Search for Dark Matter Induced Airglow in Planetary Atmospheres
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1866912532651835392 |
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| author | Blanco, Carlos Leane, Rebecca K. Moore, Marianne Tong, Joshua |
| author_facet | Blanco, Carlos Leane, Rebecca K. Moore, Marianne Tong, Joshua |
| contents | We point out that dark matter can illuminate planetary skies via ultraviolet airglow. Dark matter annihilation products can excite molecular hydrogen, which then deexcites to produce ultraviolet emission in the Lyman and Werner bands. We search for this new effect by analyzing nightside ultraviolet radiation data from Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and New Horizons flybys of Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. Our findings set new constraints on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section down to about $10^{-40}~$cm$^2$. We highlight that future ultraviolet airglow measurements of Solar System planets or other worlds provide a new dark matter discovery avenue. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_15318 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Search for Dark Matter Induced Airglow in Planetary Atmospheres Blanco, Carlos Leane, Rebecca K. Moore, Marianne Tong, Joshua High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Earth and Planetary Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena We point out that dark matter can illuminate planetary skies via ultraviolet airglow. Dark matter annihilation products can excite molecular hydrogen, which then deexcites to produce ultraviolet emission in the Lyman and Werner bands. We search for this new effect by analyzing nightside ultraviolet radiation data from Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and New Horizons flybys of Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. Our findings set new constraints on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross section down to about $10^{-40}~$cm$^2$. We highlight that future ultraviolet airglow measurements of Solar System planets or other worlds provide a new dark matter discovery avenue. |
| title | Search for Dark Matter Induced Airglow in Planetary Atmospheres |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Earth and Planetary Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.15318 |