations of MSSM parameters can be excluded by current observation.

Direct constraints on minimal supersymmetry from Fermi-LAT observations of the dwarf galaxy Segue 1

DOE PAGES

Scott, Pat; Conrad, Jan; Edsjö, Joakim; ...

2010-01-26

The dwarf galaxy Segue 1 is one of the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter. We examine what constraints 9 months of Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations of Segue 1 place upon the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM), with the lightest neutralino as the dark matter particle. We also use nested sampling to explore the CMSSM parameter space, simultaneously fitting other relevant constraints from accelerator bounds, the relic density, electroweak precision observables, the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and B-physics. We include spectral and spatial fits to the Fermi observations, a full treatment of the instrumentalmore » response and its related uncertainty, and detailed background models. We also perform an extrapolation to 5 years of observations, assuming no signal is observed from Segue 1 in that time. Our results marginally disfavour models with low neutralino masses and high annihilation cross-sections. Virtually all of these models are however already disfavoured by existing experimental or relic density constraints.« less

Probing the nature of Dark Matter with the SKA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colafrancesco, S.; Regis, M.; Marchegiani, P.; Beck, G.; Beck, R.; Zechlin, H.; Lobanov, A.; Horns, D.

2015-04-01

Dark Matter (DM) is a fundamental ingredient of our Universe and of structure formation, and yet its nature is elusive to astrophysical probes. Information on the nature and physical properties of the WIMP (neutralino) DM (the leading candidate for a cosmologically relevant DM) can be obtained by studying the astrophysical signals of their annihilation/decay. Among the various e.m. signals, secondary electrons produced by neutralino annihilation generate synchrotron emission in the magnetized atmosphere of galaxy clusters and galaxies which could be observed as a diffuse radio emission (halo or haze) centered on the DM halo. A deep search for DM radio emission with SKA in local dwarf galaxies, galaxy regions with low star formation and galaxy clusters (with offset DM-baryonic distribution, like e.g. the Bullet cluster) can be very effective in constraining the neutralino mass, composition and annihilation cross-section. For the case of a dwarf galaxy, like e.g. Draco, the constraints on the DM annihilation cross-section obtainable with SKA1-MID will be at least a factor $\\sim 10^3$ more stringent than the limits obtained by Fermi-LAT in the $\\gamma$-rays. These limits scale with the value of the B field, and the SKA will have the capability to determine simultaneously both the magnetic field in the DM-dominated structures and the DM particle properties. The optimal frequency band for detecting the DM-induced radio emission is around $\\sim 1$ GHz, with the SKA1-MID Band 1 and 4 important to probe the synchrotron spectral curvature at low-$\

Novel Cosmic-Ray Electron and Positron Constraints on MeV Dark Matter Particles.

PubMed

Boudaud, Mathieu; Lavalle, Julien; Salati, Pierre

2017-07-14

MeV dark matter (DM) particles annihilating or decaying to electron-positron pairs cannot, in principle, be observed via local cosmic-ray (CR) measurements because of the shielding solar magnetic field. In this Letter, we take advantage of spacecraft Voyager 1's capacity for detecting interstellar CRs since it crossed the heliopause in 2012. This opens up a new avenue to probe DM in the sub-GeV energy/mass range that we exploit here for the first time. From a complete description of the transport of electrons and positrons at low energy, we derive predictions for both the secondary astrophysical background and the pair production mechanisms relevant to DM annihilation or decay down to the MeV mass range. Interestingly, we show that reacceleration may push positrons up to energies larger than the DM particle mass. We combine the constraints from the Voyager and AMS-02 data to get novel limits covering a very extended DM particle mass range, from MeV to TeV. In the MeV mass range, our limits reach annihilation cross sections of order ⟨σv⟩∼10^{-28}  cm^{3}/s. An interesting aspect is that these limits barely depend on the details of cosmic-ray propagation in the weak reacceleration case, a configuration which seems to be favored by the most recent B/C data. Though extracted from a completely different and new probe, these bounds have a strength similar to those obtained with the cosmic microwave background-they are even more stringent for p-wave annihilation.

Multi-component fermionic dark matter and IceCube PeV scale neutrinos in left-right model with gauge unification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borah, Debasish; Dasgupta, Arnab; Dey, Ujjal Kumar; Patra, Sudhanwa; Tomar, Gaurav

2017-09-01

We consider a simple extension of the minimal left-right symmetric model (LRSM) in order to explain the PeV neutrino events seen at the IceCube experiment from a heavy decaying dark matter. The dark matter sector is composed of two fermions: one at PeV scale and the other at TeV scale such that the heavier one can decay into the lighter one and two neutrinos. The gauge annihilation cross sections of PeV dark matter are not large enough to generate its relic abundance within the observed limit. We include a pair of real scalar triplets Ω L,R which can bring the thermally overproduced PeV dark matter abundance into the observed range through late time decay and consequent entropy release thereby providing a consistent way to obtain the correct relic abundance without violating the unitarity bound on dark matter mass. Another scalar field, a bitriplet under left-right gauge group is added to assist the heavier dark matter decay. The presence of an approximate global U(1) X symmetry can naturally explain the origin of tiny couplings required for long-lived nature of these decaying particles. We also show, how such an extended LRSM can be incorporated within a non-supersymmetric SO(10) model where the gauge coupling unification at a very high scale naturally accommodate a PeV scale intermediate symmetry, required to explain the PeV events at IceCube.

