We consider photon signals arising from the annihilation or decay of low-mass (sub-GeV) dark matter which couples dominantly to quarks. In this scenario, the branching fractions to the various kinematically accessible hadronic final states can largely be determined from chiral perturbation theory. Several of these final states yield striking spectral features in the sub-GeV photon spectrum. New experiments, such as e-ASTROGAM and AMEGO, are in development to improve sensitivity in this energy range, and we discuss their potential sensitivity to this class of models.
GeV-scale dark matter is an increasingly attractive target for direct detection, indirect detection, and collider searches. Especially for masses in the MeV to GeV range, indirect detection is expected to give a leading constraint. In that range, dark matter annihilations into hadronic final states produce a challenging zoo of light hadronic resonances. With an update of Herwig7, we provide a modeling of these processes and study energy spectra from annihilation through a vector mediator. We cover dark matter masses between 250 MeV and 5 GeV and include an error estimate. This opens up new opp…
Motivated by the recently reported diphoton resonance at 750 GeV, we study a new axion-like bosonic portal model of dark matter physics. When the resonance particle is identified as the pseudo-scalar mediator, via which the standard model sector would interact with the dark matter sector, the data from collider physics would provide profound implications to dark matter phenomenology. In this paper, we first identify the preferred parameter space of the suggested portal model from the results of the LHC run with $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV, and then we examine the dark matter signature taking into accoun…
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…
Assuming a dark matter fraction $Ω_{DM} = 0.27$ and a reduced Hubble constant $h = 0.73$, we obtain a value of 70 GeV/c$^2$ for the mass of the dark matter WIMP we have previously proposed. We also obtain a value for the annihilation cross section given by $\langle σ_{ann} v \rangle = 1.19 \times 10^{-26} $ cm$^3$/s in the present universe, consistent with the current limits for dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Both the mass and cross-section are consistent with analyses of the Galactic-center gamma rays observed by Fermi-LAT and the antiprotons observed by AMS-02 if these data are interpreted as re…
The higgsino world is one of the popular natural SUSY scenarios, in which $|μ| \ll M_{gauginos} \ll M_{scalars}$. As such, searching for light degenerate higgsinos becomes an essential task of testing naturalness in supersymmetry (SUSY). In this work, we study the indirect effects of light higgsinos in the process $e^+e^- \to W^+W^-$ at future Higgs factories, such as Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) in China. we find that the higgsino mass parameter $μ\lesssim 210$ GeV favored by naturalness can be covered if the accuracy of the measurement of $W^+W^-$ production can reach 0.1\% at …
Synchrotron self-Compton process for constraining sub-GeV dark matter in Omega Centauri via SKA
Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院紫金山天文台暗物质与空间天文重点实验室);School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学天文与空间科学学院)
Direct and Indirect searches for DM-electron interactions in sub-GeV DM models
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Hautes Énergies (LPTHE) \ https://ror.org/02mph9k76 , CNRS \& Sorbonne Université, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, France;Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (LPNHE) \ https://ror.org/01hg8p552 , Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, CNRS-IN2P3, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, France
GeV-scale dark matter is an increasingly attractive target for direct detection, indirect detection, and collider searches. Its annihilation into hadronic final states produces a challenging zoo of light hadronic resonances. We update Herwig7 to study the photon and positron spectra from annihilation through a vector mediator. It covers dark matter masses between 250 MeV and 5 GeV and includes an error estimate.
The signatures for the existence of dark matter are revealed only through its gravitational interaction. Theoretical arguments support that the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) can be a class of dark matter and it can annihilate and/or decay to Standard Model particles, among which neutrino is a favorable candidate. We show that the proposed 50 kt Magnetized Iron CALorimeter (MagICAL) detector under the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project can play an important role in the indirect searches of Galactic diffuse dark matter in the neutrino and antineutrino mode separately. We…
We revisit the simplest model for dark matter. In this context the dark matter candidate is a real scalar field which interacts with the Standard Model particles through the Higgs portal. We discuss the relic density constraints as well as the predictions for direct and indirect detection. The final state radiation processes are investigated in order to understand the visibility of the gamma lines from dark matter annihilation. We find two regions where one could observe the gamma lines at gamma-ray telescopes. We point out that the region where the dark matter mass is between 92 and 300 GeV c…
We introduce a simple scenario involving fermionic dark matter ($χ$) and singlet scalar mediators that may account for the Galactic Center GeV $γ$-ray excess while satisfying present direct detection constraints. CP-violation in the scalar potential leads to mixing between the Standard Model Higgs boson and the scalar singlet, resulting in three scalars $h_{1,2,3}$ of indefinite CP-transformation properties. This mixing enables s-wave $χ{\barχ}$ annihilation into di-scalar states, followed by decays into four fermion final states. The observed $γ$-ray spectrum can be fitted while respecting pr…
We study indirect detection signals from solar annihilation of dark matter (DM) particles into light right-handed (RH) neutrinos with a mass in a $1-5$ GeV range. These RH neutrinos can have a sufficiently long lifetime to allow them to decay outside the Sun and their delayed decays can result in a signal in gamma rays from the otherwise `dark' solar direction, and also a neutrino signal that is not suppressed by the interactions with solar medium. We find that the latest Fermi-LAT and IceCube results place limits on the gamma ray and neutrino signals, respectively. Combined photon and neutrin…
