Light Neutralinos and WIMP direct searches

The predictions of our previous analyses about possible low-mass (lower than 50 GeV) relic neutralinos are discussed in the light of the most recent results from WIMP direct detection experiments. It is proved that these light neutralinos are quite compatible with the new annual-modulation data of the DAMA Collaboration; our theoretical predictions are also compared with the upper bounds of the CDMS and EDELWEISS Collaborations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figures, typeset with ReVTeX4. The paper may also be found at http://www.to.infn.it/~fornengo/papers/note.ps.gz or through http://www.to.infn.it/astropart/index.htm

Possible implications of the channeling effect in NaI(Tl) crystals

The channeling effect of low energy ions along the crystallographic axes and planes of NaI(Tl) crystals is discussed in the framework of corollary investigations on WIMP Dark Matter candidates. In fact, the modeling of this existing effect implies a more complex evaluation of the luminosity yield for low energy recoiling Na and I ions. In the present paper related phenomenological arguments are developed and possible implications are discussed at some extent.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, preprint ROM2F/2007/15, submitted for publicatio

Phenomenology of light neutralinos in view of recent results at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We review the status of the phenomenology of light neutralinos in an effective Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) at the electroweak scale, in light of new results obtained at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. First we consider the impact of the new data obtained by the CMS Collaboration on the search for the Higgs boson decay into a tau pair, and by the CMS and LHCb Collaborations on the branching ratio for the decay $B_s \rightarrow {\mu}^{+} + {\mu}^{-}$. Then we examine the possible implications of the excess of events found by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations in a search for a SM--like Higgs boson around a mass of 126 GeV, with a most likely mass region (95% CL) restricted to 115.5--131 GeV (global statistical significance about 2.3 $\sigma$). From the first set of data we update the lower bound of the neutralino mass to be about 18 GeV. From the second set of measurements we derive that the excess around $m^{SM}_H$ = 126 GeV, which however needs a confirmation by further runs at the LHC, would imply a neutralino in the mass range 18 GeV \lsim m_{\chi} \lsim 38 GeV, with neutralino--nucleon elastic cross sections fitting well the results of the dark matter direct search experiments DAMA/LIBRA and CRESST.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, typeset with ReVTeX4. v2:discussion on LHC Higgs excess extended and one figure added. Matches version accepted for publication on Phys.Rev.D. A version of the paper with full resolution figures can be found at http://www.to.infn.it/~scopel/phenom_v2.pd

Extending the DAMA annual-modulation region by inclusion of the uncertainties in the astrophysical velocities

The original annual-modulation region, singled out by the DAMA/NaI experiment for direct detection of WIMPs, is extended by taking into account the uncertainties in the galactic astrophysical velocities. Also the effect due to a possible bulk rotation for the dark matter halo is considered. We find that the range for the WIMP mass becomes 30 GeV < m_chi < 130 GeV at 1-sigma C.L. with a further extension in the upper bound, when a possible bulk rotation of the dark matter halo is taken into account. We show that the DAMA results, when interpreted in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, are consistent with a relic neutralino as a dominant component of cold dark matter (on the average in our universe and in our galactic halo). It is also discussed the discovery potential for the relevant supersymmetric configurations at accelerators of present generation.Comment: ReVTeX, 12 pages, 1 table, 7 figure

Does Solar Physics Provide Constraints to Weakly Interacting Massive Particles?

We investigate whether present data on helioseismology and solar neutrino fluxes may constrain WIMP--matter interactions in the range of WIMP parameters under current exploration in WIMP searches. We find that, for a WIMP mass of 30 GeV, once the effect of the presence of WIMPs in the Sun's interior is maximized, the squared isothermal sound speed is modified, with respect to the standard solar model, by at most 0.4% at the Sun's center. The maximal effect on the Boron-8 solar neutrino flux is a reduction of 4.5%. Larger masses lead to smaller effects. These results imply that present sensitivities in the measurements of solar properties, though greatly improved in recent years, do not provide information or constraints on WIMP properties of relevance for dark matter. Furthermore, we show that, when current bounds from direct WIMP searches are taken into account, the effect induced by WIMPs with dominant coherent interactions are drastically reduced as compared to the values quoted above. The case of neutralinos in the minimal supersymmetric standard model is also discussed.Comment: 31 pages, 2 tables and 9 figures, typeset with ReVTeX4. The paper may also be found at http://www.to.infn.it/~fornengo/papers/helio.ps.gz or through http://www.to.infn.it/astropart/index.htm

