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Multiwavelength dark matter search

Applicant Dr. Denys Malyshev
Subject Area Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
Astrophysics and Astronomy
Term from 2018 to 2023
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 414750543
 
Final Report Year 2023

Final Report Abstract

Dark matter (DM) and dark energy are two densiest specie in the Universe. Since the very first suggestion of the DM existence (as an additional component to visible matter) in 1920s the number of evidences for it substantially increased. Nowadays these evidences are present at very different spatial scales – in galaxies (galactic rotational curves), clusters of galaxies (too high velocity dispersion; Bullet cluster), large scale structure (Hα forest) and cosmic microwave background. The baryonic nature of the dark matter is for a while excluded, allowing us to suggest that the DM is made of particles not present in the Standard Model of elementary particles. Alternatively, the DM could be composed of primordial black holes (PBHs). These, produced in the early Universe, black holes under certain conditions could survive up to the present day. The modern microlensing experiments could detect PBHs just in the relatively narrow mass range, which leaves a mass-window in which PBHs could form the majority of dark matter. In our proposal we focused on studies of the widely discussed dark matter candidates: decaying sterile neutrinos (typically keV-MeV masses), annihilating weaklyinteracting massive particles (WIMPs, typically GeV-TeV masses) and primordial black holes (with masses 10^16 − 10^18 g which can not be probed by modern microlensing experiments). Our analysis of large sky regions aimed in the detection of sterile neutrinos did not reveal a significant signal, but allowed us to put tight constraints on the sterile neutrino’s parameters. However, we have detected several weak lines that could be interpreted as hints of the signal and be subject of studies with the next-generation missions. Our work on this topic has become a INTEGRAL Picture of the Month in January 2023. In our other works we estimated capabilities of the space missions expected to be launched within the next decade for decaying dark matter searches. We concluded that in case if level of systematic uncertainties of these missions will be controlled with an accuracy better then 1% they could either detect sterile neutrino or improve the existing constraints by up to an order of magnitude. Our analysis of a sample galaxy clusters in the GeV band with Fermi/LAT did not reveal a presence of WIMP dark matter, but allowed to put tight constraints on WIMPs parameters. Our estimations for the next-generation TeV facility CTA have shown that the WIMPs’ annihilation signal can be effectively constraint via observations of the closest galaxies (M31 and M33). Our analysis of INTEGRAL/SPI data aimed in searches of Hawking-evaporating primordial black holes did not reveal the presence of these peculiar objects. However, we were able to broad the massregion in which PBHs can not contribute significantly to the dark matter to ∼ 5 · 10^16 − 10^18 g. We show that the missions expected to launch in the next decade can even further reduce this window [3, 43]. Our results were presented at ESA webpage and became a topic of the INTEGRAL Picture of the Month in September 2022.

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