Excesses in cosmic ray positron and electron spectra from a nearby clump of neutralino dark matter

Abstract

In this letter, we suggest that a nearby clump of 600--1000 GeV neutralinos may be responsible for the excesses recently observed in the cosmic ray positron and electron spectra by the PAMELA and ATIC experiments. Although neutralino dark matter annihilating throughout the halo of the Milky Way is predicted to produce a softer spectrum than is observed, and violate constraints from cosmic ray antiproton measurements, a large nearby (within 1--2 kiloparsecs of the Solar System) clump of annihilating neutralinos can lead to a spectrum which is consistent with PAMELA and ATIC, while also producing an acceptable antiproton flux. Furthermore, the presence of a large dark matter clump can potentially accommodate the very large annihilation rate required to produce the PAMELA and ATIC signals. We estimate the probability of a sufficiently large clump being present to be $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ or less.