Searching for Dark Matter with Future Cosmic Positron Experiments.pdf

Searching for Dark Matter with Future Cosmic Positron Experiments Dan Hooper and Joseph Silk Astrophysics Department, University of Oxford, OX1 3RH Oxford, UK (February 2, 2008) Dark matter particles annihilating in the Galactic halo can provide a flux of positrons potentially observable in upcoming experiments, such as PAMELA and AMS-02. We discuss the spectral features which may be associated with dark matter annihilation in the positron spectrum and assess the prospects for observing such features in future experiments. Although we focus on some specific dark matter candidates, neutralinos and Kaluza-Klein states, we carry out our study in a model independent fashion. We also revisit the positron spectrum observed by HEAT. 95.35.+d, 95.85.Ry, 11.30.Pb 4 0 I. INTRODUCTION ration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics) is a satellite borne 0 experiment designed to study the matter-antimatter 2 The existence of dark matter has been confirmed by a asymmetry of the universe with very precise cosmic ray p wide array of experimental tests including observations measurements. PAMELA’s primary objectives include e S of galactic clusters and large scale structure [1], super- the measurement of the cosmic positron spectrum up to novae [2] and the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) 270 GeV [21], well beyond the range studied by HEAT. 9 anisotropies