Searches for Connections Between Dark Matter and Neutrinos with the IceCube High-Energy Starting Event Sample

Abstract

The nature of dark matter remains one of the most important open questions in physics. Although dark matter effects have only been observed gravitationally, the order-one ratio between conventional matter and dark matter hints to a non-gravitational link between them. In this contribution, we search for such a link using the IceCube high-energy starting event (HESE) sample, which contains some of the highest energy neutrinos ever observed. These are dominated by a yet unidentified high-energy diffuse astrophysical component. Using these events we look for evidence of an excess due to dark matter decay or annihilation, and also for a novel signature due to high-energy neutrinos scattering with dark matter. Finally, in this contribution, we will summarize and highlight the complementarity between the obtained limits for these two scenarios.

Presented at the 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2019). See arXiv:1907.11699 for all IceCube contributions, 6 pages, 2 figures