The pursuit of dark matter at colliders—an overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Penning, Björn

2018-06-01

Dark matter is one of the main puzzles in fundamental physics and the goal of a diverse, multi-pronged research programme. Underground and astrophysical searches look for dark matter particles in the cosmos, either by interacting directly or by searching for dark matter annihilation. Particle colliders, in contrast, might produce dark matter in the laboratory and are able to probe most basic dark-matter–matter interactions. They are sensitive to low dark matter masses, provide complementary information at higher masses and are subject to different systematic uncertainties. Collider searches are therefore an important part of an inter-disciplinary dark matter search strategy. This article highlights the experimental and phenomenological development in collider dark matter searches of recent years and their connection with the wider field.

Dark matter constraints from a joint analysis of dwarf Spheroidal galaxy observations with VERITAS

DOE PAGES

Archambault, S.; Archer, A.; Benbow, W.; ...

2017-04-05

We present constraints on the annihilation cross section of weakly interacting massive particles dark matter based on the joint statistical analysis of four dwarf galaxies with VERITAS. These results are derived from an optimized photon weighting statistical technique that improves on standard imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope (IACT) analyses by utilizing the spectral and spatial properties of individual photon events.

Search for Neutrinos from Annihilation of Captured Low-Mass Dark Matter Particles in the Sun by Super-Kamiokande

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, K.; Abe, K.; Haga, Y.; Hayato, Y.; Iyogi, K.; Kameda, J.; Kishimoto, Y.; Miura, M.; Moriyama, S.; Nakahata, M.; Nakano, Y.; Nakayama, S.; Sekiya, H.; Shiozawa, M.; Suzuki, Y.; Takeda, A.; Tomura, T.; Wendell, R. A.; Irvine, T.; Kajita, T.; Kametani, I.; Kaneyuki, K.; Lee, K. P.; Nishimura, Y.; Okumura, K.; McLachlan, T.; Labarga, L.; Kearns, E.; Raaf, J. L.; Stone, J. L.; Sulak, L. R.; Berkman, S.; Tanaka, H. A.; Tobayama, S.; Goldhaber, M.; Carminati, G.; Kropp, W. R.; Mine, S.; Renshaw, A.; Smy, M. B.; Sobel, H. W.; Ganezer, K. S.; Hill, J.; Hong, N.; Kim, J. Y.; Lim, I. T.; Akiri, T.; Himmel, A.; Scholberg, K.; Walter, C. W.; Wongjirad, T.; Ishizuka, T.; Tasaka, S.; Jang, J. S.; Learned, J. G.; Matsuno, S.; Smith, S. N.; Hasegawa, T.; Ishida, T.; Ishii, T.; Kobayashi, T.; Nakadaira, T.; Nakamura, K.; Oyama, Y.; Sakashita, K.; Sekiguchi, T.; Tsukamoto, T.; Suzuki, A. T.; Takeuchi, Y.; Bronner, C.; Hirota, S.; Huang, K.; Ieki, K.; Ikeda, M.; Kikawa, T.; Minamino, A.; Nakaya, T.; Suzuki, K.; Takahashi, S.; Fukuda, Y.; Itow, Y.; Mitsuka, G.; Mijakowski, P.; Hignight, J.; Imber, J.; Jung, C. K.; Yanagisawa, C.; Ishino, H.; Kibayashi, A.; Koshio, Y.; Mori, T.; Sakuda, M.; Yano, T.; Kuno, Y.; Tacik, R.; Kim, S. B.; Okazawa, H.; Choi, Y.; Nishijima, K.; Koshiba, M.; Totsuka, Y.; Yokoyama, M.; Martens, K.; Marti, Ll.; Vagins, M. R.; Martin, J. F.; de Perio, P.; Konaka, A.; Wilking, M. J.; Chen, S.; Zhang, Y.; Wilkes, R. J.; Super-Kamiokande Collaboration

2015-04-01

Super-Kamiokande (SK) can search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) by detecting neutrinos produced from WIMP annihilations occurring inside the Sun. In this analysis, we include neutrino events with interaction vertices in the detector in addition to upward-going muons produced in the surrounding rock. Compared to the previous result, which used the upward-going muons only, the signal acceptances for light (few-GeV /c2-200 -GeV /c2 ) WIMPs are significantly increased. We fit 3903 days of SK data to search for the contribution of neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in the Sun. We found no significant excess over expected atmospheric-neutrino background and the result is interpreted in terms of upper limits on WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross sections under different assumptions about the annihilation channel. We set the current best limits on the spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross section for WIMP masses below 200 GeV /c2 (at 10 GeV /c2 , 1.49 ×10-39 cm2 for χ χ →b b ¯ and 1.31 ×10-40 cm2 for χ χ →τ+τ- annihilation channels), also ruling out some fraction of WIMP candidates with spin-independent coupling in the few-GeV /c2 mass range.

Relativistic Tsiolkovsky equation -- a case study in special relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redd, Jeremy; Panin, Alexander

2011-10-01

A possibility of using antimatter in future space propulsion systems is seriously discussed in scientific literature. Annihilation of matter and antimatter is not only the energy source of ultimate density 9x10^16 J/kg (provided that antimatter fuel is available on board or can be collected along the journey) but also potentially allows to reach ultimate exhaust speed -- speed of light c. Using relativistic rocket equation we discuss the feasibility of achieving relativistic velocities with annihilation powered photon engine, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of interstellar travel with relativistic and ultrarelativistic velocities.

