Astrophysical signatures of secluded dark matter

2008/10/31 by Maxim Pospelov, Adam Ritz · 9 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2008.12.012

published as Phys.Lett.B671:391-397,2009 · 15 pages, 2 figures; v2: references added

arxiv created 2008/11/17 · openalex publication_date 2008/12/12 · arxiv updated 2010/04/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

We analyze the indirect astrophysical signatures of secluded models of WIMP dark matter, characterized by a weak-scale rate for annihilation into light MeV-scale mediators which are metastable to decay into Standard Model states. Such scenarios allow a significant enhancement of the annihilation cross section in the galactic halo relative to its value at freeze-out, particularly when the mediator is light enough for this process to proceed through radiative capture to a metastable ‘WIMP-onium’ bound state. For MeV-scale vector mediators charged under a hidden U(1)′ gauge group, the enhanced annihilation rate leads predominantly to a sizable excess positron flux, even in the absence of astrophysical boost factors.

Citations

• Dark Matter in Nuclear Physics
• The galactic 511 keV line from electroweak scale WIMPs

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