161 research outputs found
Intermediate Mass Black Holes and Nearby Dark Matter Point Sources: A Critical Reassessment
The proposal of a galactic population of intermediate mass black holes
(IMBHs), forming dark matter (DM) ``mini-spikes'' around them, has received
considerable attention in recent years. In fact, leading in some scenarios to
large annihilation fluxes in gamma rays, neutrinos and charged cosmic rays,
these objects are sometimes quoted as one of the most promising targets for
indirect DM searches. In this letter, we apply a detailed statistical analysis
to point out that the existing EGRET data already place very stringent limits
on those scenarios, making it rather unlikely that any of these objects will be
observed with, e.g., the Fermi/GLAST satellite or upcoming Air Cherenkov
telescopes. We also demonstrate that prospects for observing signals in
neutrinos or charged cosmic rays seem even worse. Finally, we address the
question of whether the excess in the cosmic ray positron/electron flux
recently reported by PAMELA/ATIC could be due to a nearby DM point source like
a DM clump or mini-spike; gamma-ray bounds, as well as the recently released
Fermi cosmic ray electron and positron data, again exclude such a possibility
for conventional DM candidates, and strongly constrain it for DM purely
annihilating into light leptons.Comment: 4 pages revtex4, 4 figures. Improved analysis and discussion, added
constraints from Fermi data, corrected figures and updated reference
TeV cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra in the myriad model
Recent measurements of cosmic ray proton and helium spectra show a hardening
above a few hundreds of GeV. This excess is hard to understand in the framework
of the conventional models of Galactic cosmic ray production and propagation.
We propose here to explain this anomaly by the presence of local sources
(myriad model). Cosmic ray propagation is described as a diffusion process
taking place inside a two-zone magnetic halo. We calculate the proton and
helium fluxes at the Earth between 50 GeV and 100 TeV. Improving over a similar
analysis, we consistently derive these fluxes by taking into account both local
and remote sources for which a unique injection rate is assumed. We find cosmic
ray propagation parameters compatible with B/C measurements and for which the
proton and helium spectra remarkably agree with the PAMELA and CREAM
measurements over four decades in energy.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Constraints on WIMP Dark Matter from the High Energy PAMELA data
A new calculation of the ratio in cosmic rays is compared to the
recent PAMELA data. The good match up to 100 GeV allows to set constraints on
exotic contributions from thermal WIMP dark matter candidates. We derive
stringent limits on possible enhancements of the WIMP \pbar flux: a =100 GeV (1 TeV) signal cannot be increased by more than a factor 6 (40)
without overrunning PAMELA data. Annihilation through the channel is
also inspected and cross-checked with data. This scenario is
strongly disfavored as it fails to simultaneously reproduce positron and
antiproton measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, the bibliography has been updated, minor
modifications have been made in the tex
Positrons from dark matter annihilation in the galactic halo: uncertainties
Indirect detection signals from dark matter annihilation are studied in the
positron channel. We discuss in detail the positron propagation inside the
galactic medium: we present novel solutions of the diffusion and propagation
equations and we focus on the determination of the astrophysical uncertainties
which affect the positron dark matter signal. We show that, especially in the
low energy tail of the positron spectra at Earth, the uncertainty is sizeable
and we quantify the effect. Comparison of our predictions with current
available and foreseen experimental data are derived.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Proc. of the 30th International Cosmic Ray
Conference, July 3 - 11, 2007, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico (ICRC07
TeV cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra in the myriad model II
Recent observations show that the cosmic ray nuclei spectra start to harden
above 100 GeV, in contradiction with the conventional steady-state cosmic ray
model. We had suggested that this anomaly is due to the propagation effect of
cosmic rays released from local young cosmic ray sources, the total flux of the
cosmic ray should be computed with the myriad model, where contribution from
sources in local catalog is added to the background. However, while the
hardening could be elegantly explained in this model, the model parameters
obtained from the fit skew toward a region with fast diffusion and low
supernova rate in the Galaxy, in tension with other observations. In this
paper, we further explore this model in order to set up a concordant picture.
Two possible improvements related to the cosmic ray sources have been
considered. Firstly, instead of the usual axisymmetric disk model, we
considered a spiral model of source distribution. Secondly, for the nearby and
young sources which are paramount to the hardening, we allow for an
energy-dependent escape time. We find that major improvement comes from the
energy-dependent escape time of the local sources, and with both modifications,
not only the cosmic ray proton and helium anomalies are solved, but also the
parameters attain reasonable range values compatible with other analysis.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in RA
AMS-02 antiprotons, at last! Secondary astrophysical component and immediate implications for Dark Matter
Using the updated proton and helium fluxes just released by the AMS-02
experiment we reevaluate the secondary astrophysical antiproton to proton ratio
and its uncertainties, and compare it with the ratio preliminarly reported by
AMS-02. We find no unambiguous evidence for a significant excess with respect
to expectations. Yet, some preference for a flatter energy dependence of the
diffusion coefficient starts to emerge. Also, we provide a first assessment of
the room left for exotic components such as Galactic Dark Matter annihilation
or decay, deriving new stringent constraints.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; Comments and clarifications added (including an
appendix), matches version published on JCA
"Discrepant hardenings" in cosmic ray spectra: a first estimate of the effects on secondary antiproton and diffuse gamma-ray yields
Recent data from CREAM seem to confirm early suggestions that primary cosmic
ray (CR) spectra at few TeV/nucleon are harder than in the 10-100 GeV range.
Also, helium and heavier nuclei spectra appear systematically harder than the
proton fluxes at corresponding energies. We note here that if the measurements
reflect intrinsic features in the interstellar fluxes (as opposed to local
effects) appreciable modifications are expected in the sub-TeV range for the
secondary yields, such as antiprotons and diffuse gamma-rays. Presently, the
ignorance on the origin of the features represents a systematic error in the
extraction of astrophysical parameters as well as for background estimates for
indirect dark matter searches. We find that the spectral modifications are
appreciable above 100 GeV, and can be responsible for ~30% effects for
antiprotons at energies close to 1 TeV or for gamma's at energies close to 300
GeV, compared to currently considered predictions based on simple extrapolation
of input fluxes from low energy data. Alternatively, if the feature originates
from local sources, uncorrelated spectral changes might show up in antiproton
and high-energy gamma-rays, with the latter ones likely dependent from the
line-of-sight.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Clarifications and references added, conclusions
unchanged. Matches published versio
Antiproton and Positron Signal Enhancement in Dark Matter Mini-Spikes Scenarios
The annihilation of dark matter (DM) in the Galaxy could produce specific
imprints on the spectra of antimatter species in Galactic cosmic rays, which
could be detected by upcoming experiments such as PAMELA and AMS02. Recent
studies show that the presence of substructures can enhance the annihilation
signal by a "boost factor" that not only depends on energy, but that is
intrinsically a statistical property of the distribution of DM substructures
inside the Milky Way. We investigate a scenario in which substructures consist
of "mini-spikes" around intermediate-mass black holes. Focusing on
primary positrons and antiprotons, we find large boost factors, up to a few
thousand, that exhibit a large variance at high energy in the case of positrons
and at low energy in the case of antiprotons. As a consequence, an estimate of
the DM particle mass based on the observed cut-off in the positron spectrum
could lead to a substantial underestimate of its actual value.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, minor changes, version accepted for publication
in PR
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