Limits to Gauge Coupling in the Dark Sector Set by the Nonobservation of Instanton-Induced Decay of Super-Heavy Dark Matter in the Pierre Auger Observatory Data

Collaboration, The Pierre Auger; Abreu, P.; Aglietta, M.; Albury, Justin M.; Allekotte, I.; Cheminant, Kévin Almeida; Almela, A.; Álvarez-Muñiz, J.; Batista, Rafael Alves; Yebra, J. Ammerman; Anastasi, Gioacchino Alex; Anchordoqui, Luis A.; Andrada, Belén; Andringa, S.; Aramo, C.; Ferreira, Paulo Ricardo Araújo; Arnone, Enrico; Velázquez, Juan Carlos Arteaga; Asorey, H.; Assis, P.; Ávila, G.; Avocone, E.; Badescu, Alina Mihaela; Bakalová, Alena; Bălăceanu, Alexandru; Barbato, Felicia; Bellido, J. A.; Bérat, C.; Bertaina, M.; Bhatta, Gopal; Biermann, Peter L.; Binet, Virginia; Bismark, Kathrin; Bister, Teresa; Biteau, J.; Blažek, Jiří; Bleve, C.; Blümer, J.; Bohã̌cov́a, M.; Boncioli, D.; Bonifazi, C.; Arbeletche, Luan Bonneau; Borodai, N.; Botti, Ana Martina; Brack, Jeffrey; Bretz, T.; Orchera, P. Gabriel Brichetto; Briechle, Florian Lukas; Buchholz, P.; Bueno, A.; Buitink, S.; Buscemi, Mario; Büsken, Max; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Caccianiga, Lorenzo; Canfora, F.; Caracas, Ioana; Caruso, R.; Castellina, A.; Catalani, Fernando; Cataldi, G.; Cazón, L.; Cerda, Marcos; Chinellato, J. A.; Chudoba, J.; Chytka, L.; Clay, R. W.; Cerutti, Agustín Cobos; Colalillo, R.; Coleman, Alan; Coluccia, M. R.; Conceição, R.; Condorelli, Antonio; Consolati, G.; Contreras, F.; Convenga, Fabio; Santos, Diego Correia dos; Covault, C. E.; Dasso, S.; Daumiller, K.; Dawson, B. R.; Day, J. A.; Almeida, R. M. de; Jesús, Joaquín de; Jong, S. J. De; Neto, J. R. T. de Mello; Mitri, I. De; Oliveira, Jaime de; Franco, D.; Palma, F. de; Souza, Vítor de; Vito, Emanuele De; Popolo, A. Del; Río, Mariano del; Deligny, O.; Deval, Luca; Matteo, Armando di; Dobre, M.; Dobrigkeit, C.; D’Olivo, J. C.; Mendes, Luis Miguel Domingues; Anjos, Rita Cassia dos; Dova, M. T.; Ebr, Jan; Engel, R.; Epicoco, Italo; Erdmann, M.; Escobar, C. O.; Etchegoyen, A.; Falcke, H.; Farmer, John; Farrar, Glennys R.; Fauth, A. C.; Fazzini, N.; Feldbusch, Fridtjof; Fenu, Francesco; Fick, B.; Figueira, J. M.; Filipčić, A.; Fitoussi, Thomas; Fodran, Tomáš; Fujii, Toshihiro; Fuster, Alan; Galea, C.; Galelli, Claudio; García, Beatriz; Vegas, Adrianna Luz García; Gemmeke, H.; Gesualdi, Flavia; Gherghel-Lascu, A.; Ghia, P. L.; Giaccari, U.; Giammarchi, M.; Glombitza, Jonas; Gobbi, Fabian; Gollan, Fernando; Golup, G.; Berisso, M. Gómez; Vitale, Primo F. Gómez; Gongora, Juan Pablo; González, Juan Manuel; González, Nicolás Martín; Goos, Isabel; Góra, D.; Gorgi, A.; Gottowik, Marvin; Grubb, Trent D.; Guarino, F.; Guedes, G. P.; Guido, Eleonora; Hahn, S.; Hamal, P.; Hampel, Matías Rolf; Hansen, P.; Harari, D.; Harvey, Violet M.; Haungs, A.; Hebbeker, T.; Heck, D.; Hill, G. C.; Hojvat, C.; Hörandel, J. R.; Horváth, P.; Hrabovský, M.; Huege, T.; Insolia, A.; Isar, P. G.; Janeček, Petr; Johnsen, Jeffrey A.; Jurýšek, Jakub; Kääpä, Alex; Kampert, K. H.; Keilhauer, B.; Khakurdikar, Abha; Covilakam, Varada Varma Kizakke; Klages, H. O.; Kleifges, M.; Kleinfeller, J.; Knapp, F.; Kunka, N.; Lago, Bruno