Results and prospects of dark matter searches with ANTARES

Abstract

Dark matter is one of the most important scientific goals for neutrino telescopes. These instruments have particular advantages with respect to other experimental approaches. Compared to direct searches, the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes to probe the spin-dependent cross-section of WIMP-proton is unsurpassed. On the other hand, neutrino telescopes can look for dark matter in the Sun, so a potential signal would be a strong indication of dark matter, contrary to the case of other indirect searches like gammas or cosmic rays, where more conventional astrophysical interpretations are very hard to rule out. We present here the results of a binned search for neutralino annihilation in the Sun using data gathered by the ANTARES neutrino telescope during 2007–2008. These results include limits on the neutrino and muon flux and on the spin-dependent and spin-independent cross-section of the WIMP-proton scattering.