Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the diffuse Galactic hard X-ray continuum emission using data from the INTEGRAL observatory. The diffuse hard power-law component seen with the INTEGRAL/SPI spectrometer has been identified with inverse-Compton emission from relativistic (GeV) electrons on the cosmic microwave background and Galactic interstellar radiation field. In the present analysis, SPI data from 2003 to 2009, with a total exposure time of ~ 10^8 s, are used to derive the Galactic ridge hard X-ray spatial distribution and spectrum between 20 keV and 2.4 MeV. Both are consistent with predictions from the GALPROP code. The good agreement between measured and predicted emission from keV to GeV energies suggests that the correct production mechanisms have been identified. We discuss the potential of the SPI data to provide an indirect probe of the interstellar cosmic-ray electron distribution, in particular for energies below a few GeV.
Recently, an excess of high energy positrons in our Galaxy has been observed by AMS-02. The spectrum obtained can be best fitted with the annihilation of $\sim$ TeV dark matter particles. However, recent analysis of Dwarf galaxies by Fermi/LAT observations highly constrains the TeV dark matter annihilation cross-section, and rules out the $b\bar{b}$ and all the leptophilic channels except $4-μ$ channel. In this article, I show that the remaining possible $4-μ$ channel is also ruled out by using the observational data from cool-core clusters. Therefore, all the leptophilic channels that can acc…
We consider indirect detection of meta-stable dark matter particles decaying into a stable neutral particle and a pair of standard model fermions. Due to the softer energy spectra from the three-body decay, such models could potentially explain the AMS-02 positron excess without being constrained by the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray data and the cosmic ray anti-proton measurements. We scrutinize over different final state fermions, paying special attention to handling of the cosmic ray background and including various contributions from cosmic ray propagation with the help of the \textsc{LikeDM} package…
Dark matter candidates such as weakly-interacting massive particles are predicted to annihilate or decay into Standard Model particles leaving behind distinctive signatures in gamma rays, neutrinos, positrons, antiprotons, or even anti-nuclei. Indirect dark matter searches, and in particular those based on gamma-ray observations and cosmic ray measurements could detect such signatures. Here we review the strengths and limitations of this approach and look into the future of indirect dark matter searches.
Dark matter particles could annihilate into light and metastable mediators subsequently decaying far away from where they are produced. In this scenario, the indirect signatures of dark matter are altered with respect to the conventional situation where standard model particles are directly injected where annihilation happens. We explore here this new phenomenology for which we devise the tools. We calculate the effective dark matter distribution resulting from the smearing by mediator propagation. We derive the fluxes of mediators and their decay particles. We study how the $J$-factor, which …
Recently, dark matter indirect searches have gained a lot of attention, mostly due to the possibility of recent anomalies in cosmic rays and microwave sky maps being due to the annihilation or decay of dark matter. In this thesis, we argue however that these signals are plagued by irreducible astrophysical backgrounds and show how plausible conventional physics can mimic the alleged dark matter signals. In particular, we consider the possibility that the rise in the positron fraction observed by the PAMELA satellite is due to the production through (hadronic) cosmic ray spallation and subseque…
The observed anomalous excess of high-energy cosmic ray (CR) positrons is widely discussed as possible indirect evidence for dark matter (DM). However, any source of cosmic positrons is inevitably the source of gamma radiation. The least model dependent test of CR anomalies interpretation via DM particles decays (or annihilation) is connected with gamma-ray background due to gamma overproduction in such processes. In this work, we impose an observational constraint on gamma ray production from DM. Then, we study the possible suppression of gamma yield in the DM decays into identical final ferm…
Dark Matter annihilation (DMA) may yield an excess of gamma rays and antimatter particles, like antiprotons and positrons, above the background from cosmic ray interactions. The excess of diffuse Galactic Gamma Rays from EGRET shows all the features expected from DMA. The new precise measurements of the antiproton and positron fractions from PAMELA are compared with the EGRET excess. It is shown that the charged particles are strongly dependent on the propagation model used. The usual propagation models with isotropic propagation models are incompatible with the recently observed convection in…
