Dark Matter Search in Space: Combined Analysis of Cosmic-Ray Antiproton-to-proton Flux Ratio and Positron Flux Measured by AMS-02

Dark matter searches in space have been carried out for many years. Measurements of cosmic-ray (CR) photons, charged antiparticles, and neutrinos are useful tools for dark matter indirect searches. The antiparticle energy spectra of CRs have several exciting features, such as the unexpected positron...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2018-05, Vol.858 (2), p.116
Main Authors: Feng, Jie, Zhang, Hong-Hao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antiparticles
Antiprotons
Astrophysics
Computer simulation
Cosmic rays
Cross-sections
Dark matter
Energy spectra
Generators
Interstellar matter
Interstellar medium
Leptons
Neutrinos
P waves
Proton flux
Protons
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Summary:Dark matter searches in space have been carried out for many years. Measurements of cosmic-ray (CR) photons, charged antiparticles, and neutrinos are useful tools for dark matter indirect searches. The antiparticle energy spectra of CRs have several exciting features, such as the unexpected positron excess at E ∼ 10-500 GeV and the remarkably flattening antiproton/proton at E ∼ 60-450 GeV precisely measured by the AMS-02 experiment, which cannot be explained simultaneously by secondary production in the interstellar medium. In this work, we report a combined analysis of CR antiproton and positron spectra arising from dark matter on the top of a secondary production in a spatial-dependent propagation model. We discuss the systematic uncertainties from the antiproton production cross section using the two latest Monte Carlo generators, i.e., EPOS LHC and QGSJET-II-04m. We compare their results. In the case of EPOS LHC, we find that the dark matter pair annihilating into τ leptons channel with a 100% branching ratio and the p-wave annihilation cross section assumption is the only possible one-channel scenario to explain the data. On the other hand, there is not a single possible channel in the case of QGSJET-II-04m. We also propose possible two-channel scenarios based on these two Monte Carlo generators.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/aabf87