Antideuterons and antihelium nuclei from annihilating dark matter

Ilias Cholis, Tim Linden, and Dan Hooper
Phys. Rev. D 102, 103019 – Published 16 November 2020

Abstract

Recent studies of the cosmic-ray antiproton-to-proton ratio have identified an excess of 1020GeV antiprotons relative to the predictions of standard astrophysical models. Intriguingly, the properties of this excess are consistent with the same range of dark matter models that can account for the long-standing excess of γ-rays observed from the Galactic Center. Such dark matter candidates can also produce significant fluxes of antideuterium and antihelium nuclei. Here we study the production and transport of such particles, both from astrophysical processes as well as from dark matter annihilation. Importantly, in the case of AMS-02, we find that Alfvénic reacceleration (i.e., diffusion in momentum space) can boost the expected number of d¯ and He¯3 events from annihilating dark matter by an order of magnitude or more. For relatively large values of the Alfvén speed, and for dark matter candidates that are capable of producing the antiproton and γ-ray excesses, we expect annihilations to produce a few antideuteron events and about one antihelium event in 6 yr of AMS-02 data. This is particularly interesting in light of recent reports from the AMS-02 Collaboration describing the detection of a number of antihelium candidate events.

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  • Received 2 February 2020
  • Revised 26 August 2020
  • Accepted 6 October 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.103019

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Ilias Cholis1,*, Tim Linden2,3,†, and Dan Hooper4,5,‡

  • 1Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan 48309, USA
  • 2Stockholm University and the Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm 10691, Sweden
  • 3Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP) and Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
  • 4Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA
  • 5Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP), University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA

  • *cholis@oakland.edu
  • linden@fysik.su.se
  • dhooper@fnal.gov

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Vol. 102, Iss. 10 — 15 November 2020

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