Search of extended gamma-ray emission from the Virgo Galaxy cluster with Fermi-Lat

DOE PAGES

Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Albert, A.; ...

2015-10-20

Galaxy clusters are one of the prime sites to search for dark matter (DM) annihilation signals. Depending on the substructure of the DM halo of a galaxy cluster and the cross sections for DM annihilation channels, these signals might be detectable by the latest generation of γ-ray telescopes. We use three years of Fermi-Large Area Telescope data, which are the most suitable for searching for very extended emission in the vicinity of the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. Our analysis reveals statistically significant extended emission which can be well characterized by a uniformly emitting disk profile with a radius of 3° that moreover is offset from the cluster center. Here, we demonstrate that the significance of this extended emission strongly depends on the adopted interstellar emission model (IEM) and is most likely an artifact of our incomplete description of the IEM in this region. Furthermore, we also search for and find new point source candidates in the region. We then derive conservative upper limits on the velocity-averaged DM pair annihilation cross section from Virgo. We take into account the potential γ-ray flux enhancement due to DM sub-halos and its complex morphology as a merging cluster. For DM annihilating intomore » $$b\\bar{b},$$ assuming a conservative sub-halo model setup, we find limits that are between 1 and 1.5 orders of magnitude above the expectation from the thermal cross section for mDM lesssim 100 GeV. In a more optimistic scenario, we exclude $$\\langle \\sigma v\\rangle \\sim 3\\times {10}^{-26}\\;{\\mathrm{cm}}^{3}\\;{{\\rm{s}}}^{-1}$$ for m DM $$\\lesssim$$ 40 GeV for the same channel. Finally, we derive upper limits on the γ-ray-flux produced by hadronic cosmic-ray interactions in the inter cluster medium. We find that the volume-averaged cosmic-ray-to-thermal pressure ratio is less than ~6%.« less

Relic neutralino surface at a 100 TeV collider

DOE PAGES

Bramante, Joseph; Fox, Patrick J.; Martin, Adam; ...

2015-03-11

We map the parameter space for minimal supersymmetric Standard Model neutralino dark matter which freezes out to the observed relic abundance, in the limit that all superpartners except the neutralinos and charginos are decoupled. In this space of relic neutralinos, we show the dominant dark matter annihilation modes, the mass splittings among the electroweakinos, direct detection rates, and collider cross sections. The mass difference between the dark matter and the next-to-lightest neutral and charged states is typically much less than electroweak gauge boson masses. With these small mass differences, the relic neutralino surface is accessible to a future 100 TeVmore » hadron collider, which can discover interneutralino mass splittings down to 1 GeV and thermal relic dark matter neutralino masses up to 1.5 TeV with a few inverse attobarns of luminosity. This coverage is a direct consequence of the increased collider energy: in the Standard Model events with missing transverse momentum in the TeV range have mostly hard electroweak radiation, distinct from the soft radiation shed in compressed electroweakino decays. As a result, we exploit this kinematic feature in final states including photons and leptons, tailored to the 100 TeV collider environment.« less

Hidden sector monopole, vector dark matter and dark radiation with Higgs portal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baek, Seungwon; Ko, P.; Park, Wan-Il, E-mail: sbaek1560@gmail.com, E-mail: pko@kias.re.kr, E-mail: wipark@kias.re.kr

2014-10-01

We show that the 't Hooft-Polyakov monopole model in the hidden sector with Higgs portal interaction makes a viable dark matter model, where monopole and massive vector dark matter (VDM) are stable due to topological conservation and the unbroken subgroup U(1 {sub X}. We show that, even though observed CMB data requires the dark gauge coupling to be quite small, a right amount of VDM thermal relic can be obtained via s-channel resonant annihilation for the mass of VDM close to or smaller than the half of SM higgs mass, thanks to Higgs portal interaction. Monopole relic density turns outmore » to be several orders of magnitude smaller than the observed dark matter relic density. Direct detection experiments, particularly, the projected XENON1T experiment, may probe the parameter space where the dark Higgs is lighter than ∼< 50 GeV. In addition, the dark photon associated with the unbroken U(1 {sub X} contributes to the radiation energy density at present, giving Δ N{sub eff}{sup ν} ∼ 0.1 as the extra relativistic neutrino species.« less

Antiproton signatures from astrophysical and dark matter sources at the galactic center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cembranos, J.A.R.; Gammaldi, V.; Maroto, A.L., E-mail: cembra@ucm.es, E-mail: vivigamm@ucm.es, E-mail: maroto@fis.ucm.es

2015-03-01

The center of our Galaxy is a complex region characterized by extreme phenomena. The presence of the supermassive Sagittarius A* black hole, a high dark matter density and an even higher baryonic density are able to produce very energetic processes. Indeed, high energetic gamma-rays have been observed by different telescopes, although their origin is not clear. In this work, we estimate the possible antiproton flux component associated with this signal. The expected secondary astrophysical antiproton background already saturates the observed data. It implies that any other important astrophysical source leads to an inconsistent excess. We estimate the sensitivity of PAMELAmore » to this new primary antiproton source, which depends on the diffusion model and its spectral features. In particular, we consider antiproton spectra described by a power-law, a monochromatic signal and a Standard Model particle-antiparticle channel production. This latter spectrum is typical in the production from annihilating or decaying dark matter. We pay particular attention to the case of a heavy dark matter candidate, which could be associated with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) data observed from the J1745-290 source.« less

