Super-Kamiokande Strongly Constrains Leptophilic Dark Matter Capture in the Sun

Abstract

The Sun can efficiently capture leptophilic dark matter that scatters with free electrons. If this dark matter subsequently annihilates into leptonic states, it can produce a detectable neutrino flux. Using 10 years of Super-Kamiokande observations, we set constraints on the dark-matter/electron scattering cross-section that exceed terrestrial direct detection searches by more than an order of magnitude for dark matter masses below 100 GeV, and reach cross-sections as low as $\sim$4$\times$10${}^{-41}$cm${}^{-2}$.

6+4 pages, 4+10 figures. v3: version accepted in PRD Letter