TY - JOUR
T1 - PAMELA satellite data as a signal of non-thermal wino LSP dark matter
AU - Kane, Gordon
AU - Lu, Ran
AU - Watson, Scott
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for discussions with Bobby Acharya, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Lars Bergström, Elliott Bloom, Mirko Boezio, Joachim Edsjö, Rouven Essig, Phill Grajek, Emiliano Macchiutti, Patrick Meade, Aldo Morselli, Igor Moskolenko, Michele Papucci, Cheng Peng, Piergiorgio Picozza, Tomer Volansky, Liantao Wang, Neal Weiner, and particularly Aaron Pierce who also collaborated on parts of the research. S.W. would like to thank KITP, Perimeter Institute, and the University of Texas – Austin for hospitality, and also U of T – Austin for financial support under National Science Foundation Grant No. PHY-0455649 .
PY - 2009/10/26
Y1 - 2009/10/26
N2 - Satellite and astrophysical data is accumulating that suggests and constrains interpretations of the dark matter of the universe. We argue there is a very well motivated theoretical framework (which existed before data) consistent with the interpretation that dark matter annihilation is being observed by the PAMELA satellite detector. The dark matter is (mainly) the neutral W boson superpartner, the wino. Using the program GALPROP extensively we study the annihilation products and the backgrounds together. A wino mass approximately in the 180-200 GeV range gives a good description of the PAMELA data, with antimatter and gammas from annihilating winos dominating the data below this energy range but not contributing above it. We explain why PAMELA data does not imply no antiproton signal was observed by PAMELA or earlier experiments, and explain why the antiproton analysis was misunderstood by earlier papers. Wino annihilation does not describe the Fermi e+ + e- data (except partially below ∼100 GeV). At higher energies we expect astrophysical mechanisms to contribute, and we simply parameterize them without a particular physical interpretation, and check that the combination can describe all the data. We emphasize several predictions for satellite data to test the wino interpretation, particularly the flattening or turndown of the positron and antiproton spectra above 100 GeV. It should be emphasised that most other interpretations require a large rise in the positron and antiproton rates above 100 GeV. We focus on studying this well-motivated and long predicted wino interpretation, rather than comparisons with other interpretations. We emphasize that interpretations also depend very strongly on assumptions about the cosmological history of the universe, on assumptions about the broader underlying theory context, and on propagation of antiprotons and positrons in the galaxy. The winos PAMELA is observing arose from moduli decay or other non-thermal sources rather than a universe that cooled in thermal equilibrium after the big bang. Then it is appropriate to normalize the wino density to the local relic density, and no "boost factors" are needed to obtain the reported PAMELA rates.
AB - Satellite and astrophysical data is accumulating that suggests and constrains interpretations of the dark matter of the universe. We argue there is a very well motivated theoretical framework (which existed before data) consistent with the interpretation that dark matter annihilation is being observed by the PAMELA satellite detector. The dark matter is (mainly) the neutral W boson superpartner, the wino. Using the program GALPROP extensively we study the annihilation products and the backgrounds together. A wino mass approximately in the 180-200 GeV range gives a good description of the PAMELA data, with antimatter and gammas from annihilating winos dominating the data below this energy range but not contributing above it. We explain why PAMELA data does not imply no antiproton signal was observed by PAMELA or earlier experiments, and explain why the antiproton analysis was misunderstood by earlier papers. Wino annihilation does not describe the Fermi e+ + e- data (except partially below ∼100 GeV). At higher energies we expect astrophysical mechanisms to contribute, and we simply parameterize them without a particular physical interpretation, and check that the combination can describe all the data. We emphasize several predictions for satellite data to test the wino interpretation, particularly the flattening or turndown of the positron and antiproton spectra above 100 GeV. It should be emphasised that most other interpretations require a large rise in the positron and antiproton rates above 100 GeV. We focus on studying this well-motivated and long predicted wino interpretation, rather than comparisons with other interpretations. We emphasize that interpretations also depend very strongly on assumptions about the cosmological history of the universe, on assumptions about the broader underlying theory context, and on propagation of antiprotons and positrons in the galaxy. The winos PAMELA is observing arose from moduli decay or other non-thermal sources rather than a universe that cooled in thermal equilibrium after the big bang. Then it is appropriate to normalize the wino density to the local relic density, and no "boost factors" are needed to obtain the reported PAMELA rates.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.physletb.2009.09.053
DO - 10.1016/j.physletb.2009.09.053
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:74249117588
SN - 0370-2693
VL - 681
SP - 151
EP - 160
JO - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
JF - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
IS - 2
ER -