Interpretations of galactic center gamma-ray excess confronting the PandaX-II constraints on dark matter-neutron spin-dependent scatterings in the NMSSM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Liangliang; He, Yangle; Lian, Jingwei; Pan, Yusi

2018-05-01

The Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) has been one of the most attractive candidates for Dark Matter (DM), and the lightest neutralino (\\widetilde{χ }^0_1) in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) is an interesting realization of the WIMP framework. The Galactic Center Excess (GCE) indicated from the analysis of the photon data of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) in the gamma-ray wavelength ≲ 1 fm, can be explained by WIMP DM annihilations in the sky, as shown in many existing works. In this work we consider an interesting scenario in the Z_3-NMSSM where the singlet S and Singlino \\widetilde{S}^0 components play important roles in the Higgs and DM sector. Guided by our analytical arguments, we perform a sophisticated scan over the NMSSM parameter space by considering various observables such as the Standard Model (SM) Higgs data measured by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and the B-physics observables BR(B_s→ X_sγ ) and BR(B_s→ μ ^+μ ^-). We first collect samples which can explain the GCE well while passing all constraints we consider except for the DM direct detection (DD) bounds from XENON1T and PandaX-II experiments. We analyze the features of these samples suitable for the GCE interpretation and find that \\widetilde{χ }^0_1 DM are mostly Singlino-like and annihilation products are mostly the bottom quark pairs \\bar{b}b through a light singlet-like CP-odd Higgs A_1. Moreover, a good fit to the GCE spectrum generically requires sizable DM annihilation rates < σ _{b\\bar{b}} v > 0 in today's Universe. However, the correlation between the coupling C_{A_1 b\\bar{b}} in < σ _{b\\bar{b}} v > 0 and the coupling C_{Z \\widetilde{χ }^0_1 \\widetilde{χ }^0_1} in DM-neutron Spin Dependent (SD) scattering rate σ ^{SD}_{\\widetilde{χ }^0_1-N} makes all samples we obtain for GCE explanation get excluded by the PandaX-II results. Although the DM resonant annihilation scenarios may be beyond the reach of our analytical approximations and scan strategy, the aforementioned correlation can be a reasonable motivation for future experiments such as PandaX-nT to further test the NMSSM interpretation of GCE.

Gamma-ray and Neutrino Fluxes from Heavy Dark Matter in the Galactic Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gammaldi, V.; Cembranos, J. A. R.; de la Cruz-Dombriz, A.; Lineros, R. A.; Maroto, A. L.

We present a study of the Galactic Center region as a possible source of both secondary gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes from annihilating dark matter. We have studied the gamma-ray flux observed by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) from the J1745-290 Galactic Center source. The data are well fitted as annihilating dark matter in combination with an astrophysical background. The analysis was performed by means of simulated gamma spectra produced by Monte Carlo event generators packages. We analyze the differences in the spectra obtained by the various Monte Carlo codes developed so far in particle physics. We show that, within some uncertainty, the HESS data can be fitted as a signal from a heavy dark matter density distribution peaked at the Galactic Center, with a power-law for the background with a spectral index which is compatible with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT) data from the same region. If this kind of dark matter distribution generates the gamma-ray flux observed by HESS, we also expect to observe a neutrino flux. We show prospective results for the observation of secondary neutrinos with the Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch project (ANTARES), Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory (Ice Cube) and the Cubic Kilometer Neutrino Telescope (KM3NeT). Prospects solely depend on the device resolution angle when its effective area and the minimum energy threshold are fixed.

Self-interacting dark matter constraints in a thick dark disk scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vattis, Kyriakos; Koushiappas, Savvas M.

2018-05-01

A thick dark matter disk is predicted in cold dark matter simulations as the outcome of the interaction between accreted satellites and the stellar disk in Milky Way-sized halos. We study the effects of a self-interacting thick dark disk on the energetic neutrino flux from the Sun. We find that for particle masses between 100 GeV and 1 TeV and dark matter annihilation to τ+τ-, either the self-interaction may not be strong enough to solve the small-scale structure motivation or a dark disk cannot be present in the Milky Way.

Possible evidence for MeV dark matter in dwarf spheroidals.

PubMed

Hooper, Dan; Ferrer, Francesc; Boehm, Céline; Silk, Joseph; Paul, Jacques; Evans, N Wyn; Casse, Michel

2004-10-15

The observed 511 keV emission from the galactic bulge could be due to very light (MeV) annihilating dark matter particles. To distinguish this hypothesis from conventional astrophysical sources, we study dwarf spheroidals in the region observed by the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory/SPI such as Sagittarius. As these galaxies have comparatively few stars, the prospects for 511 keV emission from standard astrophysical scenarios are minimal. The dwarf spheroidals do, however, contain copious amounts of dark matter. The observation of 511 keV emission from Sagittarius should be a "smoking gun" for MeV dark matter.

The Gamma-ray Universe through Fermi

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, David J.