L.; Langner, Niklas; Oliveira, M. A. Leigui de; Lenok, Vladimir; Letessier‐Selvon, A.; Lhenry-Yvon, I.; Presti, Domenico Lo; Lopes, L.; López, R.; Lu, Lu; Luce, Quentin; Lundquist, Jon Paul; Payeras, Allan Machado; Mancarella, G.; Mandát, Dušan; Manning, Bradley C.; Manshanden, Julien; Mantsch, P.; Marafico, Sullivan; Mariani, F. M.; Mariazzi, A. G.; Maris, Ioana Codrina; Marsella, G.; Martello, D.; Martinelli, Sara; Bravo, O. Martínez; Mastrodicasa, Massimo; Mathes, H. J.; Matthews, John; Matthiae, G.; Mayotte, E.; Mayotte, Sonja; Mazur, Péter; Medina‐Tanco, G.; Melo, D.; Menshikov, Alexander; Michal, Stanislav; Micheletti, M. I.; Miramonti, L.; Mollerach, Silvia; Montanet, F.; Morejón, Leonel; Morello, C.; Mostafá, M.; Müller, Ana L.; Müller, M. A.; Mulrey, K.; Mussa, R.; Muzio, Marco Stein; Namasaka, Wilson M.; Nasr-Esfahani, Alina; Nellen, L.; Nicora, Gabriela; Niculescu-Oglinzanu, M.; Niechciol, Marcus; Nitz, D.; Norwood, I.; Nosek, D.; Novotný, Vladimír; Nožka, L.; Nucita, A. A.; Núñez, Luis A.; Oliveira, C.; Palatka, M.; Pallotta, J.; Papenbreer, P.; Parente, G.; Parra, A.; Pawlowsky, Jannis; Pech, M.; Pękala, Jan; Pelayo, R.; Peña-Rodríguez, Jesús; Martins, Edyvânia Emily Pereira; Armand, Johnnier Perez; Bertolli, Carmina Pérez; Perrone, L.; Petrera, S.; Petrucci, C.; Pierog, T.; Pimenta, M.; Pirronello, V.; Platino, M.; Pont, Bjarni; Pothast, Mart; Privitera, P.; Prouza, M.; Puyleart, Andrew; Querchfeld, S.; Rautenberg, J.; Ravignani, D.; Reininghaus, Maximilian; Řídký, J.; Riehn, Felix; Risse, M.; Rizi, V.; Carvalho, W. Rodrigues de; Rojo, Juan; Roncoroni, Matías J.; Rossoni, Simone; Roth, M.; Roulet, Esteban; Rovero, A. C.; Ruehl, Philip; Sǎftoiu, A.; Saharan, M.; Salamida, F.; Salazar, H.; Salina, G.; Gómez, J. D. Sanabria; Sánchez, F.; Santos, Edivaldo Moura; Sarazin, F.; Sarmento, R.; Sarmiento-Cano, C.; Sato, R.; Savina, Pierpaolo; Schäfer, C.; Scherini, V.; Schieler, H.; Schimassek, Martin; Schimp, Michael; Schlüter, Felix; Schmidt, D.; Scholten, Olaf; Schoorlemmer, H.; Schovánek, Petr; Schröder, Frank G.; Schulte, J. F.; Schulz, Tobias; Sciutto, S. J.; Scornavacche, Marina; Segreto, A.; Sehgal, S.; Shellard, R. C.; Sigl, Guenter; Silli, Gaia; Sima, O.; Smau, R.; Šmída, R.; Sommers, P.; Soriano, Jorge F.; Squartini, R.; Stadelmaier, Maximilian; Stanca, Denis; Stanič, S.; Stasielak, J.; Stassi, P.; Streich, Alexander; Suárez-Durán, Mauricio; Sudholz, T.; Suomijärvi, T.; Supanitsky, A. D.; Szadkowski, Z.; Tapia, A.; Taricco, Carla; Timmermans, C.; Tkachenko, Olena; Tobiška, Petr; Peixoto, C. J. Todero; Tomé, B.; Torrès, Zoé; Travaini, Andres; Trávničék, P.; Trimarelli, Caterina; Tueros, M.; Ulrich, R.; Unger, Michael; Vaclavek, Lukáš; Vacula, Martin; Galicia, J. F. Valdés; Valore, L.; Varela, E.; Vásquez-Ramírez, Adriana; Veberič, D.; Ventura, Cynthia; Quispe, Indira D. Vergara; Verzi, V.; Vícha, J.; Vink, Jacco; Vorobiov, S.; Wahlberg, H.; Watanabe, Clara Keiko Oliveira; Watson, A. A.; Weindl, A.; Wiencke, L.; Wilczyński, H.; Wittkowski, David; Wundheiler, B.; Yushkov, A.; Zapparrata, Orazio; Zas, E.; Zavrtanik, D.; Zavrtanik, M.; Zehrer, Lukas; Aloisio, Roberto

