No Arabic abstract
A search for a neutrino signal from WIMP pair annihilations in the centre of the Earth has been performed with the data collected with the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. The event selection criteria have been developed and tuned to maximise the sensitivity of the experiment to such a neutrino signal. No significant excess of neutrinos over the expected background has been observed. Upper limits at $90%$ C.L. on the WIMP annihilation rate in the Earth and the spin independent scattering cross-section of WIMPs to nucleons $sigma^{SI}_p$ were calculated for WIMP pair annihilations into either $tau^{+}tau^{-}$, $W^+W^-$, $boverline{b}$ or the non-SUSY $ u_{mu}bar{ u}_{mu}$ as a function of the WIMP mass (between $25,mathrm{GeV/c^2}$ and $1000,mathrm{GeV/c^2}$) and as a function of the thermally averaged annihilation cross section times velocity $langlesigma_{A} vrangle_{Earth}$ of the WIMPs in the centre of the Earth. For masses of the WIMP close to the mass of iron nuclei ($50,mathrm{GeV/c^2}$), the obtained limits on $sigma^{SI}_p$ are more stringent than those obtained by other indirect searches.
A search for high-energy neutrinos coming from the direction of the Sun has been performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope during 2007 and 2008. The neutrino selection criteria have been chosen to maximize the selection of possible signals produced by the self-annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles accumulated in the centre of the Sun with respect to the atmospheric background. After data unblinding, the number of neutrinos observed towards the Sun was found to be compatible with background expectations. The $90%$ CL upper limits in terms of spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-proton cross-sections are derived and compared to predictions of two supersymmetric models, CMSSM and MSSM-7. The ANTARES limits are competitive with those obtained by other neutrino observatories and are more stringent than those obtained by direct search experiments for the spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross-section.
A search for high-energy neutrinos coming from the direction of the Galactic Centre is performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. The event selection criteria are chosen to maximise the sensitivity to possible signals produced by the self-annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles accumulated around the centre of the Milky Way with respect to the atmospheric background. After data unblinding, the number of neutrinos observed in the line of sight of the Galactic Centre is found to be compatible with background expectations. The 90% C.L. upper limits in terms of the neutrino+anti-neutrino flux, $rm Phi_{ u_{mu}+bar{ u}_mu}$, and the velocity averaged annihilation cross-section, $rm <sigma_{A}v>$, are derived for the WIMP self-annihilation channels into $rm bbar{b},W^{+}W^{-},tau^{+}tau^{-},mu^{+}mu^{-}, ubar{ u}$. The ANTARES limits for $rm <sigma_{A}v>$ are shown to be the most stringent for a neutrino telescope over the WIMP masses $rm 25,GeV < M_{WIMP} < 10,TeV$.
A search for muon neutrinos originating from dark matter annihilations in the Sun is performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope from 2007 to 2012. In order to obtain the best possible sensitivities to dark matter signals, an optimisation of the event selection criteria is performed taking into account the background of atmospheric muons, atmospheric neutrinos and the energy spectra of the expected neutrino signals. No significant excess over the background is observed and $90%$ C.L. upper limits on the neutrino flux, the spin--dependent and spin--independent WIMP-nucleon cross--sections are derived for WIMP masses ranging from $ rm 50$ GeV to $rm 5$ TeV for the annihilation channels $rm WIMP + WIMP to b bar b, W^+ W^-$ and $rm tau^+ tau^-$.
A search for Secluded Dark Matter annihilation in the Sun using 2007-2012 data of the ANTARES neutrino telescope is presented. Three different cases are considered: a) detection of dimuons that result from the decay of the mediator, or neutrino detection from: b) mediator that decays into a dimuon and, in turn, into neutrinos, and c) mediator that decays directly into neutrinos. As no significant excess over background is observed, constraints are derived on the dark matter mass and the lifetime of the mediator.
ANTARES is the first neutrino telescope in the sea. It consists of a three-dimensional array of 885 photomultipliers to collect the Cherenkov light induced by relativistic muons produced in CC interactions of high energy neutrinos. One of the main scientific goals of the experiment is the search for dark matter. We present here the analysis of data taken during 2007 and 2008 to look for a WIMP signal in the Sun. WIMPs are one of the most popular scenarios to explain the dark matter content of the Universe. They would accumulate in massive objects like the Sun or the Galactic Center and their self-annihilation would produce (directly or indirectly) high energy neutrinos detectable by neutrino telescopes. Contrary to other indirect searches (like with gamma rays or positrons), the search for neutrinos in the Sun is free from other astrophysical contributions, so the interpretation of a potential signal in terms of dark matter is much more robust.