2012-01-01

Gamma rays, the most powerful form of light, reveal extreme conditions in the Universe. The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and its smaller cousin AGILE have been exploring the gamma-ray sky for several years, enabling a search for powerful transients like gamma-ray bursts, novae, solar flares, and flaring active galactic nuclei, as well as long-term studies including pulsars, binary systems, supernova remnants, and searches for predicted sources of gamma rays such as dark matter annihilation. Some results include a stringent limit on Lorentz invariance derived from a gamma-ray burst, unexpected gamma-ray variability from the Crab Nebula, a huge ga.nuna-ray structure associated with the center of our galaxy, surprising behavior from some gamma-ray binary systems, and a possible constraint on some WIMP models for dark matter.

Topological structure dynamics revealing collective evolution in active nematics

PubMed Central

Shi, Xia-qing; Ma, Yu-qiang

2013-01-01

Topological defects frequently emerge in active matter like bacterial colonies, cytoskeleton extracts on substrates, self-propelled granular or colloidal layers and so on, but their dynamical properties and the relations to large-scale organization and fluctuations in these active systems are seldom touched. Here we reveal, through a simple model for active nematics using self-driven hard elliptic rods, that the excitation, annihilation and transportation of topological defects differ markedly from those in non-active media. These dynamical processes exhibit strong irreversibility in active nematics in the absence of detailed balance. Moreover, topological defects are the key factors in organizing large-scale dynamic structures and collective flows, resulting in multi-spatial temporal effects. These findings allow us to control the self-organization of active matter through topological structures. PMID:24346733

Inert Higgs Doublet Dark Matter in Type-II Seesaw

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chuan-Hung; Nomura, Takaaki

2016-04-01

Weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) as a dark matter (DM) candidate is further inspired by recent AMS-02 data, which confirm the excess of positron fraction observed earlier by PAMELA and Fermi-LAT experiments. Additionally, the excess of positron+electron flux is still significant in the measurement of Fermi-LAT. For solving the problem of massive neutrinos and observed excess of cosmic-ray by DM annihilation, we study the model with an inert Higgs doublet (IHD) in the framework of type-II seesaw mechanism by imposing a Z2 symmetry on the IHD, where the lightest particle of IHD is the DM candidate while the neutrino masses origin from the Higgs triplet in type-II seesaw model. We calculate the cosmic-ray production in our model and find that if leptonic triplet decays are dominant, the observed excess of positron/electron flux could be explained well in normal ordered neutrino mass spectrum, when the constraints of DM relic density and comic-ray antiproton spectrum are taken into account.

Searching for dark photon with positrons at Jefferson lab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marsicano, Luca

2018-05-01

The interest in the Dark Photon (A' or U) has recently grown, since it could act as a light mediator to a new sector of Dark Matter particles. In this paradigm, the electron-positron annihilation can rarely produce a γA' pair. Various experiments (e.g. PADME@LNF [1], VEPP-3 [2]) have been proposed to detect this process using positron beams impinging on fixed targets. In such experiments, the energy of the photon from the e+e-→ γA' process is measured with an electromagnetic calorimeter and the missing mass is computed (the A' interacts weakly with Standard Model matter so it can't be detected). However, the A' mass range that can be explored with this technique is limited by the accessible energy in the center of mass frame, which goes as the square root of the beam energy. The realization of a 11 GeV positron beam at Jefferson Lab would allow to search for A' masses up to ˜ 100 MeV, reaching unexplored regions of the A' parameter space. A preliminary study on the feasibility of a PADME-like experiment at Jefferson Lab has been carried out, assuming a 11 GeV positron beam with a ˜ 100 nA current. The achievable sensitivity was estimated, studying the main sources of background (positron bremsstrahlung, annihilation into 2 gammas) using CALCHEP [3] and GEANT4 [4] simulations.

Diffuse Galactic antimatter from faint thermonuclear supernovae in old stellar populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crocker, Roland M.; Ruiter, Ashley J.; Seitenzahl, Ivo R.; Panther, Fiona H.; Sim, Stuart; Baumgardt, Holger; Möller, Anais; Nataf, David M.; Ferrario, Lilia; Eldridge, J. J.; White, Martin; Tucker, Brad E.; Aharonian, Felix

2017-06-01

Our Galaxy hosts the annihilation of a few 1043 low-energy positrons every second. Radioactive isotopes capable of supplying such positrons are synthesized in stars, stellar remnants and supernovae. For decades, however, there has been no positive identification of a main stellar positron source, leading to suggestions that many positrons originate from exotic sources like the Galaxy's central supermassive black hole or dark matter annihilation. Here we show that a single type of transient source, deriving from stellar populations of age 3-6 Gyr and yielding ∼0.03 M ⊙ of the positron emitter 44Ti, can simultaneously explain the strength and morphology of the Galactic positron annihilation signal and the Solar System abundance of the 44Ti decay product 44Ca. This transient is likely the merger of two low-mass white dwarfs, observed in external galaxies as the sub-luminous, thermonuclear supernova known as SN 1991bg-like.

Frontiers in propulsion research: Laser, matter-antimatter, excited helium, energy exchange thermonuclear fusion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Papailiou, D. D. (Editor)

1975-01-01

Concepts are described that presently appear to have the potential for propulsion applications in the post-1990 era of space technology. The studies are still in progress, and only the current status of investigation is presented. The topics for possible propulsion application are lasers, nuclear fusion, matter-antimatter annihilation, electronically excited helium, energy exchange through the interaction of various fields, laser propagation, and thermonuclear fusion technology.

