scholarly journals Revisiting CMB constraints on dark matter annihilation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (12) ◽  
pp. 015
Author(s):  
Masahiro Kawasaki ◽  
Hiromasa Nakatsuka ◽  
Kazunori Nakayama ◽  
Toyokazu Sekiguchi
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Annihilation Cross Section ◽  
Precision Measurements ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
Dark Matter Annihilation ◽  
Simulation Code ◽  
Strong Constraint ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

Abstract The precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background power spectrum put a strong constraint on the dark matter annihilation cross section since the electromagnetic energy injection by the dark matter annihilation affects the ionization history of the universe. In this paper, we update our previous simulation code for calculating the ionization history with the effect of dark matter annihilation by including Helium interactions and improving the precision of calculations. We give an updated constraint on the annihilation cross section and mass of dark matter using the modified RECFAST code with the Planck 2018 datasets.

An excess radio signal in the Abell 4038 cluster

2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (4) ◽  
pp. 5583-5588
Author(s):  
Man Ho Chan ◽  
Chak Man Lee
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Spectral Data ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Radio Signal ◽  
Dark Matter Particle ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Annihilation Cross Section ◽  
Radio Continuum ◽  
Test Statistic ◽  
Dark Matter Annihilation

ABSTRACT In the past decade, various instruments, such as the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and the Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE), have been used to detect the signals of annihilating dark matter in our Galaxy. Although some excesses of gamma rays, antiprotons and electrons/positrons have been reported and are claimed to be dark matter signals, the uncertainties of the contributions of Galactic pulsars are still too large to confirm the claims. In this paper, we report on a possible radio signal of annihilating dark matter manifested in the archival radio continuum spectral data of the Abell 4038 cluster. By assuming a thermal annihilation cross-section and comparing the dark matter annihilation model with the null hypothesis (cosmic ray emission without dark matter annihilation), we obtain very large test statistic (TS) values, TS > 45, for four popular annihilation channels, which correspond to more than 6σ statistical preference. This reveals a possible potential signal of annihilating dark matter. In particular, our results are also consistent with the recent claims of dark matter mass, m ≈ 30–50 GeV, annihilating via the $\rm b\bar{b}$ quark channel with the thermal annihilation cross-section. However, at this time, we cannot exclude the possibility that a better background cosmic ray model could explain the spectral data without recourse to dark matter annihilations.

scholarly journals A possible radio signal of annihilating dark matter in the Abell 4038 cluster

2019 ◽  
Vol 495 (1) ◽  
pp. L124-L128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Ho Chan ◽  
Chak Man Lee
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Radio Signal ◽  
Dark Matter Particle ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Annihilation Cross Section ◽  
Radio Continuum ◽  
Test Statistic ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Dark Matter Annihilation

ABSTRACT In the past decade, some telescopes [e.g. Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT), Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer(AMS), and Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE)] were launched to detect the signals of annihilating dark matter in our Galaxy. Although some excess of gamma-rays, antiprotons, and electrons/positrons have been reported and claimed as dark matter signals, the uncertainties of Galactic pulsars’ contributions are still too large to confirm the claims. In this Letter, we report a possible radio signal of annihilating dark matter manifested in the archival radio continuum spectral data of the Abell 4038 cluster. By assuming the thermal annihilation cross-section and comparing the dark matter annihilation model with the null hypothesis (cosmic ray emission without dark matter annihilation), we get very large test statistic values >45 for four popular annihilation channels, which correspond to more than 6.5σ statistical preference. This provides a very strong evidence for the existence of annihilating dark matter. In particular, our results also support the recent claims of dark matter mass m ≈ 30–50 GeV annihilating via the bb̄ quark channel with the thermal annihilation cross-section.

scholarly journals Dark Stars: Dark matter in the first stars leads to a new phase of stellar evolution

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S255) ◽  
pp. 56-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Freese ◽  
Douglas Spolyar ◽  
Anthony Aguirre ◽  
Peter Bodenheimer ◽  
Paolo Gondolo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Stellar Evolution ◽  
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles ◽  
First Stars ◽  
History Of ◽  
Born Again ◽  
The Universe ◽  
New Phase

