Explaining the WMAP Haze with Neutralino Dark Matter

Abstract

It has been argued that the anomalous emission from the region around the Galactic Center observed by WMAP, known as the WMAP Haze, may be the synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons and positrons produced in dark matter annihilations. In particular, the angular distribution, spectrum, and intensity of the observed emission are consistent with the signal expected to result from a WIMP with an electroweak-scale mass and an annihilation cross section near the value predicted for a thermal relic. Here we revisit this signal within the context of supersymmetry and evaluate the parameter space of the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We find that over much of the supersymmetric parameter space the lightest neutralino is predicted to possess the properties required to generate the WMAP Haze. In particular, the focus point, A-funnel, and bulk regions typically predict a neutralino with a mass, annihilation cross section, and dominant annihilation modes that are within the range required to produce the observed features of the WMAP Haze. The stau-coannihilation region, in contrast, is disfavored as an explanation for the origin of this signal. If the WMAP Haze is indeed produced by annihilating neutralinos, prospects for future detection seem promising.

THE WMAP HAZE FROM THE GALACTIC CENTER REGION DUE TO MASSIVE STAR EXPLOSIONS AND A REDUCED COSMIC RAY SCALE HEIGHT

“…Scanning all sky the WMAP satellite discovered a haze in the region of the Galactic center, with radio frequencies up to near 100 GHz, and a relatively flat spectrum (Finkbeiner 2004a(Finkbeiner , 2004bHooper et al 2007;Dobler & Finkbeiner 2008;Caceres 2009). There are a number of possible explanations for this haze, as discussed in these papers, such as annihilation of dark matter, and also attributing the haze to various stars (Bandyopadhyay et al 2009); however, those authors conclude their specific proposal fails.…”

Spatial structure of the WMAP-Planck haze

“…The latter in turn emit radiation through inverse Compton scattering with background photon fields, and through synchrotron emission. In a notable subclass of this group, DM is composed of supersymmetric particles [4][5][6].…”