The AMANDA neutrino telescope and the indirect search for dark matter.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bay, R. C.; He, Y.; Lowder, D.; Miocinovic, P.; Price, P. B.; Solarz, M.; Woschnagg, K.; Barwick, S. W.; Booth, J.; Mock, P. C.; Porrata, R.; Schneider, E.; Yodh, G.; Cowen, D.; Carlson, M.; Costa, C. G. S.; De Young, T.; Gray, L.; Halzen, F.; Hardtke, R.; Jacobsen, J.; Kankhadai, V.; Karle, A.; Liubarsky, I.; Morse, R.; Tilav, S.; Miller, T. C.; Andres, E. C.; Askebjer, P.; Bergström, L.; Bouchta, A.; Dalberg, E.; Ekstrom, P.; Goobar, A.; Hulth, P. O.; Walck, C.; Hallgren, A.; de Los Heros, C. P.; Marciniewski, P.; Rubinstein, H.; Carius, S.; Lindahl, P.; Biron, A.; Hundertmark, S.; Leuthold, M.; Niessen, P.; Spiering, C.; Streicher, O.; Thon, T.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wischnewski, R.; Nygren, D.; Jones, A.; Hart, S.; Potter, D.; Hill, G.; Schwarz, R.

1998-12-01

With an effective telescope area of order 104m2, a threshold of ≡50 GeV and a pointing accuracy of 2.5°, the AMANDA detector represents the first of a new generation of high energy neutrino telescopes, reaching a scale envisaged over 25 years ago. The authors describe its performance, focussing on the capability to detect halo dark matter particles via their annihilation into neutrinos.

Gamma ray astrophysics. [emphasizing processes and absorption

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stecker, F. W.

1974-01-01

Gamma ray production processes are reviewed, including Compton scattering, synchrotron radiation, bremsstrahlung interactions, meson decay, nucleon-antinucleon annihilations, and pion production. Gamma ray absorption mechanisms through interactions with radiation and with matter are discussed, along with redshifts and gamma ray fluxes.

Freeze-in production of sterile neutrino dark matter in U(1){sub B−L} model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biswas, Anirban; Gupta, Aritra

2016-09-27

With the advent of new and more sensitive direct detection experiments, scope for a thermal WIMP explanation of dark matter (DM) has become extremely constricted. The non-observation of thermal WIMP in these experiments has put a strong upper bound on WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section and within a few years it is likely to overlap with the coherent neutrino-nucleon cross section. Hence in all probability, DM may have some non-thermal origin. In this work we explore in detail this possibility of a non-thermal sterile neutrino DM within the framework of U(1){sub B−L} model. The U(1){sub B−L} model on the other handmore » is a well-motivated and minimal way of extending the standard model so that it can explain the neutrino masses via Type-I see-saw mechanism. We have shown, besides explaining the neutrino mass, it can also accommodate a non-thermal sterile neutrino DM with correct relic density. In contrast with the existing literature, we have found that W{sup ±} decay can also be a dominant production mode of the sterile neutrino DM. To obtain the comoving number density of dark matter, we have solved here a coupled set of Boltzmann equations considering all possible decay as well as annihilation production modes of the sterile neutrino dark matter. The framework developed here though has been done for a U(1){sub B−L} model, can be applied quite generally for any models with an extra neutral gauge boson and a fermionic non-thermal dark matter.« less

Reconstructing WIMP properties through an interplay of signal measurements in direct detection, Fermi-LAT, and CTA searches for dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roszkowski, Leszek; Sessolo, Enrico Maria; Trojanowski, Sebastian; Williams, Andrew J.

2016-08-01

We examine the projected ability to reconstruct the mass, scattering, and annihilation cross section of dark matter in the new generation of large underground detectors, XENON-1T, SuperCDMS, and DarkSide-G2, in combination with diffuse gamma radiation from expected 15 years of data from Fermi-LAT observation of 46 local spiral dwarf galaxies and projected CTA sensitivity to a signal from the Galactic Center. To this end we consider several benchmark points spanning a wide range of WIMP mass, different annihilation final states, and large enough event rates to warrant detection in one or more experiments. As previously shown, below some 100 GeV only direct detection experiments will in principle be able to reconstruct WIMP mass well. This may, in case a signal at Fermi-LAT is also detected, additionally help restricting σv and the allowed decay branching rates. In the intermediate range between some 100 GeV and up a few hundred GeV, direct and indirect detection experiments can be used in complementarity to ameliorate the respective determinations, which in individual experiments can at best be rather poor, thus making the WIMP reconstruction in this mass range very challenging. At large WIMP mass, ~ 1 TeV, CTA will have the ability to reconstruct mass, annihilation cross section, and the allowed decay branching rates to very good precision for the τ+τ- or purely leptonic final state, good for the W+W- case, and rather poor for bbar b. A substantial improvement can potentially be achieved by reducing the systematic uncertainties, increasing exposure, or by an additional measurement at Fermi-LAT that would help reconstruct the annihilation cross section and the allowed branching fractions to different final states.

