105 research outputs found
Do current WIMP direct measurements constrain light relic neutralinos?
New upper bounds on direct detection rates have recently been presented by a
number of experimental collaborations working on searches for WIMPs. In this
paper we analyze how the constraints on relic neutralinos which can be derived
from these results is affected by the uncertainties in the distribution
function of WIMPs in the halo. Various different categories of velocity
distribution functions are considered, and the ensuing implications for
supersymmetric configurations derived. We conservatively conclude that current
experimental data do not constrain neutralinos of small mass (below 50 GeV).Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, typeset with ReVTeX4. The paper may also be found
at http://www.to.infn.it/~fornengo/papers/constraints05.ps.gz or through
http://www.astroparticle.to.infn.it/index.htm
Search at the CERN LHC for a light neutralino of cosmological interest
We address the problem of a search at the LHC for a neutralino whose mass is
around 10 GeV, i.e. in the range of interest for present data of direct search
for dark matter particles in the galactic halo. This light neutralino is here
implemented in an effective Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard
Model at the electroweak scale without requirement of a gaugino-mass
unification at a grand unification scale. Within this model we select a
representative benchmark and determine its prospects of reconstructing the main
features of the model at different stages of the LHC runs.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, typeset with ReVTeX
Recent results from the canfranc dark matter search with germanium detectors
Two germanium detectors are currently operating in the Canfranc Underground
Laboratory at 2450 m.w.e looking for WIMP dark matter. One is a 2 kg 76Ge IGEX
detector (RG-2) which has an energy threshold of 4 keV and a low-energy
background rate of about 0.3 c/keV/kg/day. The other is a small (234 g) natural
abundance Ge detector (COSME), of low energy threshold (2.5 keV) and an energy
resolution of 0.4 keV at 10 keV which is looking for WIMPs and for solar
axions. The analysis of 73 kg-days of data taken by COSME in a search for solar
axions via their photon Primakoff conversion and Bragg scattering in the Ge
crystal yields a 95% C.L. limit for the axion-photon coupling g < 2.8 10^-9
GeV^-1. These data, analyzed for WIMP searches provide an exclusion plot for
WIMP-nucleon spin-independent interaction which improves previous plots in the
low mass region. On the other hand, the exclusion plot derived from the 60
kg-days of data from the RG-2 IGEX detector improves the exclusion limits
derived from other ionization (non thermal) germanium detector experiments in
the region of WIMP masses from 30 to 100 GeV recently singled out by the
reported DAMA annual modulation effect.Comment: 6 pages, talk given at IDM2000, York, September 200
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
Constraints on supersymmetry with light third family from LHC data
We present a re-interpretation of the recent ATLAS limits on supersymmetry in
channels with jets (with and without b-tags) and missing energy, in the context
of light third family squarks, while the first two squark families are
inaccessible at the 7 TeV run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In contrast
to interpretations in terms of the high-scale based constrained minimal
supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM), we primarily use the low-scale
parametrisation of the phenomenological MSSM (pMSSM), and translate the limits
in terms of physical masses of the third family squarks. Side by side, we also
investigate the limits in terms of high-scale scalar non-universality, both
with and without low-mass sleptons. Our conclusion is that the limits based on
0-lepton channels are not altered by the mass-scale of sleptons, and can be
considered more or less model-independent.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Version published in JHE
Compatibility of the new DAMA/NaI data on an annual modulation effect in WIMP direct search with a relic neutralino in supergravity schemes
Recent results of the DAMA/NaI experiment for WIMP direct detection point to
a possible annual modulation effect in the detection rate. We show that these
results, when interpreted in terms of a relic neutralino, are compatible with
supergravity models. Together with the universal SUGRA scheme, we also consider
SUGRA models where the unification condition in the Higgs mass parameters at
GUT scale is relaxed.Comment: 10 pages, ReVTeX, 13 figures (included as PS files
Antimatter and Gamma-rays from Dark Matter Annihilation
A brief review of the indirect detection signatures of dark matter is given.
In particular, detection methods of dark matter particle annihilation to
antimatter and gamma-rays are reviewed. With the GLAST satellite soon to be
launched, a crucial window in the energy range of a few GeV up to 300 GeV will
open. The good angular and energy resolution of the instrument means that
structures predicted by cold dark matter models can be searched for. Large,
currently planned ground-based imaging Cherenkov telescope arrays, may further
improve the limits, or discover a signal, if the current understanding of halo
dark matter structure is correct.Comment: 7p, one fig., invited talk at TAUP 2007, Sendai, Japan, to appear in
the Proceeding
- …