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Title: Multistep cascade annihilations of dark matter and the Galactic Center excess

Abstract

If dark matter is embedded in a non-trivial dark sector, it may annihilate and decay to lighter dark-sector states which subsequently decay to the Standard Model. Such scenarios - with annihilation followed by cascading dark-sector decays - can explain the apparent excess GeV gamma-rays identified in the central Milky Way, while evading bounds from dark matter direct detection experiments. Each 'step' in the cascade will modify the observable signatures of dark matter annihilation and decay, shifting the resulting photons and other final state particles to lower energies and broadening their spectra. We explore, in a model-independent way, the effect of multi-step dark-sector cascades on the preferred regions of parameter space to explain the GeV excess. We find that the broadening effects of multi-step cascades can admit final states dominated by particles that would usually produce too sharply peaked photon spectra; in general, if the cascades are hierarchical (each particle decays to substantially lighter particles), the preferred mass range for the dark matter is in all cases 20-150 GeV. Decay chains that have nearly-degenerate steps, where the products are close to half the mass of the progenitor, can admit much higher DM masses. We map out the region of mass/cross-section parametermore » space where cascades (degenerate, hierarchical or a combination) can fit the signal, for a range of final states. In the current paper, we study multi-step cascades in the context of explaining the GeV excess, but many aspects of our results are general and can be extended to other applications.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
OSTI Identifier:
1240430
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1182815
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012567; SC00012567
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 91; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1550-7998
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

Elor, Gilly, Rodd, Nicholas L., and Slatyer, Tracy R. Multistep cascade annihilations of dark matter and the Galactic Center excess. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.91.103531.
Elor, Gilly, Rodd, Nicholas L., & Slatyer, Tracy R. Multistep cascade annihilations of dark matter and the Galactic Center excess. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.103531
Elor, Gilly, Rodd, Nicholas L., and Slatyer, Tracy R. 2015. "Multistep cascade annihilations of dark matter and the Galactic Center excess". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.103531. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1240430.
@article{osti_1240430,
title = {Multistep cascade annihilations of dark matter and the Galactic Center excess},
author = {Elor, Gilly and Rodd, Nicholas L. and Slatyer, Tracy R.},
abstractNote = {If dark matter is embedded in a non-trivial dark sector, it may annihilate and decay to lighter dark-sector states which subsequently decay to the Standard Model. Such scenarios - with annihilation followed by cascading dark-sector decays - can explain the apparent excess GeV gamma-rays identified in the central Milky Way, while evading bounds from dark matter direct detection experiments. Each 'step' in the cascade will modify the observable signatures of dark matter annihilation and decay, shifting the resulting photons and other final state particles to lower energies and broadening their spectra. We explore, in a model-independent way, the effect of multi-step dark-sector cascades on the preferred regions of parameter space to explain the GeV excess. We find that the broadening effects of multi-step cascades can admit final states dominated by particles that would usually produce too sharply peaked photon spectra; in general, if the cascades are hierarchical (each particle decays to substantially lighter particles), the preferred mass range for the dark matter is in all cases 20-150 GeV. Decay chains that have nearly-degenerate steps, where the products are close to half the mass of the progenitor, can admit much higher DM masses. We map out the region of mass/cross-section parameter space where cascades (degenerate, hierarchical or a combination) can fit the signal, for a range of final states. In the current paper, we study multi-step cascades in the context of explaining the GeV excess, but many aspects of our results are general and can be extended to other applications.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.91.103531},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1240430}, journal = {Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology},
issn = {1550-7998},
number = 10,
volume = 91,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Tue May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

Journal Article:

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Cited by: 61 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Model-independent indirect detection constraints on hidden sector dark matter
journal, June 2016


Dark Matter's secret liaisons: phenomenology of a dark U(1) sector with bound states
journal, May 2017


Point sources from dissipative dark matter
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Z ′ mediated WIMPs: dead, dying, or soon to be detected?
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Boxes, boosts, and energy duality: Understanding the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess through Dynamical Dark Matter
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Indirect Detection of Neutrino Portal Dark Matter
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Point Sources from Dissipative Dark Matter
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$Z'$ Mediated WIMPs: Dead, Dying, or Soon to be Detected?
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