Observations of annual modulation in direct detection of relic particles and light neutralinos

The long-standing model-independent annual modulation effect measured by the DAMA Collaboration, which fulfills all the requirements of a dark matter annual modulation signature, and the new result by the CoGeNT experiment that shows a similar behavior are comparatively examined under the hypothesis of a dark matter candidate particle interacting with the detectors' nuclei by a coherent elastic process. The ensuing physical regions in the plane of the dark matter-particle mass versus the dark matter-particle nucleon cross-section are derived for various galactic halo models and by taking into account the impact of various experimental uncertainties. It is shown that the DAMA and the CoGeNT regions agree well between each other and are well fitted by a supersymmetric model with light neutralinos which satisfies all available experimental constraints, including the most recent results from CMS and ATLAS at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Further investigation of a relic neutralino as a possible origin of an annual-modulation effect in WIMP direct search

We analyze the annual-modulation effect, measured by the DAMA Collaboration with the new implementation of a further two-years running, in the context of a possible interpretation in terms of relic neutralinos. We impose over the set of supersymmetric configurations, selected by the annual-modulation data, the constraints derived from WIMP indirect measurements, and discuss the features of the ensuing relic neutralinos. We critically discuss the sources of the main theoretical uncertainties in the analysis of event rates for direct and indirect WIMP searches.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, typeset with ReVTeX. In order to reduce size, the version on the archive has low resolution figures. A full version of the paper can be found at http://www.to.infn.it/~fornengo/papers

Quantitative Perspectives on Fifty Years of the Journal of the History of Biology

Journal of the History of Biology provides a fifty-year long record for examining the evolution of the history of biology as a scholarly discipline. In this paper, we present a new dataset and preliminary quantitative analysis of the thematic content of JHB from the perspectives of geography, organisms, and thematic fields. The geographic diversity of authors whose work appears in JHB has increased steadily since 1968, but the geographic coverage of the content of JHB articles remains strongly lopsided toward the United States, United Kingdom, and western Europe and has diversified much less dramatically over time. The taxonomic diversity of organisms discussed in JHB increased steadily between 1968 and the late 1990s but declined in later years, mirroring broader patterns of diversification previously reported in the biomedical research literature. Finally, we used a combination of topic modeling and nonlinear dimensionality reduction techniques to develop a model of multi-article fields within JHB. We found evidence for directional changes in the representation of fields on multiple scales. The diversity of JHB with regard to the representation of thematic fields has increased overall, with most of that diversification occurring in recent years. Drawing on the dataset generated in the course of this analysis, as well as web services in the emerging digital history and philosophy of science ecosystem, we have developed an interactive web platform for exploring the content of JHB, and we provide a brief overview of the platform in this article. As a whole, the data and analyses presented here provide a starting-place for further critical reflection on the evolution of the history of biology over the past half-century.Comment: 45 pages, 14 figures, 4 table

Supersymmetric Dark Matter and the Reheating Temperature of the Universe

Since the thermal history of the Universe is unknown before the epoch of primordial nucleosynthesis, the largest temperature of the radiation dominated phase (the reheating temperature) might have been as low as 1 MeV. We perform a quantitative study of supersymmetric dark matter relic abundance in cosmological scenarios with low reheating temperature. We show that, for values of the reheating temperature smaller than about 30 GeV, the domains of the supergravity parameter space which are compatible with the hypothesis that dark matter is composed by neutralinos are largely enhanced. We also find a lower bound on the reheating temperature: if the latter is smaller than about 1 GeV neutralinos cannot be efficiently produced in the early Universe and then they are not able to explain the present amount of dark matter.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, typeset with ReVTeX4. The paper may also be found at http://www.to.infn.it/~fornengo/papers/reheating.ps.g

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