Minimal dark matter: model and results

Marco Cirelli (1) , Alessandro Strumia (2)

1 IPHT - Institut de Physique Théorique - UMR CNRS 3681
2 Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Università di Pisa and INFN

We recap the main features of minimal dark matter (MDM) and assess its status in the light of recent experimental data. The theory selects an electroweak 5-plet with hypercharge Y = 0 as a fully successful DM candidate, automatically stable against decay and with no free parameters: DM is a fermion with a 9.6 TeV mass. The direct detection cross-section, predicted to be 10−44 cm2, is within reach of next-generation experiments. DM is accompanied by a charged fermion 166MeV heavier: we discuss how it might manifest. Thanks to an electroweak Sommerfeld enhancement of more than 2 orders of magnitude, DM annihilations into W+W− give, in the presence of a modest astrophysical boost factor, an e+ flux compatible with the PAMELA excess (but not with the ATIC hint for a peak: MDM instead predicts a quasi-power-law spectrum), a ¯p flux concentrated at energies above 100 GeV, and photon fluxes comparable with present limits, depending on the DM density profile.

Mots clés: dark matter; standard model; quintuplet; detection signatures; SU(2); postulated particles

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Théorique [nucl-th]; Relativité Générale et Cosmologie Quantique [gr-qc]

Marco Cirelli, Alessandro Strumia. Minimal dark matter: model and results. New Journal of Physics, 2009, 11, pp.105005. ⟨10.1088/1367-2630/11/10/105005⟩. ⟨cea-00447486⟩