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Title: Search for 100 MeV to 10 GeV γ-ray lines in the Fermi-LAT data and implications for gravitino dark matter in the μνSSM

Abstract

We present that dark matter decay or annihilation may produce monochromatic signals in the γ-ray energy range. In this work we argue that there are strong theoretical motivations for studying these signals in the framework of gravitino dark matter decay and we perform a search for γ-ray spectral lines from 100 MeV to 10 GeV with Fermi-LAT data. In contrast to previous line searches at higher energies, the sensitivity of the present search is dominated by systematic uncertainties across most of the energy range considered. We estimate the size of systematic effects by analysing the flux from a number of control regions, and include the systematic uncertainties consistently in our fitting procedure. We have not observed any significant signals and present model-independent limits on γ-ray line emission from decaying and annihilating dark matter. We apply the former limits to the case of the gravitino, a well-known dark matter candidate in supersymmetric scenarios. In particular, the R-parity violating ''μ from ν'' Supersymmetric Standard Model μνSSM) is an attractive scenario in which including right-handed neutrinos solves the μ problem of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model while simultaneously explaining the origin of neutrino masses. At the same time, the violation of R-parity rendersmore » the gravitino unstable and subject to decay into a photon and a neutrino. Finally, as a consequence of the limits on line emission, μνSSM gravitinos with masses larger than about 5 GeV, or lifetimes smaller than about 1028 s, are excluded at 95% confidence level as dark matter candidates.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [6];  [7]
  1. W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. Department of Physics; ; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  2. Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC and Departamento de Fisica Teorica, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain); Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago (Chile); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma (Italy)
  3. Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC and Departamento de Fisica Teorica, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain); Institut fur Theoretische Physik, Universitat Hamburg (Germany)
  4. Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC and Departamento de Fisica Teorica, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)
  5. University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). GRAPPA
  6. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Bari (Italy)
  7. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma (Italy)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1356439
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2014; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; gamma ray experiments; dark matter experiments; dark matter theory; gamma ray theory

Citation Formats

Albert, Andrea, Gómez-Vargas, Germán A., Grefe, Michael, Muñoz, Carlos, Weniger, Christoph, Bloom, Elliott D., Charles, Eric, Mazziotta, Mario N., and Morselli, Aldo. Search for 100 MeV to 10 GeV γ-ray lines in the Fermi-LAT data and implications for gravitino dark matter in the μνSSM. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2014/10/023.
Albert, Andrea, Gómez-Vargas, Germán A., Grefe, Michael, Muñoz, Carlos, Weniger, Christoph, Bloom, Elliott D., Charles, Eric, Mazziotta, Mario N., & Morselli, Aldo. Search for 100 MeV to 10 GeV γ-ray lines in the Fermi-LAT data and implications for gravitino dark matter in the μνSSM. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2014/10/023
Albert, Andrea, Gómez-Vargas, Germán A., Grefe, Michael, Muñoz, Carlos, Weniger, Christoph, Bloom, Elliott D., Charles, Eric, Mazziotta, Mario N., and Morselli, Aldo. Mon . "Search for 100 MeV to 10 GeV γ-ray lines in the Fermi-LAT data and implications for gravitino dark matter in the μνSSM". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2014/10/023. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1356439.
@article{osti_1356439,
title = {Search for 100 MeV to 10 GeV γ-ray lines in the Fermi-LAT data and implications for gravitino dark matter in the μνSSM},
author = {Albert, Andrea and Gómez-Vargas, Germán A. and Grefe, Michael and Muñoz, Carlos and Weniger, Christoph and Bloom, Elliott D. and Charles, Eric and Mazziotta, Mario N. and Morselli, Aldo},
abstractNote = {We present that dark matter decay or annihilation may produce monochromatic signals in the γ-ray energy range. In this work we argue that there are strong theoretical motivations for studying these signals in the framework of gravitino dark matter decay and we perform a search for γ-ray spectral lines from 100 MeV to 10 GeV with Fermi-LAT data. In contrast to previous line searches at higher energies, the sensitivity of the present search is dominated by systematic uncertainties across most of the energy range considered. We estimate the size of systematic effects by analysing the flux from a number of control regions, and include the systematic uncertainties consistently in our fitting procedure. We have not observed any significant signals and present model-independent limits on γ-ray line emission from decaying and annihilating dark matter. We apply the former limits to the case of the gravitino, a well-known dark matter candidate in supersymmetric scenarios. In particular, the R-parity violating ''μ from ν'' Supersymmetric Standard Model μνSSM) is an attractive scenario in which including right-handed neutrinos solves the μ problem of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model while simultaneously explaining the origin of neutrino masses. At the same time, the violation of R-parity renders the gravitino unstable and subject to decay into a photon and a neutrino. Finally, as a consequence of the limits on line emission, μνSSM gravitinos with masses larger than about 5 GeV, or lifetimes smaller than about 1028 s, are excluded at 95% confidence level as dark matter candidates.},
doi = {10.1088/1475-7516/2014/10/023},
journal = {Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics},
number = 10,
volume = 2014,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}

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