AbstractThe first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe may be Dark Stars, powered by dark matter heating rather than by fusion. Weakly interacting massive particles, which are their own antiparticles, can annihilate and provide an important heat source for the first stars in the the universe. This talk presents the story of these Dark Stars. We make predictions that the first stars are very massive (~800M⊙), cool (6000 K), bright (~106L⊙), long-lived (~106years), and probable precursors to (otherwise unexplained) supermassive black holes. Later, once the initial DM fuel runs out and fusion sets in, DM annihilation can predominate again if the scattering cross section is strong enough, so that a Dark Star is born again.

scholarly journals Dark matter annihilation in the universe

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 1460256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Salati
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galactic Halo ◽  
Light Element ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
Dark Matter Annihilation ◽  
Element Abundances ◽  
Primordial Plasma ◽  
Relic Abundance ◽  
The Universe

The astronomical dark matter is an essential component of the Universe and yet its nature is still unresolved. It could be made of neutral and massive elementary particles which are their own antimatter partners. These dark matter species undergo mutual annihilations whose effects are briefly reviewed in this article. Dark matter annihilation plays a key role at early times as it sets the relic abundance of the particles once they have decoupled from the primordial plasma. A weak annihilation cross section naturally leads to a cosmological abundance in agreement with observations. Dark matter species subsequently annihilate — or decay — during Big Bang nucleosynthesis and could play havoc with the light element abundances unless they offer a possible solution to the 7 Li problem. They could also reionize the intergalactic medium after recombination and leave visible imprints in the cosmic microwave background. But one of the most exciting aspects of the question lies in the possibility to indirectly detect the dark matter species through the rare antimatter particles — antiprotons, positrons and antideuterons — which they produce as they currently annihilate inside the galactic halo. Finally, the effects of dark matter annihilation on stars is discussed.

scholarly journals Cosmic-ray positrons strongly constrain leptophilic dark matter

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (12) ◽  
pp. 007
Author(s):  
Isabelle John ◽  
Tim Linden
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Propagation Model ◽  
Annihilation Cross Section ◽  
Secondary Component ◽  
Spectral Features ◽  
Dark Matter Annihilation ◽  
Positron Fraction ◽  
Positron Flux

Abstract Cosmic-ray positrons have long been considered a powerful probe of dark matter annihilation. In particular, myriad studies of the unexpected rise in the positron fraction have debated its dark matter or pulsar origins. In this paper, we instead examine the potential for extremely precise positron measurements by AMS-02 to probe hard leptophilic dark matter candidates that do not have spectral features similar to the bulk of the observed positron excess. Utilizing a detailed cosmic-ray propagation model that includes a primary positron flux generated by Galactic pulsars in addition to a secondary component constrained by He and proton measurements, we produce a robust fit to the local positron flux and spectrum. We find no evidence for a spectral bump correlated with leptophilic dark matter, and set strong constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross-section that fall below the thermal annihilation cross-section for dark matter masses below 60 GeV and 380 GeV for annihilation into τ+τ- and e+e-, respectively, in our default model.

scholarly journals Does the reionization model influence the constraints on dark matter decay or annihilation?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (12) ◽  
pp. 034
Author(s):  
Lu Chen ◽  
Ke Wang
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Star Formation ◽  
Star Formation Rate ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
Dark Matter Annihilation ◽  
Planck Data ◽  
Upper Limit ◽  
History Of

Abstract If dark matter decay or annihilate, a large amount of energy and particles would be released into the cosmic plasma. Therefore, they could modify the thermal and ionization history of our universe, then leave footprints on the cosmic microwave background power spectra. In this paper, we take dark matter annihilation as an example and investigate whether different reionization models influence the constraints on dark matter annihilation. We consider the ionization history including both dark matter annihilation and star formation, then put constraints on DM annihilation. Combining the latest Planck data, BAO data, SNIa measurement, Q HII constraints from observations of quasars, as well as the star formation rate density from UV and IR data, the optical depth is τ = 0.0571+0.0005 -0.0006 at 68%C.L. and the upper limit of ϵ0 f d reads 2.7765 × 10-24 at 95%C.L.. By comparison, we also constrain dark matter annihilation in the instantaneous reionization model from the same data combination except the Q HII constraints and star formation rate density. We get τ = 0.0559+0.0069 -0.0076 at 68%C.L. and the upper limit of ϵ0 f d is 2.8468 × 10-24 at 95%C.L.. This indicates various reionization models have little influence (≲ 2.5%) on constraining parameters of dark matter decay or annihilation.

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