Particle dark matter searches in the anisotropic sky

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fornengo, Nicolao; Regis, Marco

2014-02-01

Anisotropies in the electromagnetic emission produced by dark matter annihilation or decay in the extragalactic sky are a recent tool in the quest for a particle dark matter evidence. We review the formalism to compute the two-point angular power spectrum in the halo-model approach and discuss the features and the relative size of the various auto- and cross-correlation signals that can be envisaged for anisotropy studies. From the side of particle dark matter signals, we consider the full multi-wavelength spectrum, from the radio emission to X-ray and gamma-ray productions. We discuss the angular power spectra of the auto-correlation of each of these signals and of the cross-correlation between any pair of them. We then extend the search to comprise specific gravitational tracers of dark matter distribution in the Universe: weak-lensing cosmic shear, large-scale-structure matter distribution and CMB-lensing. We have shown that cross-correlating a multi-wavelength dark matter signal (which is a direct manifestation of its particle physics nature) with a gravitational tracer (which is a manifestation of the presence of large amounts of unseen matter in the Universe) may offer a promising tool to demonstrate that what we call DM is indeed formed by elementary particles.

Dark matter searches with Cherenkov telescopes: nearby dwarf galaxies or local galaxy clusters?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sánchez-Conde, Miguel A.; Cannoni, Mirco; Gómez, Mario E.

2011-12-01

In this paper, we compare dwarf galaxies and galaxy clusters in order to elucidate which object class is the best target for gamma-ray DM searches with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). We have built a mixed dwarfs+clusters sample containing some of the most promising nearby dwarf galaxies (Draco, Ursa Minor, Wilman 1 and Segue 1) and local galaxy clusters (Perseus, Coma, Ophiuchus, Virgo, Fornax, NGC 5813 and NGC 5846), and then compute their DM annihilation flux profiles by making use of the latest modeling of their DM density profiles. We also include in our calculations the effect of DM substructure.more » Willman 1 appears as the best candidate in the sample. However, its mass modeling is still rather uncertain, so probably other candidates with less uncertainties and quite similar fluxes, namely Ursa Minor and Segue 1, might be better options. As for galaxy clusters, Virgo represents the one with the highest flux. However, its large spatial extension can be a serious handicap for IACT observations and posterior data analysis. Yet, other local galaxy cluster candidates with more moderate emission regions, such as Perseus, may represent good alternatives. After comparing dwarfs and clusters, we found that the former exhibit annihilation flux profiles that, at the center, are roughly one order of magnitude higher than those of clusters, although galaxy clusters can yield similar, or even higher, integrated fluxes for the whole object once substructure is taken into account. Even when any of these objects are strictly point-like according to the properties of their annihilation signals, we conclude that dwarf galaxies are best suited for observational strategies based on the search of point-like sources, while galaxy clusters represent best targets for analyses that can deal with rather extended emissions. Finally, we study the detection prospects for present and future IACTs in the framework of the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that the level of the annihilation flux from these targets is below the sensitivities of current IACTs and the future CTA.« less

Dark Matter Searches with Cherenkov Telescopes: Nearby Dwarf Galaxies or Local Galaxy Clusters?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanchez-Conde, Miguel A.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /SLAC /IAC, La Laguna /Laguna U., Tenerife; Cannoni, Mirco

2012-06-06

In this paper, we compare dwarf galaxies and galaxy clusters in order to elucidate which object class is the best target for gamma-ray DM searches with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). We have built a mixed dwarfs+clusters sample containing some of the most promising nearby dwarf galaxies (Draco, Ursa Minor, Wilman 1 and Segue 1) and local galaxy clusters (Perseus, Coma, Ophiuchus, Virgo, Fornax, NGC 5813 and NGC 5846), and then compute their DM annihilation flux profiles by making use of the latest modeling of their DM density profiles. We also include in our calculations the effect of DM substructure.more » Willman 1 appears as the best candidate in the sample. However, its mass modeling is still rather uncertain, so probably other candidates with less uncertainties and quite similar fluxes, namely Ursa Minor and Segue 1, might be better options. As for galaxy clusters, Virgo represents the one with the highest flux. However, its large spatial extension can be a serious handicap for IACT observations and posterior data analysis. Yet, other local galaxy cluster candidates with more moderate emission regions, such as Perseus, may represent good alternatives. After comparing dwarfs and clusters, we found that the former exhibit annihilation flux profiles that, at the center, are roughly one order of magnitude higher than those of clusters, although galaxy clusters can yield similar, or even higher, integrated fluxes for the whole object once substructure is taken into account. Even when any of these objects are strictly point-like according to the properties of their annihilation signals, we conclude that dwarf galaxies are best suited for observational strategies based on the search of point-like sources, while galaxy clusters represent best targets for analyses that can deal with rather extended emissions. Finally, we study the detection prospects for present and future IACTs in the framework of the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that the level of the annihilation flux from these targets is below the sensitivities of current IACTs and the future CTA.« less

Dark matter searches with Cherenkov telescopes: nearby dwarf galaxies or local galaxy clusters?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez-Conde, Miguel A.; Cannoni, Mirco; Zandanel, Fabio; Gómez, Mario E.; Prada, Francisco

