Published January 26, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article

Astrophysical signatures of secluded dark matter

  • 1. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, ON, N2J 2W9 (Canada)
  • 2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2 (Canada)

Description

We analyze the indirect astrophysical signatures of secluded models of WIMP dark matter, characterized by a weak-scale rate for annihilation into light MeV-scale mediators which are metastable to decay into Standard Model states. Such scenarios allow a significant enhancement of the annihilation cross section in the galactic halo relative to its value at freeze-out, particularly when the mediator is light enough for this process to proceed through radiative capture to a metastable 'WIMP-onium' bound state. For MeV-scale vector mediators charged under a hidden U(1)' gauge group, the enhanced annihilation rate leads predominantly to a sizable excess positron flux, even in the absence of astrophysical boost factors

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2008.12.012

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.physletb.2008.12.012;
arXiv
arXiv:0810.1502v2;
PII
S0370-2693(08)01478-0;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physics Letters. Section B
Journal Volume
671
Journal Issue
3
Journal Page Range
p. 391-397
ISSN
0370-2693
CODEN
PYLBAJ

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2008 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.