Optimal gamma-ray selections for monochromatic line searches with DAMPE

Abstract

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a space high-energy cosmic-ray detector covering a wide energy band with a high energy resolution. One of the key scientific goals of DAMPE is to carry out indirect detection of dark matter by searching for high-energy gamma-ray line structure. To promote the sensitivity of gamma-ray line search with DAMPE, it is crucial to improve the acceptance and energy resolution of gamma-ray photons. In this paper, we quantitatively proved that the photon sample with the largest ratio of acceptance to energy resolution is optimal for line search. We therefore developed a line-search sample specifically optimized for the line-search. Meanwhile, in order to increase the statistics, we also selected the so-called BGO-only photons that convert into e+e− pairs only in the BGO calorimeter. The standard, the line-search, and the BGO-only photon samples are then tested for line-search individually and collectively. The results show that a significantly improved limit could be obtained from an appropriate combination of the date sets, and the increase is about 20% for the highest case compared with using the standard sample only.