Published October 15, 2008 | Version v1
Journal article

WMAP haze: Directly observing dark matter?

  • 1. University of British Columbia, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 1Z1 (Canada)
  • 2. Nuclear Theory Group, Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560 (United States)

Description

In this paper, we show that dark matter in the form of dense matter/antimatter nuggets could provide a natural and unified explanation for several distinct bands of diffuse radiation from the core of the Galaxy spanning over 13 orders of magnitude in frequency. We fix all of the phenomenological properties of this model by matching to x-ray observations in the keV band, and then calculate the unambiguously predicted thermal emission in the microwave band, at frequencies smaller by 11 orders of magnitude. Remarkably, the intensity and spectrum of the emitted thermal radiation are consistent with - and could entirely explain - the so-called 'WMAP haze': a diffuse microwave excess observed from the core of our Galaxy by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). This provides another strong constraint of our proposal, and a remarkable nontrivial validation. If correct, our proposal identifies the nature of the dark matter, explains baryogenesis, and provides a means to directly probe the matter distribution in our Galaxy by analyzing several different types of diffuse emissions.

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
Journal Volume
78
Journal Issue
8
Journal Page Range
p. 083505-083505.15
ISSN
0556-2821
CODEN
PRVDAQ

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
41004982
Subject category
S72: PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS;
Descriptors DEI
ANISOTROPY; ANTIMATTER; DIFFUSION; DISTRIBUTION; EMISSION; GALAXIES; KEV RANGE; MICROWAVE RADIATION; NONLUMINOUS MATTER; SPECTRA; THERMAL RADIATION; X RADIATION
Descriptors DEC
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; ENERGY RANGE; IONIZING RADIATIONS; MATTER; RADIATIONS

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2008 The American Physical Society