A Bose-Einstein condensate of the hexaquark particle known as d$^*$(2380) has been recently proposed as a dark matter candidate by the authors in Bashkanov \& Watts 2020. This particle can produced in an abundant condensate state in the early universe and is argued to satisfy all the stability and weak interaction constraints of a viable dark matter candidate. This dark matter candidate is able to evade direct detection bounds and is suggested to have the best observational prospects in the form of indirect astrophysical emissions due to the decay of the d$^*$ condensate. In this work we test …
In the framework of 2HDM, we explore the wrong-sign Yukawa region with direct and indirect searches up to one-loop level. The direct searches include the latest $H/A \to f\bar f, VV, Vh, hh$ reports at current LHC, and the study of indirect Higgs precision measurements works with current LHC, future HL-LHC and CEPC. At tree level of Type-II 2HDM, for degenerate heavy Higgs mass $m_A=m_H=m_{H^\pm}<800$ GeV, the wrong-sign Yukawa regions are excluded largely except for the tiny allowed region around $\cos(β-α)\in(0.2,0.3)$ under the combined constraints. The excluded region is also nearly indepe…
The indirect detection of dark matter particles with mass below the GeV scale has recently received significant attention. Future space-borne gamma-ray telescopes, including All-Sky-ASTROGAM, AMEGO, and GECCO, will probe the MeV gamma-ray sky with unprecedented precision, offering an exciting test of particle dark matter in the MeV-GeV mass range. While it is typically assumed that dark matter annihilates into only one Standard Model final state, this is not the case for realistic dark matter models. In this work we analyze existing indirect detection constraints and the discovery reach of fut…
We investigate the feasibility of the indirect detection of dark matter in a simple model using the neutrino portal. The model is very economical, with right-handed neutrinos generating neutrino masses through the Type-I seesaw mechanism and simultaneously mediating interactions with dark matter. Given the small neutrino Yukawa couplings expected in a Type-I seesaw, direct detection and accelerator probes of dark matter in this scenario are challenging. However, dark matter can efficiently annihilate to right-handed neutrinos, which then decay via active-sterile mixing through the weak interac…
There exists a general model framework where dark matter can be a vanilla WIMP-like thermal relic with a mass of ${\cal O}$(100 GeV), but it still escapes direct detection. This happens, if the dark matter particle is a Goldstone boson whose scattering with ordinary matter is suppressed at low energy due to momentum-dependent interactions. We outline general features of this type of models and analyse a simple realization of these dynamics as a concrete example. In particular, we show that although direct detection of this type of dark matter candidate is very challenging, the indirect detecti…
We study the prospects for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) to find new dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Milky Way. Adopting models of Milky-Way halo substructure and phenomenological prescriptions connecting subhalos and satellite galaxies, we obtain surface brightness distributions of $V$-band magnitude that lead us to predict that LSST will discover tens to hundreds of dwarf spheroidal galaxies above its sensitivity. The soon-to-be-discovered dwarfs will be interesting targets for indirect searches of dark matter annihilation yields. We forecast the distribution function of gamma-…
We study high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of Milky Way type galaxies obtained within the "Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments" (EAGLE) project, and identify the those that best satisfy observational constraints on the Milky Way total stellar mass, rotation curve, and galaxy shape. Contrary to mock galaxies selected on the basis of their total virial mass, the Milky Way analogues so identified consistently exhibit very similar dark matter profiles inside the solar circle, therefore enabling more accurate predictions for indirect dark matter searches. We find in par…
We study the prospects of detecting muon events at the upcoming Iron CALorimeter (ICAL) detector to be built at the proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) facility due to neutrinos arising out of annihilation of Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMP) in the centre of the earth. The atmospheric neutrinos coming from the direction of earth core presents an irreducible background. We consider 50kt $\times$ 10 years of ICAL running and WIMP masses between 10-100 GeV and present 90 \% C.L. exclusion sensitivity limits on $σ_{SI}$ which is the WIMP-nucleon Spin Independent (SI) interac…
Indirect detection of dark matter via its annihilation products is a key technique in the search for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Strong constraints exist on the annihilation of WIMPs to highly visible Standard Model final states such as photons or charged particles. In the case of s-wave annihilation, this typically eliminates thermal relic cross sections for dark matter of mass below $\cal{O}$(10) GeV. However, such limits typically neglect the possibility that dark matter may annihilate to assumed invisible or hard-to-detect final states, such as …
Light Dark Matter (DM), defined here as having a mass between 1 MeV and about 1 GeV, is an interesting possibility both theoretically and phenomenologically, at one of the frontiers of current progress in the field of DM searches. Its indirect detection via gamma-rays is challenged by the scarcity of experiments in the MeV-GeV region. We look therefore at lower-energy X-ray data from the Integral telescope, and compare them with the predicted DM flux. We derive bounds which are competitive with existing ones from other techniques. Crucially, we include the contribution from inverse Compton sca…
High to ultrahigh energy neutrino detectors can uniquely probe the properties of dark matter $χ$ by searching for the secondary products produced through annihilation and/or decay processes. We evaluate the sensitivities to dark matter thermally averaged annihilation cross section $\langleσv\rangle$ and partial decay width into neutrinos $Γ_{χ\rightarrowν\barν}$ (in the mass scale $10^7 \leq m_χ/{\rm GeV} \leq 10^{15}$) for next generation observatories like POEMMA and GRAND. We show that in the range $ 10^7 \leq m_χ/{\rm GeV} \leq 10^{11}$, space-based Cherenkov detectors like POEMMA have the…