Laboratory limits on the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles

Abstract

Constraints on the indirect detection of dark matter are usually obtained from observations of astrophysical objects -- the Galactic Center, dwarf galaxies, M31, etc. Here we propose instead to look for the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles taking place inside detectors searching \emph{directly} for dark matter or in large neutrino experiments. We show that the data from XENON1T and Borexino set limits on the annihilation and decay rate of dark matter particles with masses in the keV to few MeV range. All relevant final states are considered: annihilation into $\gamma \gamma$ and $e^{-}{e}^{+}$, and decays into $\gamma \gamma$, $\gamma \nu$ and $e^{-}{e}^{+}$. The expected sensitivities in XENONnT, DARWIN, JUNO and THEIA are also computed. Though weaker than current astrophysical bounds, the laboratory limits (and projections) obtained are free from the usual astrophysical uncertainties associated with $J$-factors and unknown backgrounds, and may thus offer a complementary probe of the dark matter properties. We point out that current and future (astro)particle physics detectors might also be used to set analogous limits for different decays and dark matter masses above a few MeV.

13 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (5)

• DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector
• Review of LHC Dark Matter Searches
• General Constraints on Dark Matter Decay from the Cosmic Microwave Background
• Discovery of a 3.5 keV line in the Galactic Center and a Critical Look at the Origin of the Line Across Astronomical Targets
• New Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter from $NuSTAR$ M31 Observations

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Dark Matter Annihilation inside Large Volume Neutrino Detectors
• TeV Dark Matter Searches in the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Sky
• Constraints on dark matter annihilation and decay from the large-scale structure of the nearby universe
• A Spectroscopic Search for Optical Emission Lines from Dark Matter Decay
• Testing Heavy Neutral Leptons in Cosmic Ray Beam Dump experiments