Search for GeV-scale dark matter annihilation in the Sun with IceCube DeepCore

Abstract

The Sun provides an excellent target for studying spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering due to its high matter density and abundant hydrogen content. Dark matter particles from the Galactic halo can elastically interact with Solar nuclei, resulting in their capture and thermalization in the Sun. The captured dark matter can annihilate into Standard Model particles including an observable flux of neutrinos. We present the results of a search for low-energy (<500 GeV) neutrinos correlated with the direction of the Sun using 7 years of IceCube data. This work utilizes, for the first time, new optimized cuts to extend IceCube's sensitivity to dark matter mass down to 5 GeV. We find no significant detection of neutrinos from the Sun. Our observations exclude capture by spin-dependent dark matter-proton scattering with cross section down to a few times 10 −41 cm 2 , assuming there is equilibrium with annihilation into neutrinos/antineutrinos for dark matter masses between 5 GeV and 100 GeV. These are the strongest constraints at GeV energies for dark matter annihilation directly to neutrinos.

First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment

“…Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which obtain their relic abundance by thermal freeze-out through weak interactions [6], are postulated in a wide variety of viable extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics [7][8][9]. They are a leading candidate to explain dark matter, despite strong constraints from many searches completed and ongoing at colliders [10][11][12][13][14], with telescopes [15][16][17][18][19][20][21], and in underground laboratories [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. This Letter reports the first search for dark matter from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, with the largest target mass of any WIMP detection experiment to date.…”

Dark Matter Searches Towards the Sun with ANTARES and Positioning Studies for KM3NeT

“…The results achieved in this thesis are really close to the ones of IceCube (2016) [19], for all three channels but in particular for b b. Also IceCube improved its results recently using the Deep Core array in the inner parts of the detector [24], and produced competitive SD cross-sections for masses ranging from 10 GeV to hundreds GeV for b b. However, for the annihilation channel τ + τ − , above dark matter masses of the order of 100 GeV the ANTARES results are better than the IceCube-Deep Core ones.…”

“…Figure 8.8.1: Limits on the spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-section as a function of WIMP mass for the b b (blue), τ + τ − (green)and W + W (red) channels. Limits given by other experiments are also shown: IceCube[19],[24], PICO-60[64], SuperKamiokande[106].…”

Simultaneous detection of boosted dark matter and neutrinos from the semi-annihilation at DUNE

“…The black and orange regions are excluded by the direct detection experiments (LZ [3], XENON1T [1] and PICO 60 [49]). The dashed black (DARWIN [50,51]) and brown (ARGO [52]) lines on the left panel represent the future sensitivities of direct detection experiments for the SI case while JCAP02(2024)033 [1] and PICO 60 [49]) the green region is excluded by the monochromatic neutrino observation at IceCube [55]. The dashed black and brown lines on the left panel are the future sensitivities of DARWIN [50,51] and ARGO [52] while the dashed black and orange lines on the right panel are the future sensitivities of LZ [53] and PICO 500 [54].…”