No Arabic abstract
The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, new and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. No neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, $left<sigma_mathrm{A} vright>$, for WIMP masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to $simeq 4 cdot 10^{-24}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$, and $simeq 2.6 cdot 10^{-23}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$ for the $ uoverline{ u}$ channel, respectively.
We have performed a search for muon neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the center of the Sun with the 79-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, the DeepCore sub-array is included in the analysis, lowering the energy threshold and extending the search to the austral summer. The 317 days of data collected between June 2010 and May 2011 are consistent with the expected background from atmospheric muons and neutrinos. Upper limits are therefore set on the dark matter annihilation rate, with
A search for a very-high-energy (VHE; >= 100 GeV) gamma-ray signal from self-annihilating particle Dark Matter (DM) is performed towards a region of projected distance r ~ 45-150 pc from the Galactic Center. The background-subtracted gamma-ray spectrum measured with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) gamma-ray instrument in the energy range between 300 GeV and 30 TeV shows no hint of a residual gamma-ray flux. Assuming conventional Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) and Einasto density profiles, limits are derived on the velocity-weighted annihilation cross section < sigma v> as a function of the DM particle mass. These are among the best reported so far for this energy range. In particular, for the DM particle mass of ~1 TeV, values for <sigma v> above 3 * 10^(-25) cm^3 s^(-1) are excluded for the Einasto density profile. The limits derived here differ much less for the chosen density profile parametrizations, as opposed to limits from gamma-ray observations of dwarf galaxies or the very center of the Milky Way, where the discrepancy is significantly larger.
We present the results of the first combined dark matter search targeting the Galactic Centre using the ANTARES and IceCube neutrino telescopes. For dark matter particles with masses from 50 to 1000 GeV, the sensitivities on the self-annihilation cross section set by ANTARES and IceCube are comparable, making this mass range particularly interesting for a joint analysis. Dark matter self-annihilation through the $tau^+tau^-$, $mu^+mu^-$, $bbar{b}$ and $W^+W^-$ channels is considered for both the Navarro-Frenk-White and Burkert halo profiles. In the combination of 2,101.6 days of ANTARES data and 1,007 days of IceCube data, no excess over the expected background is observed. Limits on the thermally-averaged dark matter annihilation cross section $langlesigma_Aupsilonrangle$ are set. These limits present an improvement of up to a factor of two in the studied dark matter mass range with respect to the individual limits published by both collaborations. When considering dark matter particles with a mass of 200 GeV annihilating through the $tau^+tau^-$ channel, the value obtained for the limit is $7.44 times 10^{-24} text{cm}^{3}text{s}^{-1}$ for the Navarro-Frenk-White halo profile. For the purpose of this joint analysis, the model parameters and the likelihood are unified, providing a benchmark for forthcoming dark matter searches performed by neutrino telescopes.
The presence of dark matter (DM) is suggested by a wealth of astrophysical and cosmological measurements. However, its underlying nature is yet unknown. Among the most promising candidates are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs): particles with mass and coupling strength at the electroweak scale and thermally produced in the early universe have a present relic density consistent with that observed today. WIMP self-annihilation would produce Standard Model particles including gamma-rays, which have been long-time recognized as a prime messenger to indirectly detect dark matter signals. The centre of the Milky Way is predicted as the brightest source of DM annihilations. The H.E.S.S. collaboration is currently performing a survey of the inner region of the Milky Way, the Inner Galaxy Survey (IGS), intended to achieve the best sensitivity to faint and diffuse emissions in a region of several degrees around the Galactic Centre. We analyzed 2014-2020 observations taken with the five-telescope array to search for a DM annihilation signal. With the current dataset of about 550 hours, we found no significant excess and therefore derived strong constraints on the velocity-weighted annihilation cross-section. TeV thermal WIMPs can be probed in different annihilation channels.
Indirect searches for dark matter through Standard Model products of its annihilation generally assume a cross-section which is dominated by a term independent of velocity ($s$-wave annihilation). However, in many DM models an $s$-wave annihilation cross-section is absent or helicity suppressed. To reproduce the correct DM relic density in these models, the leading term in the cross section is proportional to the DM velocity squared ($p$-wave annihilation). Indirect detection of such $p$-wave DM is difficult because the average velocities of DM in galaxies today are orders of magnitude slower than the DM velocity at the time of decoupling from the primordial thermal plasma, suppressing the annihilation cross-section today by some five orders of magnitude relative to its value at freeze out. Thus $p$-wave DM is out of reach of traditional searches for DM annihilations in the Galactic halo. Near the region of influence of a central supermassive black hole, such as Sgr A$^*$, however, DM can form a localized over-density known as a `spike. In such spikes the DM is predicted to be both concentrated in space and accelerated to higher velocities, allowing the $gamma$-ray signature from its annihilation to potentially be detectable above the background. We use the $Fermi$ Large Area Telescope to search for the $gamma$-ray signature of $p$-wave annihilating DM from a spike around Sgr A$^*$ in the energy range 10 GeV-600 GeV. Such a signal would appear as a point source and would have a sharp line or box-like spectral features difficult to mimic with standard astrophysical processes, indicating a DM origin. We find no significant excess of $gamma$ rays in this range, and we place upper limits on the flux in $gamma$-ray boxes originating from the Galactic Center. This result, the first of its kind, is interpreted in the context of different models of the DM density near Sgr A$^*$.