The Empirical Case For 10 GeV Dark Matter

In this article, I summarize and discuss the body of evidence which has accumulated in favor of dark matter in the form of approximately 10 GeV particles. This evidence includes the spectrum and angular distribution of gamma rays from the Galactic Center, the synchrotron emission from the Milky Way's radio filaments, the diffuse synchrotron emission from the Inner Galaxy (the "WMAP Haze") and low-energy signals from the direct detection experiments DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT and CRESST-II. This collection of observations can be explained by a relatively light dark matter particle with an annihilation cross section consistent with that predicted for a simple thermal relic (sigma v ~ 10^-26 cm^3/s) and with a distribution in the halo of the Milky Way consistent with that predicted from simulations. Astrophysical explanations for the gamma ray and synchrotron signals, in contrast, have not been successful in accommodating these observations. Similarly, the phase of the annual modulation observed by DAMA/LIBRA (and now supported by CoGeNT) is inconsistent with all known or postulated modulating backgrounds, but are in good agreement with expectations for dark matter scattering. This scenario is consistent with all existing indirect and collider constraints, as well as the constraints placed by CDMS. Consistency with xenon-based experiments can be achieved if the response of liquid xenon to very low-energy nuclear recoils is somewhat suppressed relative to previous evaluations, or if the dark matter possesses different couplings to protons and neutrons.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure

Indirect Searches for Kaluza-Klein Dark Matter

In this talk, we discuss the potential for the indirect detection of Kaluza-Klein dark matter using neutrino telescopes and cosmic positron experiments. We find that future kilometer-scale neutrino telescopes, such as IceCube, as well as future experiments capable of measuring the cosmic positron spectrum, such as PAMELA and AMS-02, will be quite sensitive to this scenario. Current data from the HEAT experiment can also be explained by the presence of Kaluza-Klein dark matter in the Galactic halo.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, for the proceedings of IDM 2004, Edinburg

Detecting MeV Gauge Bosons With High-Energy Neutrino Telescopes

If annihilating MeV-scale dark matter particles are responsible for the observed 511 keV emission from the Galactic bulge, then new light gauge bosons which mediate the dark matter annihilations may have other observable consequences. In particular, if such a gauge boson exists and has even very small couplings to Standard Model neutrinos, cosmic neutrinos with ~TeV energies will scatter with the cosmic neutrino background through resonant exchange, resulting in a distinctive spectral absorption line in the high-energy neutrino spectrum. Such a feature could potentially be detected by future high-energy neutrino telescopes.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure