Published September 1, 2002 | Version v1
Journal article

Does solar physics provide constraints to weakly interacting massive particles?

  • 1. Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica, Universita di Torino Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino via P. Giuria 1, I-10125 Torino (Italy)
  • 2. Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Ferrara, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara via del Paradiso 12, I-44100 Ferrara (Italy)

Description

We investigate whether present data on helioseismology and solar neutrino fluxes may constrain weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-matter interactions in the range of WIMP parameters under current exploration in WIMP searches. We find that, for a WIMP mass of 30 GeV, once the effect of the presence of WIMPs in the Sun's interior is maximized, the squared isothermal sound speed is modified, with respect to the standard solar model, by at most 0.4% at the Sun's center. The maximal effect on the 8B solar neutrino flux is a reduction of 4.5%. Larger masses lead to smaller effects. These results imply that present sensitivities in the measurements of solar properties, though greatly improved in recent years, do not provide information or constraints on WIMP properties of relevance for dark matter. Furthermore, we show that, when current bounds from direct WIMP searches are taken into account, the effect induced by WIMPs with dominant coherent interactions is drastically reduced as compared to the values quoted above. The case of neutralinos in the minimal supersymmetric standard model is also discussed

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
Journal Volume
66
Journal Issue
5
Journal Page Range
p. 053005-053005.13
ISSN
0556-2821
CODEN
PRVDAQ

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2002 The American Physical Society