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Long-exposure NuSTAR constraints on decaying dark matter in the Galactic halo

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D.
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [2]
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); OSTI
  2. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
  3. Chinese University of Hong Kong (China)
  4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  5. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  6. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  7. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States); Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI)
  8. Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow (Russian Federation)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Here, we present two complementary NuSTAR x-ray searches for keV-scale dark matter decaying to monoenergetic photons in the Milky Way halo. In the first, we utilize the known intensity pattern of unfocused stray light across the detector planes—the dominant source of photons from diffuse sources—to separate astrophysical emission from internal instrument backgrounds using ~7- Ms/detector deep blank-sky exposures. In the second, we present an updated parametric model of the full NuSTAR instrument background, allowing us to leverage the statistical power of an independent ~20-Ms/detector stacked exposures spread across the sky. Finding no evidence of anomalous x-ray lines using either method, we set limits on the active-sterile mixing angle sin2⁡(2⁢θ) for sterile-neutrino masses 6–40 keV. The first key result is that we strongly disfavor a ~7-keV sterile neutrino decaying into a 3.5-keV photon. The second is that we derive leading limits on sterile neutrinos with masses ~15–18 keV and ~25–40 keV, reaching or extending below the big bang nucleosynthesis limit. In combination with previous results, the parameter space for the neutrino minimal standard model is now nearly closed.
Research Organization:
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Russian Science Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0020262
OSTI ID:
2421506
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 107; ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Figures / Tables (18)

FIG. 1(p. 4)figure FIG. 1
FIG. 2(p. 5)figure FIG. 2
TABLE I(p. 6)table TABLE I
FIG. 3(p. 7)figure FIG. 3
TABLE II(p. 9)table TABLE II
TABLE III(p. 10)table TABLE III
FIG. 4(p. 11)figure FIG. 4
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FIG. 6(p. 13)figure FIG. 6
TABLE A1(p. 19)table TABLE A1
FIG. B7(p. 20)figure FIG. B7
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FIG. B10(p. 21)figure FIG. B10
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FIG. B9(p. 21)figure FIG. B9
FIG. B12(p. 22)figure FIG. B12
FIG. B13(p. 22)figure FIG. B13
FIG. B14(p. 22)figure FIG. B14

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79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS