27 research outputs found
Source population synthesis and the Galactic diffuse gamma-ray emission
Population synthesis is used to study the contribution from undetected
sources to the Galactic ridge emission measured by EGRET. Synthesized source
counts are compared with the 3rd EGRET catalogue at low and high latitudes. For
pulsar-like populations, 5-10% of the emission >100 MeV comes from sources
below the EGRET threshold. A steeper luminosity function can increase this to
20% without violating EGRET source statistics. Less luminous populations can
produce much higher values without being detected. Since the unresolved source
spectrum is different from the interstellar spectrum, it could provide an
explanation of the observed MeV and GeV excesses above the predictions, and we
give an explicit example of how this could work.Comment: Astrophysics and Space Science, in press. (Proceedings of Conference
'The multi-messenger approach to high-energy gamma-ray sources', Barcelona,
2006). Minor changes for accepted version, updated reference
The phase-space structure of a dark-matter halo: Implications for dark-matter direct detection experiments
We study the phase-space structure of a dark-matter halo formed in a high
resolution simulation of a Lambda CDM cosmology. Our goal is to quantify how
much substructure is left over from the inhomogeneous growth of the halo, and
how it may affect the signal in experiments aimed at detecting the dark matter
particles directly. If we focus on the equivalent of ``Solar vicinity'', we
find that the dark-matter is smoothly distributed in space. The probability of
detecting particles bound within dense lumps of individual mass less than 10^7
M_\sun h^{-1} is small, less than 10^{-2}. The velocity ellipsoid in the Solar
neighbourhood deviates only slightly from a multivariate Gaussian, and can be
thought of as a superposition of thousands of kinematically cold streams. The
motions of the most energetic particles are, however, strongly clumped and
highly anisotropic. We conclude that experiments may safely assume a smooth
multivariate Gaussian distribution to represent the kinematics of dark-matter
particles in the Solar neighbourhood. Experiments sensitive to the direction of
motion of the incident particles could exploit the expected anisotropy to learn
about the recent merging history of our Galaxy.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, Phys. Rev. D in press. Postscript version with
high resolution figures available from
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~ahelmi/research/lcdm_dm.html; some changes in
the text; constraints on the effect of bound dark-matter lumps revised;
remaining conclusions unchange
Power counting and effective field theory for charmonium
We hypothesize that the correct power counting for charmonia is in the
parameter Lambda_QCD/m_c, but is not based purely on dimensional analysis (as
is HQET). This power counting leads to predictions which differ from those
resulting from the usual velocity power counting rules of NRQCD. In particular,
we show that while Lambda_QCD/m_c power counting preserves the empirically
verified predictions of spin symmetry in decays, it also leads to new
predictions which include: A hierarchy between spin singlet and triplet octet
matrix elements in the J/psi system. A quenching of the net polarization in
production at large transverse momentum. No end point enhancement in radiative
decays. We discuss explicit tests which can differentiate between the
traditional and new theories of NRQCD.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure Replaced plot of the psi polarization parameter
alpha as a function of transverse momentum. Alpha is now closer to zero for
large transverse moment
Neutralino properties in the light of a further indication of an annual modulation effect in WIMP direct search
We demonstrate that the further indication of a possible annual modulation
effect, singled out by the DAMA/NaI experiment for WIMP direct detection, is
widely compatible with an interpretation in terms of a relic neutralino as the
major component of dark matter in the Universe. We discuss the supersymmetric
features of this neutralino in the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the
Standard Model (MSSM) and their implications for searches at accelerators.Comment: 15 pages, ReVTeX, 9 figures (included as PS files
Effect of halo modelling on WIMP exclusion limits
WIMP direct detection experiments are just reaching the sensitivity required
to detect galactic dark matter in the form of neutralinos. Data from these
experiments are usually analysed under the simplifying assumption that the
Milky Way halo is an isothermal sphere with maxwellian velocity distribution.
Observations and numerical simulations indicate that galaxy halos are in fact
triaxial and anisotropic. Furthermore, in the cold dark matter paradigm
galactic halos form via the merger of smaller subhalos, and at least some
residual substructure survives. We examine the effect of halo modelling on WIMP
exclusion limits, taking into account the detector response. Triaxial and
anisotropic halo models, with parameters motivated by observations and
numerical simulations, lead to significant changes which are different for
different experiments, while if the local WIMP distribution is dominated by
small scale clumps then the exclusion limits are changed dramatically.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. D, minor change