Search for dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center with IceCube-79

M G Aartsen,R Reimann,L Sabbatini,E Bernardini,S Coenders,A Goldschmidt,J Braun,L Wille,M Day,S Tilav,J Auffenberg,K D Hoffman,T Kuwabara,B Kaminsky,M Glagla,A Ishihara,E Beiser,A R Fazely,R Hoffmann,J Lünemann,E Unger,K Hoshina,M Richman,D Hellwig,J Miller,O Fadiran,J Felde,M Zoll,M Ackermann,R G Stokstad,H Kolanoski,S Benzvi,G W Sullivan,A Hallgren,E Pinat,J A Aguilar,J Posselt,G C Hill,M Tselengidou,B Eichmann,J Adams,B Hansmann,A Karle,H S Matis,L Schulte,S Fahey,J L Kelley,A Olivas,J Kiryluk,M Sutherland,T Stezelberger,M Lesiak-Bzdak,L Rädel,A O’Murchadha,A Schukraft,D J Koskinen,K Mase,C Rott,M Vehring,D Altmann,R Maunu,M Ahrens,M Stamatikos,J C Groh,N A Stanisha,E Middlemas,P Desiati,A Sandrock,D Grant,M J Larson,J Kunnen,C Finley,A Koob,J A Pepper,N Wandkowsky,P A Evenson,J Sandroos,M Kowalski,N Buzinsky,E A Strahler,T Palczewski,D Seckel,A Stößl,J Daughhetee,M W E Smith,C Pfendner,A Omairat,T R Wood,S Euler,K Filimonov,T Glüsenkamp,M N Tobin,G Kroll,R Eagan,E Jacobi,A Homeier,B J Whelan,J L Lanfranchi,K Clark,H Taavola,P A Toale,J Casey,S M Saba,E Blaufuss,T K Gaisser,X Bai,P Redl,S Richter,J Blumenthal,L Brayeur,G Yodh,R Morse,M Rameez,M Labare,D R Nygren,P B Price,M Leuermann,R Hellauer,S Miarecki,J J Beatty,J Kläs,T C Arlen,J Madsen,D J Boersma,F Scheriau,D Tosi,T Fuchs,O Botner,F Halzen,P O Hulth,D F Cowen,T Montaruli,M Bissok,S Sarkar,D Gier,C Wichary,K Krings,T Schmidt,G Kohnen,A Stasik,S R Klein,G S Japaridze,R Nahnhauer,M Börner,A Schönwald,B Eberhardt,M Casier,J Vandenbroucke,D R Williams,M Kroll,K Abraham,T Fischer-Wasels,D Bose,Ch Weaver,D Pieloth,D Chirkin,A Meli,K Jero,M Vraeghe,K Holzapfel,C H Wiebusch,S Seunarine,R Shanidze,C Kopper,K Wiebe,L Gladstone,M Medici,T Karg,J Veenkamp,S Kopper,X W Xu,J Kemp,S W Barwick,M Dunkman,S Böser,C Walck,T Ruhe,P Berghaus,K Hultqvist,S Westerhoff,R Konietz,W Rhode,M Ahlers,A Obertacke,D Bindig,L Gerhardt,K Ghorbani,M Wolf,C Wendt,B Ruzybayev,D L Xu,A Bernhard,J Leuner,H Wissing,F Mcnally,S Vallecorsa,D Berley,M Quinnan,E Middell,V Baum,K Helbing,J Feintzeig,G T Przybylski,A M Brown,G M Spiczak,M Usner,C Ha,S Flis,P Zarzhitsky,S Schoenen,D Hebecker,P Gretskov,H Niederhausen,K Rawlins,D Góra,M Schmitz,S C Nowicki,K Woschnagg,G Merino,S In,K Meagher,N Whitehorn,A Groß,E Cheung,L Mohrmann,F Bos,E Resconi,K Schatto,M Archinger,T Menne,T Stanev,F Huang,S Schöneberg,D Heereman,T Meures,G Binder,B Christy,J Hignight,I Taboada,T Deyoung,D Ryckbosch,J C Díaz-Vélez,S Hickford,L Köpke,R Maruyama,L Classen,A Keivani,K Hanson,M Wallraff,J Pütz,M Kauer,J P Dumm,A Christov,A Kappes,A Terliuk,M Stahlberg,M Relich,S Vanheule,D Soldin,W Huelsnitz,N L Strotjohann,N Kurahashi,G Golup,G Maggi,R Bay,John S Gallagher ,K H Becker ,Thomas Ehrhardt ,Julia Becker Tjus ,J V Santen ,J Davis ,Christian Haack ,H.-P Dembinski ,S De Ridder ,R Gaïor ,Gwenhaël De Wasseige ,Krijn De Vries ,Uwe Naumann ,M Vöge ,A Haj Ismail ,S Ter–Antonyan ,M E Huber ,W G Anderson ,C Pérez De Los Heros ,M Jurkovič ,Kendall Mahn ,C Argüelles ,C Böhm ,Martin Rongen ,Benedikt Riedel ,N Van Eijndhoven ,H G Sander ,A H Cruz Silva ,Yunlin Xu ,Larissa Paul ,Lars Rickard Strom ,Michael Schimp ,Anatoli Fedynitch ,C De Clercq ,J P A M De André ,J P Yañez ,H.-P Bretz ,D Besson ,Sally Robertson ,Ali Kheirandish ,Shigeru Yoshida ,G Tešić ,M De With ,Christian Spiering ,J G González

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3713-1

Abstract

The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, new and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. No neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, $\left<\sigma_\mathrm{A} v\right>$, for WIMP masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to $\simeq 4 \cdot 10^{-24}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$, and $\simeq 2.6 \cdot 10^{-23}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$ for the $\nu\overline{\nu}$ channel, respectively.

Highlights

The first clear evidence for the existence of an invisible mass component in the universe was Zwicky’s observation of the dynamics of the Coma galaxy cluster [1]
Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Cena e-mail: samuel.flis@fysik.su.se b Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan c NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
We present a search for an excess flux of muon neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole

Summary

Introduction

The first clear evidence for the existence of an invisible mass component in the universe was Zwicky’s observation of the dynamics of the Coma galaxy cluster [1]. A broad range of cosmological and astrophysical observations supported the existence of this dark matter (DM) on various scales, from galaxy cluster scales down to galactic scales. Further evidence for the existence of dark matter can be found in galaxy cluster mergers like the Bullet Cluster [4,5]. The interstellar and intergalactic gas components as seen in X-ray observations are spatially separated from the mass distribution reconstructed by weak lensing. Such a separation strongly disfavors theories of modified gravity

Results

Discussion

Conclusion