Dark matter in the solar system I: The distribution function of WIMPs at the Earth from solar capture

Abstract

The next generation of dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments and neutrino telescopes will probe large swaths of dark matter parameter space. In order to interpret the signals in these experiments, it is necessary to have good models of both the halo DM streaming through the solar system and the population of DM bound to the solar system. In this paper, the first in a series of three on DM in the solar system, we present simulations of orbits of DM bound to the solar system by solar capture in a toy solar system consisting of only the Sun and Jupiter, assuming that DM consists of a single species of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP). We describe how the size of the bound WIMP population depends on the WIMP mass, spin-independent cross section, and spin-dependent cross section. Using a standard description of the Galactic DM halo, we find that the maximum enhancement to the direct detection event rate, consistent with current experimental constraints on the WIMP-nucleon cross section, is < 1% relative to the event rate from halo WIMPs, while the event rate from neutrinos from WIMP annihilation in the center of the Earth is unlikely to meet the threshold of next-generation, km^3-sized (IceCube, KM3NeT) neutrino telescopes.

43 pages, 21 figures, to be submitted

References in corpus (14)

• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• Observation of an anomalous positron abundance in the cosmic radiation
• Dark Matter and Collider Phenomenology of Universal Extra Dimensions
• Thin, thick and dark discs in LCDM
• The Dark Matter Annihilation Signal from Galactic Substructure: Predictions for GLAST
• Improved Spin-Dependent WIMP Limits from a Bubble Chamber
• Experimental constraints on a dark matter origin for the DAMA annual modulation effect
• Galactic Substructure and Direct Detection of Dark Matter
• Dark matter in the solar system II: WIMP annihilation rates in the Sun
• Velocity distributions in clusters of galaxies
• Determining the WIMP mass using direct detection experiments
• Model-Independent Determination of the WIMP Mass from Direct Dark Matter Detection Data
• Dark matter in the solar system III: The distribution function of WIMPs at the Earth from gravitational capture
• MIMAC : A Micro-TPC Matrix of Chambers for direct detection of Wimps

Cited by in corpus (15)

• The Local Dark Matter Density
• Interpreting Dark Matter Direct Detection Independently of the Local Velocity and Density Distribution
• Dark matter in the solar system II: WIMP annihilation rates in the Sun
• Equilibrium Structure and Radial Oscillations of Dark Matter Admixed Neutron Stars
• Dark matter in the solar system III: The distribution function of WIMPs at the Earth from gravitational capture
• Use of event-level neutrino telescope data in global fits for theories of new physics
• A tale of dark matter capture, sub-dominant WIMPs, and neutrino observatories
• A halo of trapped interstellar matter surrounding the solar system
• Dark matter chaos in the Solar System
• Capture of primordial black holes in extrasolar systems
• Dark Kinetic Heating of Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs
• Prospects for the detection of Dark Matter with Long-lived Mediators in the Sun using the Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory
• Orbital Dynamics of the Solar Basin
• Direct detection signatures of a primordial Solar dark matter halo
• Gravitational Focusing of Low-Velocity Dark Matter on the Earth's Surface