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.130.061001

“…Dark matter particles could be superheavy, provided that their lifetime is much longer than the age of the Universe (e.g., Kachelriess et al 2018;Alcantara et al 2019;Ishiwata et al 2020;Guépin et al 2021;Bérat et al 2022;Abreu et al 2023;Das et al 2023). Neutrinos from dark matter decay are expected to emerge from the cascade of the decaying dark matter candidate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floor of Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes above 10¹⁷ eV

Bérat,

Condorelli,

Deligny

et al. 2024

ApJ

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The search for neutrinos with energies greater than 1017 eV is being actively pursued. Although normalization of the dominant neutrino flux is highly uncertain, a floor level is guaranteed by the interactions of extragalactic cosmic rays with milky Way gas. We estimate that this floor level gives an energy flux of E 2 ϕ ν ≃ 10 − 13 − 0.5 + 0.5 GeV cm − 2 sr − 1 s − 1 at 1018 eV, where uncertainties arise from the modeling of the gas distribution and the experimental determination of the mass composition of ultra–high-energy cosmic rays on Earth. Based on a minimal model of cosmic-ray production to explain the mass-discriminated energy spectra observed on Earth above 5 × 1018 eV, we also present generic estimates of the neutrino fluxes expected from extragalactic production that generally exceed the aforementioned guaranteed floor. The prospects for detecting neutrinos above 1018 eV remain challenging, however, unless proton acceleration to the highest energies is at play in a subdominant population of cosmic-ray sources or new physical phenomena are at work.

