literature

Constraints on Spin-Dependent Dark Matter Scattering with Long-Lived Mediators from TeV Observations of the Sun with HAWC

Collaboration
Aug 16, 2018
11 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 98 (2018) 123012
  • Published: Dec 18, 2018
e-Print:
Report number:
  • MIT-CTP/5038
Experiments:

Citations per year

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Abstract: (APS)
We analyze the Sun as a source for the indirect detection of dark matter through a search for gamma rays from the solar disk. Capture of dark matter by elastic interactions with the solar nuclei followed by annihilation to long-lived mediators can produce a detectable gamma-ray flux. We search 3 years of data from the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory and find no statistically significant detection of TeV gamma-ray emission from the Sun. Using this, we constrain the spin-dependent elastic scattering cross section of dark matter with protons for dark matter masses above 1 TeV, assuming a sufficiently long-lived mediator. The results complement constraints obtained from Fermi-LAT observations of the Sun and together cover WIMP masses between 4 and 106  GeV. In the optimal scenario, the cross-section constraints for mediator decays to gamma rays can be as strong as ∼10-45  cm2, which is more than 4 orders of magnitude stronger than current direct-detection experiments for a 1 TeV dark matter mass. The cross-section constraints at higher masses are even better, nearly 7 orders of magnitude better than the current direct-detection constraints for a 100 TeV dark matter mass. This demonstration of sensitivity encourages detailed development of theoretical models in light of these powerful new constraints.
Note:
  • 11 pages, 4 figures. See also companion paper posted at the same time. Submitted to Physical Review D. Fig.4 and authorlist updated in v2
  • Astrophysics and astroparticle physics
  • new physics
  • WIMP: mass
  • WIMP: dark matter
  • dark matter: mass
  • dark matter: capture
  • dark matter: scattering
  • dark matter: mediation
  • dark matter: direct detection
  • WIMP nucleon: scattering