The origin of the positron excess is one of the most intriguing mysteries in astroparticle physics. The recent discovery of extended $γ$-ray halos around the pulsars Geminga, Monogem and PSR J0621+3755 have brought indirect evidence that pulsar wind nebulae accelerate $e^{\pm}$ up to very-high-energy. While the precision of previous data does not permit precise evaluation of the parameters for the pulsars, we are able to find the more precise shape of the injection spectrum using new data released by HAWC and LHAASO in 2020 and 2021. We find that this is well fitten by a power-law with an expo…
The positron fraction in cosmic rays was found to be steadily increasing in function of energy, above $\sim$10 GeV. This behaviour contradicts standard astrophysical mechanisms, in which positrons are secondary particles, produced in the interactions of primary cosmic rays during the propagation in the interstellar medium. The observed anomaly in the positron fraction triggered a lot of excitement, as it could be interpreted as an indirect signature of the presence of dark matter species in the Galaxy. Alternatively, it could be produced by nearby astrophysical sources, such as pulsars. Both h…
The indirect detection of particle dark matter (DM) is based on the search for anomalous components in cosmic rays (CRs) due to the annihilation of DM pairs in the galactic halo, on the top of the standard astrophysical production. These additional exotic components are potentially detectable at Earth as spectral distortions for the various cosmic radiations: $χ+ χ\to q \bar{q}, W^+ W^-, ... \to \bar{p}, \bar{D}, e^+ γand ν's $. Detection of the DM annihilation products has motivated the spectacular development of several new experimental techniques. They range from detectors on ballons or in …
Multiple space-borne cosmic ray detectors have detected line-like features in the electron and positron spectra. Most recently, the DAMPE collaboration reported the existence of such a feature at 1.4 TeV, sparking interest in a potential dark matter origin. Such quasi-monochromatic features, virtually free of any astrophysical background, could be explained by the annihilation of dark matter particles in a nearby dark matter clump. Here, we explore the consistency of producing such spectral features with dark matter annihilation from the standpoint of dark matter substructure statistics, const…
We analyse SPI/INTEGRAL data on the 511 keV line from the Galactic Centre, accumulated over ~6 years of observations. We decompose the X-ray and soft gamma-ray emission of the central part of the Milky Way into a relatively compact "Bulge" and a more extended "Disk" components and report their spectral properties. The Bulge component shows a prominent 511 keV line and essentially no flux at 1.8 MeV, while the Disk component on the contrary contains a prominent 1.8 MeV line and a very weak annihilation line. We show that the spectral shape of the annihilation radiation (the narrow 511 keV line …
We present a novel calculation of the spectrum of electrons and positrons from random sources, supernova remnants and pulsars, distributed within the spiral arms of the Galaxy. The pulsar emissivity in terms of electron-positron pairs is considered as time dependent, following the magnetic dipole spin-down luminosity, and the temporal evolution of the potential drop is accounted for. Moreover each pulsar, with the magnetic field and initial spin period selected at random from the observed distribution, is considered as a source of pairs only after it leaves the parent supernova due to its birt…
The positron fraction in cosmic rays was found to be a steadily increasing in function of energy, above $\sim$ 10 GeV. This behaviour contradicts standard astrophysical mechanisms, in which positrons are secondary particles, produced in the interactions of primary cosmic rays during the propagation in the interstellar medium. The observed anomaly in the positron fraction triggered a lot of excitement, as it could be interpreted as an indirect signature of the presence of dark matter species in the Galaxy. Alternatively, it could be produced by nearby astrophysical sources, such as pulsars. Bot…
Here we briefly review possible indirect effects of dark matter (DM) of the Universe. It includes effects in cosmic rays (CR): first of all, the positron excess at $\sim$ 500 GeV and possible electron-positron excess at 1-1.5 TeV. We tell that the main and least model-dependent constraint on such possible interpretation of CR effects goes from gamma-ray background. Even ordinary $e^+e^-$ mode of DM decay or annihilation produces prompt photons (FSR) so much that leads to contradiction with data on cosmic gamma-rays. We present our attempts to possibly avoid gamma-ray constraint. They concern p…
The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a satellite-borne, high-energy particle and $γ$-ray detector, which is dedicated to indirectly detecting particle dark matter and studying high-energy astrophysics. The first results about precise measurement of the cosmic ray electron plus positron spectrum between 25 GeV and 4.6 TeV were published recently. The DAMPE spectrum reveals an interesting spectral softening around $0.9$ TeV and a tentative peak around $1.4$ TeV. These results have inspired extensive discussion. The detector of DAMPE, the data analysis, and the first results are introduce…