2011-12-01

In this paper, we compare dwarf galaxies and galaxy clusters in order to elucidate which object class is the best target for gamma-ray DM searches with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). We have built a mixed dwarfs+clusters sample containing some of the most promising nearby dwarf galaxies (Draco, Ursa Minor, Wilman 1 and Segue 1) and local galaxy clusters (Perseus, Coma, Ophiuchus, Virgo, Fornax, NGC 5813 and NGC 5846), and then compute their DM annihilation flux profiles by making use of the latest modeling of their DM density profiles. We also include in our calculations the effect of DM substructure. Willman 1 appears as the best candidate in the sample. However, its mass modeling is still rather uncertain, so probably other candidates with less uncertainties and quite similar fluxes, namely Ursa Minor and Segue 1, might be better options. As for galaxy clusters, Virgo represents the one with the highest flux. However, its large spatial extension can be a serious handicap for IACT observations and posterior data analysis. Yet, other local galaxy cluster candidates with more moderate emission regions, such as Perseus, may represent good alternatives. After comparing dwarfs and clusters, we found that the former exhibit annihilation flux profiles that, at the center, are roughly one order of magnitude higher than those of clusters, although galaxy clusters can yield similar, or even higher, integrated fluxes for the whole object once substructure is taken into account. Even when any of these objects are strictly point-like according to the properties of their annihilation signals, we conclude that dwarf galaxies are best suited for observational strategies based on the search of point-like sources, while galaxy clusters represent best targets for analyses that can deal with rather extended emissions. Finally, we study the detection prospects for present and future IACTs in the framework of the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that the level of the annihilation flux from these targets is below the sensitivities of current IACTs and the future CTA.

Resonant slepton production and right sneutrino dark matter in left-right supersymmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, Mariana; Fuks, Benjamin; Huitu, Katri; Rai, Santosh Kumar; Waltari, Harri

2017-05-01

Right-handed sneutrinos are natural components of left-right symmetric supersymmetric models where the gauge sector is extended to include right-handed weak interactions. Unlike in other models where right-handed sneutrinos are gauge singlets, here the right sneutrino is part of a doublet and could be a dark matter candidate whose annihilation proceeds via gauge interactions. We investigate this possibility, and find that relic density, low-energy observable and direct supersymmetry search constraints can be satisfied when the lightest supersymmetric particle is a right-handed sneutrino. We introduce benchmarks for left-right supersymmetric realizations where either a sneutrino or a neutralino is the lightest superpartner. We then study the LHC signals arising through resonant right-handed slepton production via a W R gauge-boson exchange that lead to final states enriched in leptons, additionally containing a large amount of missing transverse momentum, and featuring a low jet multiplicity. We find that such a resonant production would boost the chances of discovering these weakly interacting supersymmetric particles for a mass range extending beyond 1 TeV already with a luminosity of 100 fb-1. Finally, we compare sneutrino versus neutralino scenarios, and comment on differences with other sneutrino dark matter models.

Phenomenological constraints on accretion of non-annihilating dark matter on the PSR B1257+12 pulsar from orbital dynamics of its planets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iorio, Lorenzo

2010-11-01

We analytically compute the effects that a pulsar's mass variation, whatever its physical origin may be, has on the standard Keplerian changes ΔτKep in the times of arrival of its pulses due to potential test particle companions, and on their orbital dynamics over long time scales. We apply our results to the planetary system of the PSR B1257+12 pulsar, located in the Galaxy at ~ 600 pc from us, to phenomenologically constrain a putative accretion of non-annihilating dark matter on the hosting neutron star. By comparing our prediction for Δτdot M/M to the root-mean-square accuracy of the timing residuals δ(Δτ) = 3.0μs we find for the mass variation rate dot M/M <= 1.3 × 10-6 yr-1. Actually, considerations related to the pulsar's lifetime, of the order of Δt ~ 0.8 Gyr, and to the currently accepted picture of the formation of its planets point toward a tighter constrain on the mass accretion rate, i.e. dot M/M <= 10-9 yr-1. Otherwise, the planets would have formed at about 300-700 au from PSR B1257+12, i.e. too far with respect to the expected extension of 1-2 au of the part of the protoplanetary disk containing the solid constituents from which they likely originated. In fact, an even smaller upper limit, dot M/M <= 10-11 yr-1, would likely be more realistic to avoid certain technical inconsistencies with the quality of the fit of the timing data, performed by keeping the standard value M = 1.4Modot fixed for the neutron star's mass. Anyway, the entire pulsar data set should be re-processed by explicitly modeling the mass variation rate and solving for it. Model-dependent theoretical predictions for the pulsar's mass accretion, in the framework of the mirror matter scenario, yield a mass increment rate of about 10-16 yr-1 for a value of the density of mirror matter ρdm as large as 10-17 g cm-3 = 5.6 × 106 GeV cm-3. Such a rate corresponds to a fractional mass variation of ΔM/M ~ 10-7 over the pulsar's lifetime. It would imply a formation of a black hole from the accreted dark matter inner core for values of the dark matter particle's mass mdm larger than 3 × 103 Gev, which are, thus, excluded since PSR B1257+12 is actually not such a kind of compact object. Instead, by assuming ρdm ~ 10-24 g cm-3 = 0.56 GeV cm-3, the mass accretion rate would be dot M/M ~ 10-23 yr-1, with a fractional mass variation of the order of ΔM/M ~ 10-14. It rules out mdm >= 8 × 106 Gev. Extreme values ρdm = 1.8 × 10-13 g cm-3 = 1011 GeV cm-3 for non-annihilating dark matter in central spike may yield the constraint dot M/M <= 10-11 yr-1 over Δt = 0.8 Gyr, it rules out mdm >= 12 Gev.