Sensitivity for detection of decay of dark matter particle using ICAL at INO

Abstract

We report on the simulation studies addressing the possibility of dark matter particle (DMP) decaying into μ + μ − channel. While not much is known about the properties of dark matter particles except through their gravitational effect, it has been recently conjectured that the so-called ‘anomalous Kolar events’ observed some decades ago may be due to the decay of unstable dark matter particles. The aim of this study is to see if this conjecture can be verified at the proposed iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at INO. We study the possible decay to μ ± mode which may be seen in this detector with some modifications. For the purposes of simulation, we assume that the channel saturates the decay width for the mass ranging from 1 to 50 GeV/c2. The aim is not only to investigate the decay signatures, but also, more generally, to establish lower bounds on the lifetime of DMP even if no such decay takes place.