Spectral cutoffs in indirect dark matter searches

Indirect searches for dark matter annihilation or decay products in the cosmic-ray spectrum are plagued by the question of how to disentangle a dark matter signal from the omnipresent astrophysical background. One of the practically background-free smoking-gun signatures for dark matter would be the observation of a sharp cutoff or a pronounced bump in the gamma-ray energy spectrum. Such features are generically produced in many dark matter models by internal Bremsstrahlung, and they can be treated in a similar manner as the traditionally looked-for gamma-ray lines. Here, we discuss prospects for seeing such features with present and future Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; conference proceedings for TAUP 2011, Munich 5-9 Se

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

We present a new global fit of the 19-dimensional phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (pMSSM-19) that comply 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 ~80-100 GeV annihilating into WW with a branching ratio of 95% ; the second to heavier neutralinos, with mass ~180-200 GeV annihilating into t tbar 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.Comment: Minor changes following referee reports. Main conclusions unchanged. Matches version published in JCA

Quality of Life and psychopathology in adults who underwent Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) in childhood: a qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Background: Patients who undergo pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) may experience long-term psychological sequelae and poor Quality of Life (QoL) in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate subjective illness experience, QoL, and psychopathology in young adults who have survived pediatric HSCT. Method: The study involved patients treated with HSCT in the Hematology-Oncology Department between 1984 and 2007. Psychopathology and QoL were investigated using the SCL-90-R and SF-36. Socio-demographic and medical information was also collected. Finally, participants were asked to write a brief composition about their experiences of illness and care. Qualitative analysis of the texts was performed using T-LAB, an instrument for text analysis that allows the user to highlight the occurrences and co-occurrences of lemma. Quantitative analyses were performed using non-parametric tests (Spearman correlations, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests). Results: Twenty-one patients (9 males) participated in the study. No significant distress was found on the SCL-90 Global Severity Index, but it was found on specific scales. On the SF-36, lower scores were reported on scales referring to bodily pain, general health, and physical and social functioning. All the measures were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with specific socio-demographic and medical variables (gender, type of pathology, type of HSCT, time elapsed between communication of the need to transplant and effective transplantation, and days of hospitalization). With regard to the narrative analyses, males focused on expressions related to the body and medical therapies, while females focused on people they met during treatment, family members, and donors. Low general health and treatment with autologous HSCT were associated with memories about chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and the body parts involved, while high general health was associated with expressions focused on gratitude (V-Test \ub1 1.96). Conclusion: Pediatric HSCT survivors are more likely to experience psychological distress and low QoL in adulthood compared with the general population. These aspects, along with survivors' subjective illness experience, show differences according to specific medical and socio-demographic variables. Studies are needed in order to improve the care and long-term follow-up of these families

An INTEGRAL/SPI view of reticulum II: Particle dark matter and primordial black holes limits in the MeV range

© 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac008Reticulum II (Ret II) is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and presents a prime target to investigate the nature of dark matter (DM) because of its high mass-to-light ratio. We evaluate a dedicated INTEGRAL observation campaign data set to obtain $\gamma$-ray fluxes from Ret II and compare those with expectations from DM. Ret II is not detected in the $\gamma$-ray band 25--8000 keV, and we derive a flux limit of $\lesssim 10^{-8}\,\mathrm{erg\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$. The previously reported 511 keV line is not seen, and we find a flux limit of $\lesssim 1.7 \times 10^{-4}\,\mathrm{ph\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}$. We construct spectral models for primordial black hole (PBH) evaporation and annihilation/decay of particle DM, and subsequent annihilation of positrons produced in these processes. We exclude that the totality of DM in Ret II is made of a monochromatic distribution of PBHs of masses $\lesssim 8 \times 10^{15}\,\mathrm{g}$. Our limits on the velocity-averaged DM annihilation cross section into $e^+e^-$ are $\langle \sigma v \rangle \lesssim 5 \times 10^{-28} \left(m_{\rm DM} / \mathrm{MeV} \right)^{2.5}\,\mathrm{cm^3\,s^{-1}}$. We conclude that analysing isolated targets in the MeV $\gamma$-ray band can set strong bounds on DM properties without multi-year data sets of the entire Milky Way, and encourage follow-up observations of Ret II and other dwarf galaxies.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio