92 research outputs found
Cosmic positron and antiproton constraints on the gauge-Higgs Dark Matter
We calculate the cosmic ray positron and antiproton spectra of a gauge-Higgs
dark matter candidate in a warped five-dimensional
gauge-Higgs unification model. The stability of the gauge-Higgs boson is
guaranteed by the H parity under which only the Higgs boson is odd at low
energy. The 4-point vertices of HHW^+W^- and HHZZ, allowed by H parity
conservation, have the same magnitude as in the standard model, which yields
efficient annihilation rate for . The most dominant annihilation
channel is followed by the subsequent decays of the
bosons into positrons or quarks, which undergo fragmentation into antiproton.
Comparing with the observed positron and antiproton spectra with the PAMALA and
Fermi/LAT, we found that the Higgs boson mass cannot be larger than 90 GeV, in
order not to overrun the observations. Together with the constraint on not
overclosing the Universe, the valid range of the dark matter mass is restricted
to 70-90 GeV.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Antimatter signals of singlet scalar dark matter
We consider the singlet scalar model of dark matter and study the expected
antiproton and positron signals from dark matter annihilations. The regions of
the viable parameter space of the model that are excluded by present data are
determined, as well as those regions that will be probed by the forthcoming
experiment AMS-02. In all cases, different propagation models are investigated,
and the possible enhancement due to dark matter substructures is analyzed. We
find that the antiproton signal is more easily detectable than the positron one
over the whole parameter space. For a typical propagation model and without any
boost factor, AMS-02 will be able to probe --via antiprotons-- the singlet
model of dark matter up to masses of 600 GeV. Antiprotons constitute,
therefore, a promising signal to constraint or detect the singlet scalar model.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures. v2: minor improvements. Accepted for publication
in JCA
Dark Matter and the CACTUS Gamma-Ray Excess from Draco
The CACTUS atmospheric Cherenkov telescope collaboration recently reported a
gamma-ray excess from the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Draco features a very
low gas content and a large mass-to-light ratio, suggesting as a possible
explanation annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the
Draco dark-matter halo. We show that with improved angular resolution, future
measurements can determine whether the halo is cored or cuspy, as well as its
scale radius. We find the relevant WIMP masses and annihilation cross sections
and show that supersymmetric models can account for the required gamma-ray
flux. The annihilation cross section range is found to be not compatible with a
standard thermal relic dark-matter production. We compute for these
supersymmetric models the resulting Draco gamma-ray flux in the GLAST energy
range and the rates for direct neutralino detection and for the flux of
neutrinos from neutralino annihilation in the Sun. We also discuss the
possibility that the bulk of the signal detected by CACTUS comes from direct
WIMP annihilation to two photons and point out that a decaying-dark-matter
scenario for Draco is not compatible with the gamma-ray flux from the Galactic
center and in the diffuse gamma-ray background.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures; version accepted for publication in JCA
Nambu-Goldstone Dark Matter and Cosmic Ray Electron and Positron Excess
We propose a model of dark matter identified with a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone
boson in the dynamical supersymmetry breaking sector in a gauge mediation
scenario. The dark matter particles annihilate via a below-threshold narrow
resonance into a pair of R-axions each of which subsequently decays into a pair
of light leptons. The Breit-Wigner enhancement explains the excess electron and
positron fluxes reported in the recent cosmic ray experiments PAMELA, ATIC and
PPB-BETS without postulating an overdensity in halo, and the limit on
anti-proton flux from PAMELA is naturally evaded.Comment: 3 figure
The Contribution of Fermi Gamma-Ray Pulsars to the local Flux of Cosmic-Ray Electrons and Positrons
We analyze the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars from the first Fermi-Large
Area Telescope (LAT) catalogue to the local flux of cosmic-ray electrons and
positrons (e+e-). We present new distance estimates for all Fermi gamma-ray
pulsars, based on the measured gamma-ray flux and pulse shape. We then estimate
the contribution of gamma-ray pulsars to the local e+e- flux, in the context of
a simple model for the pulsar e+e- emission. We find that 10 of the Fermi
pulsars potentially contribute significantly to the measured e+e- flux in the
energy range between 100 GeV and 1 TeV. Of the 10 pulsars, 2 are old EGRET
gamma-ray pulsars, 2 pulsars were discovered with radio ephemerides, and 6 were
discovered with the Fermi pulsar blind-search campaign. We argue that known
radio pulsars fall in regions of parameter space where the e+e- contribution is
predicted to be typically much smaller than from those regions where Fermi-LAT
pulsars exist. However, comparing the Fermi gamma-ray flux sensitivity to the
regions of pulsar parameter space where a significant e+e- contribution is
predicted, we find that a few known radio pulsars that have not yet been
detected by Fermi can also significantly contribute to the local e+e- flux if