In recent years, a number of experiments have been conducted with the goal of studying cosmic rays at GeV to TeV energies. This is a particularly interesting regime from the perspective of indirect dark matter detection. To draw reliable conclusions regarding dark matter from cosmic ray measurements, however, it is important to first understand the propagation of cosmic rays through the magnetic and radiation fields of the Milky Way. In this paper, we constrain the characteristics of the cosmic ray propagation model through comparison with observational inputs, including recent data from the C…
The spatial-dependent propagation model has been successfully used to explain diverse observational phenomena, including the spectral hardening of cosmic-ray nuclei above $200$ GV, the large-scale dipole anisotropy and the diffusive gamma distribution. In this work, we further apply the spatial-dependent propagation model to both electrons and positrons. To account for the excess of positrons above $10$ GeV, an additional local source is introduced. And we also consider a more realistic spiral distribution of background sources. We find that due to the gradual hardening above $10$ GeV, the har…
Galactic Cosmic-ray (CR) transport parameters are usually constrained by the boron-to-carbon ratio. This procedure is generically plagued with degeneracies between the diffusion coefficient and the vertical extent of the Galactic magnetic halo. The latter is of paramount importance for indirect dark matter (DM) searches, because it fixes the amount of DM annihilation or decay that contributes to the local antimatter CR flux. These degeneracies could be broken by using secondary radioactive species, but the current data still have large error bars, and this method is extremely sensitive to the …
CALET (Calorimetric Electron Telescope), installed on the ISS in August 2015, directly measures the electron+positron cosmic rays flux up to 20 TeV. With its proton rejection capability of 1:10^5 and an aperture of 1200 cm^2 sr, it will provide good statistics even well above one TeV, while also featuring an energy resolution of 2%, which allows it to detect fine structures in the spectrum. Such structures may originate from Dark Matter annihilation or decay, making indirect Dark Matter search one of CALET's main science objectives among others such as identification of signatures from nearby …
Energetic positrons produced in annihilation or decay of dark matter particles in the Milky Way can serve as an important indirect signature of dark matter. Computing the positron flux expected in a given dark matter model involves solving transport equations, which account for interaction of positrons with matter and galactic magnetic fields. Existing calculations solve the equations inside the diffusion zone, where galactic magnetic fields confine positrons, and assume vanishing positron density on the boundaries of this zone. However, in many models, a substantial fraction of the dark matte…
The gravitino in models with a small violation of R-parity is a well-motivated decaying dark matter candidate that leads to a cosmological scenario that is consistent with big bang nucleosynthesis and thermal leptogenesis. The gravitino lifetime is cosmologically long-lived since its decays are suppressed by the Planck-scale as well as the small R-parity violating parameter. We discuss the signals in different cosmic-ray species coming from the decay of gravitino dark matter, namely gamma rays, positrons, antiprotons, antideuterons and neutrinos. Comparison to cosmic-ray data can be used to co…
We discuss complete theory of spin-1/2 electron-positron quantum plasmas, when electrons and positrons move with velocities mach smaller than the speed of light. We derive a set of two fluid quantum hydrodynamic equations consisting of the continuity, Euler, spin (magnetic moment) evolution equations for each species. We explicitly include the Coulomb, spin-spin, Darwin and annihilation interactions. The annihilation interaction is the main topic of the paper. We consider contribution of the annihilation interaction in the quantum hydrodynamic equations and in spectrum of waves in magnetized e…
Unexpected features in the energy spectra of cosmic rays electrons and positrons have been recently observed by PAMELA and Fermi-LAT satellite experiments, opening to the exciting possibility of an indirect manifestation of new physics. A TeV-scale fourth lepton family is a natural extension of the Standard Model leptonic sector (also linked to the hierarchy problem in Minimal Walking Technicolor models). The heavy Majorana neutrino of this setup mixes with Standard Model charged leptons through a weak charged current interaction. Here, we first study analytically the energy spectrum of the el…
In the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) the lightest superparticle (LSP) can be a TeV neutralino (mainly dominated by higgsino or wino) which serves as a dark matter candidate with correct thermal relic density. In this work we confront the 1-2 TeV neutralino dark matter with the latest direct and indirect detections from PandaX and AMS-02/DAMPE. Considering various scenarios with decoupled sfermions, with \textit{A}-mediated annihilation, with squark or stop coannihilation, we find that the parameter space is stringently constrained by the direct detection limits. In the allowed p…
