Neutralino dark matter as the source of the WMAP haze

Abstract

Previously, it has been argued that the anomalous emission from the region around the Galactic Center observed by WMAP, known as the 'WMAP Haze', may be the synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons and positrons produced in dark matter annihilations. In particular, the angular distribution, spectrum, and intensity of the observed emission are consistent with the signal expected to result from a weakly interactive massive particle with an electroweak-scale mass and an annihilation cross section near the value predicted for a thermal relic. In this article, we revisit this signal within the context of supersymmetry and evaluate the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that, over much of the supersymmetric parameter space, the lightest neutralino is predicted to possess the properties required to generate the WMAP Haze. In particular, the focus point, A-funnel, and bulk regions (in which the neutralino annihilation cross section is of the order of 3x10{sup -26} cm{sup 3}/s) typically predict a neutralino with a mass, annihilation cross section, and dominant annihilation modes which are within the range required to produce the observed features of the WMAP Haze. The stau-coannihilation region (in which the annihilation is suppressed), in contrast, is disfavored as anmore » explanation for the origin of this signal.« less