(i) they are closer than 2 kpc, and if (ii) they have a characteristic age on
the order of one mega-year.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in JCA
Low energy antideuterons: shedding light on dark matter
Low energy antideuterons suffer a very low secondary and tertiary
astrophysical background, while they can be abundantly synthesized in dark
matter pair annihilations, therefore providing a privileged indirect dark
matter detection technique. The recent publication of the first upper limit on
the low energy antideuteron flux by the BESS collaboration, a new evaluation of
the standard astrophysical background, and remarkable progresses in the
development of a dedicated experiment, GAPS, motivate a new and accurate
analysis of the antideuteron flux expected in particle dark matter models. To
this extent, we consider here supersymmetric, universal extra-dimensions (UED)
Kaluza-Klein and warped extra-dimensional dark matter models, and assess both
the prospects for antideuteron detection as well as the various related sources
of uncertainties. The GAPS experiment, even in a preliminary balloon-borne
setup, will explore many supersymmetric configurations, and, eventually, in its
final space-borne configuration, will be sensitive to primary antideuterons
over the whole cosmologically allowed UED parameter space, providing a search
technique which is highly complementary with other direct and indirect dark
matter detection experiments.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures; version to appear in JCA
Kaluza-Klein Dark Matter, Electrons and Gamma Ray Telescopes
Kaluza-Klein dark matter particles can annihilate efficiently into
electron-positron pairs, providing a discrete feature (a sharp edge) in the
cosmic spectrum at an energy equal to the particle's mass (typically
several hundred GeV to one TeV). Although this feature is probably beyond the
reach of satellite or balloon-based cosmic ray experiments (those that
distinguish the charge and mass of the primary particle), gamma ray telescopes
may provide an alternative detection method. Designed to observe very
high-energy gamma-rays, ACTs also observe the diffuse flux of electron-induced
electromagnetic showers. The GLAST satellite, designed for gamma ray astronomy,
will also observe any high energy showers (several hundred GeV and above) in
its calorimeter. We show that high-significance detections of an
electron-positron feature from Kaluza-Klein dark matter annihilations are
possible with GLAST, and also with ACTs such as HESS, VERITAS or MAGIC.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Section on Prospects for Dark Matter Detection of the White Paper on the Status and Future of Ground-Based TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy
This is a report on the findings of the dark matter science working group for
the white paper on the status and future of TeV gamma-ray astronomy. The white
paper was commissioned by the American Physical Society, and the full white
paper can be found on astro-ph (arXiv:0810.0444). This detailed section
discusses the prospects for dark matter detection with future gamma-ray
experiments, and the complementarity of gamma-ray measurements with other
indirect, direct or accelerator-based searches. We conclude that any
comprehensive search for dark matter should include gamma-ray observations,
both to identify the dark matter particle (through the charac- teristics of the
gamma-ray spectrum) and to measure the distribution of dark matter in galactic
halos.Comment: Report from the Dark Matter Science Working group of the APS
commissioned White paper on ground-based TeV gamma ray astronomy (19 pages, 9
figures
Planning the Future of U.S. Particle Physics (Snowmass 2013): Chapter 4: Cosmic Frontier
These reports present the results of the 2013 Community Summer Study of the
APS Division of Particles and Fields ("Snowmass 2013") on the future program of
particle physics in the U.S. Chapter 4, on the Cosmic Frontier, discusses the
program of research relevant to cosmology and the early universe. This area
includes the study of dark matter and the search for its particle nature, the
study of dark energy and inflation, and cosmic probes of fundamental
symmetries.Comment: 61 page
Spinless photon dark matter from two universal extra dimensions
We explore the properties of dark matter in theories with two universal extra
dimensions, where the lightest Kaluza-Klein state is a spin-0 neutral particle,
representing a six-dimensional photon polarized along the extra dimensions.
Annihilation of this 'spinless photon' proceeds predominantly through Higgs
boson exchange, and is largely independent of other Kaluza-Klein particles. The
measured relic abundance sets an upper limit on the spinless photon mass of 500
GeV, which decreases to almost 200 GeV if the Higgs boson is light. The
phenomenology of this dark matter candidate is strikingly different from
Kaluza-Klein dark matter in theories with one universal extra dimension.
Elastic scattering of the spinless photon with quarks is helicity suppressed,
making its direct detection challenging, although possible at upcoming
experiments. The prospects for indirect detection with gamma rays and
antimatter are similar to those of neutralinos. The rates predicted at neutrino
telescopes are below the sensitivity of next-generation experiments.Comment: 22 pages. Figure 7 corrected, leading to improved prospects for
direct detection. Some clarifying remarks include
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