What does the PAMELA antiproton spectrum tell us about dark matter?
- Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL (United States)
- Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL (United States)
- Kavli Insitute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, 2575 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Measurements of the cosmic ray antiproton spectrum can be used to search for contributions from annihilating dark matter and to constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section. Depending on the assumptions made regarding cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy, such constraints can be quite stringent. We revisit this topic, utilizing a set of propagation models fit to the cosmic ray boron, carbon, oxygen and beryllium data. We derive upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section and find that when the cosmic ray propagation parameters are treated as nuisance parameters (as we argue is appropriate), the resulting limits are significantly less stringent than have been previously reported. We also note (as have several previous groups) that simple GALPROP-like diffusion-reacceleration models predict a spectrum of cosmic ray antiprotons that is in good agreement with PAMELA's observations above ∼ 5 GeV, but that significantly underpredict the flux at lower energies. Although the complexity of modeling cosmic ray propagation at GeV-scale energies makes it difficult to determine the origin of this discrepancy, we consider the possibility that the excess antiprotons are the result of annihilating dark matter. Suggestively, we find that this excess is best fit for m{sub DM} ∼ 35 GeV and σ v ∼ 10{sup −26} cm{sup 3}/s (to b b-bar ), in good agreement with the mass and cross section previously shown to be required to generate the gamma-ray excess observed from the Galactic Center.
- OSTI ID:
- 22524865
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2015, Issue 03; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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