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“…There are several theoretical motives to search for SHDM related to particle physics in the early Universe. A recent exploration of the constraints provided by our photon-flux limits on some models is given elsewhere [36]. Here, we restrict ourselves to illustrate in figure 8 the discovery potential with searches for UHE photons: we show as the dashed violet line and the dot-dashed red line the expected photon fluxes in the case of hadronic [68] and leptonic [34] decay channels, for a mass of the SHDM particles of 10 10 GeV and a lifetime of 3×10 21 yr.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of particular interest would thus be the detection of UHE photons from regions of denser DM density such as the center of our Galaxy. The limits on such photon fluxes translates into constrains on the lifetimes and masses of DM particles [32][33][34][35], or even on the particle-physics properties of the dark sector [36,37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for photons above 10¹⁹ eV with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abreu

¹

,

Aglietta

²

,

Allekotte

³

et al. 2023

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

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We use the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory to search for air showers initiated by photons with an energy above 1019 eV. Photons in the zenith angle range from 30∘ to 60∘ can be identified in the overwhelming background of showers initiated by charged cosmic rays through the broader time structure of the signals induced in the water-Cherenkov detectors of the array and the steeper lateral distribution of shower particles reaching ground. Applying the search method to data collected between January 2004 and June 2020, upper limits at 95% CL are set to an E-2 diffuse flux of ultra-high energy photons above 1019 eV, 2 × 1019 eV and 4 × 1019 eV amounting to 2.11 × 10-3, 3.12 × 10-4 and 1.72 × 10-4 km-2 sr-1 yr-1, respectively. While the sensitivity of the present search around 2 × 1019 eV approaches expectations of cosmogenic photon fluxes in the case of a pure-proton composition, it is one order of magnitude above those from more realistic mixed-composition models. The inferred limits have also implications for the search of super-heavy dark matter that are discussed and illustrated.

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“…Upper limits on the flux of neutrinos and gamma rays at ultrahigh energies rule out a dominant origin of UHECRs from exotic particles (Abreu et al 2023(Abreu et al , 2022a, which should then originate from extragalactic astrophysical sources. An extragalactic origin is corroborated by the observation of a dipolar anisotropy above 8 EeV (Aab et al 2018a) and an evidenced correlation of UHECRs above 40 EeV with extragalactic objects in the nearby Universe (Aab et al 2018b;Abreu et al 2022b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Galaxy Clusters on the Propagation of Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic Rays

Condorelli,

Biteau,

Adam

2023

ApJ

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Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the Universe kept together by gravity. Most of their baryonic content is made of a magnetized diffuse plasma. We investigate the impact of such a magnetized environment on the propagation of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The intracluster medium (ICM) is described according to the self-similar assumption, in which gas density and pressure profiles are fully determined by the cluster mass and redshift. The magnetic field is scaled to the thermal components of the ICM under different assumptions. We model the propagation of UHECRs in the ICM using a modified version of the Monte Carlo code SimProp, where hadronic processes and diffusion in the turbulent magnetic field are implemented. We provide a universal parameterization that approximates the UHECR fluxes escaping from the environment as a function of the most relevant quantities, such as the mass of the cluster, the position of the source with respect to the center of the cluster, and the nature of the accelerated particles. We show that galaxy clusters are an opaque environment, especially for UHECR nuclei. The role of the most massive nearby clusters in the context of the emerging UHECR astronomy is finally discussed.

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Limits to Gauge Coupling in the Dark Sector Set by the Nonobservation of Instanton-Induced Decay of Super-Heavy Dark Matter in the Pierre Auger Observatory Data

Cited by 11 publications

References 66 publications

Floor of Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes above 10¹⁷ eV

Floor of Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes above 10¹⁷ eV

Search for photons above 10¹⁹ eV with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Impact of Galaxy Clusters on the Propagation of Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic Rays

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Limits to Gauge Coupling in the Dark Sector Set by the Nonobservation of Instanton-Induced Decay of Super-Heavy Dark Matter in the Pierre Auger Observatory Data

Cited by 11 publications

References 66 publications

Floor of Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes above 1017 eV

Floor of Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes above 1017 eV

Search for photons above 1019 eV with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Impact of Galaxy Clusters on the Propagation of Ultrahigh-energy Cosmic Rays

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Floor of Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes above 10¹⁷ eV

Floor of Cosmogenic Neutrino Fluxes above 10¹⁷ eV

Search for photons above 10¹⁹ eV with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory