Dark matter signals in space

Abstract

The confirmation by the PAMELA collaboration of a positron excess above 10 GeV has triggered a lot of excitement in the field of particle astrophysics. This excess could be the first long waited hint of the presence of massive and weakly interacting species in the halo of the Milky Way. If so, the nature of the astronomical dark matter is about to be unveiled after more than seventy years of unsuccessful searches. This review summarizes the state of the art, a year of bubbling activity after the PAMELA announcement. The dark matter candidates which can potentially lead to a positron excess have quite special properties. They are severely constrained by radio and gamma observations unless they are tightly packed inside unprobable or bizarre dark matter clumps. These species could also be unstable with abnormally long lifetimes. Although the positron excess could be generated by annihilating and/or decaying dark matter particles, William of Ockham would warn us that a more natural explanation is to be found in pulsars for instance, and that entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.