2009/05/06 by Sarah Andreas, Andreas, Sarah
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0905.0785
To be published in the Proceedings of the XLIVth Rencontres de Moriond: Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories (La Thuile, Italy, 7-14 March 2009). 4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2009/05/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
A light scalar WIMP is studied in view of the recent results of the DAMA collaboration. In a scenario where both the WIMP's annihilation and its elastic scattering on nuclei occur dominantly through Higgs exchange, a one-to-one relation between the WIMP's relic density and its spin-independent direct detection rate is established. The ratio of the relevant cross sections depends only on the dark matter mass if the range allowed by the DAMA results (m < 10 GeV) is considered. We show that if such a light scalar WIMP possesses a direct detection rate compatible with DAMA, it naturally obtains a relic abundance in agreement with WMAP. Indirect detection both with gammas from the Galactic centre and neutrinos from the Sun opens possibilities to test this light dark matter scenario.