We study a fermionic dark matter in a non-supersymmetric extension of the standard model with a family symmetry based on D6xZ2xZ2. In our model, the final state of the dark matter annihilation is determined to be e+ e- by the flavor symmetry, which is consistent with the PAMELA result. At first, we show that our dark matter mass should be within the range of 230 GeV - 750 GeV in the WMAP analysis combined with mu to e gamma constraint. Moreover we simultaneously explain the experiments of direct and indirect detection, by simply adding a gauge and D6 singlet real scalar field. In the direct de…
We perform a detailed quantitative analysis of the recent AMS-02 electron and positron data. We investigate the interplay between the emission from primary astrophysical sources, namely Supernova Remnants and Pulsar Wind Nebulae, and the contribution from a dark matter annihilation or decay signal. Our aim is to assess the information that can be derived on dark matter properties when both dark matter and primary astrophysical sources are assumed to jointly contribute to the leptonic observables measured by the AMS-02 experiment. We investigate both the possibility to set robust constraints on…
With several proposed MeV gamma-ray telescopes on the horizon, it is of paramount importance to perform accurate calculations of gamma-ray spectra expected from sub-GeV dark matter annihilation and decay. We present hazma, a python package for reliably computing these spectra, determining the resulting constraints from existing gamma-ray data, and prospects for upcoming telescopes. For high-level analyses, hazma comes with several built-in dark matter models where the interactions between dark matter and hadrons have been determined in detail using chiral perturbation theory. Additionally, haz…
We present a new open-source package, Hazma 2, that computes accurate spectra relevant for indirect dark matter searches for photon, neutrino, and positron production from vector-mediated dark matter annihilation and for spin-one dark matter decay. The tool bridges across the regimes of validity of two state of the art codes: Hazma 1, which provides an accurate description below hadronic resonances up to center-of-mass energies around 250 MeV, and HERWIG4DM, which is based on vector meson dominance and measured form factors, and accurate well into the few GeV range. The applicability of the co…
In these lectures, I describe a variety of efforts to identify or constrain the identity of dark matter by detecting the annihilation or decay products of these particles, or their effects. After reviewing the motivation for indirect searches, I discuss what we have learned about dark matter from observations of gamma rays, cosmic rays and neutrinos, as well as the cosmic microwave background. Measurements such as these have been used to significantly constrain a wide range of thermal relic dark matter candidates, in particular those with masses below a few hundred GeV. I also discuss a number…
We quantitatively study the stationary, axisymmetric, force-free magnetospheres of spinning (Kerr) black holes (BHs) and the conditions needed for relativistic jets to be powered by the Blandford-Znajek mechanism. These jets could be from active galactic nuclei, blazars, quasars, micro-quasars, radio active galaxies, and other systems that host Kerr BHs. The structure of the magnetosphere determines how the BH energy is extracted, e.g., via Blandford-Znajek mechanism, which converts the BH rotational energy into Poynting flux. The key assumption is the force-free condition, which requires the …
We perform a multichannel analysis of the indirect signals for the Wino Dark Matter, including one-loop electroweak and Sommerfeld enhancement corrections. We derive limits from cosmic ray antiprotons and positrons, from continuum galactic and extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray spectra, from the absence of gamma-ray line features at the galactic center above 500 GeV in energy, from gamma-rays toward nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies and galaxy clusters, and from CMB power-spectra. Additionally, we show the future prospects for neutrino observations toward the inner Galaxy and from antideuteron sea…
We use new kinematic data from the ultra-faint Milky Way satellite Segue 1 to model its dark matter distribution and derive upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section. Using gamma-ray flux upper limits from the Fermi satellite and MAGIC, we determine cross-section exclusion regions for dark matter annihilation into a variety of different particles including charged leptons. We show that these exclusion regions are beginning to probe the regions of interest for a dark matter interpretation of the electron and positron fluxes from PAMELA, Fermi, and HESS, and that future observat…
Observations of the TeV halos associated with nearby pulsars indicate that these objects inject significant fluxes of very high-energy electron-positrons pairs into the interstellar medium (ISM), thereby likely providing the dominant contribution to the cosmic-ray positron flux. In this paper, we use the cosmic-ray positron fraction as measured by the AMS-02 Collaboration to constrain the characteristics of the local pulsar population. For reasonable model parameters, we find that we can obtain good agreement with the measured positron fraction up to energies of $E_e \sim 300 \, {\rm GeV}$. At…
