Prospects of future MeV telescopes in probing weak-scale Dark Matter

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Cirelli, Marco, Kar, Arpan
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Cirelli, Marco
Kar, Arpan
author_facet Cirelli, Marco
Kar, Arpan
contents Galactic weak-scale Dark Matter (DM) particles annihilating into lepton-rich channels not only produce gamma-rays via prompt radiation but also generate abundant energetic electrons and positrons, which subsequently emit through bremsstrahlung or inverse Compton scattering (collectively called `secondary-radiation photons'). While the prompt gamma-rays concentrate at high-energy, the secondary emission falls in the MeV range, which a number of upcoming experiments (AMEGO, E-ASTROGAM, MAST...) will probe. We investigate the sensitivity of these future telescopes for weak-scale DM, focusing for definiteness on observations of the galactic center. We find that they have the potential of probing a wide region of the DM parameter space which is currently unconstrained. Namely, in rather optimistic configurations, future MeV telescopes could probe thermally-produced DM with a mass up to the TeV range, or GeV DM with an annihilation cross section 2 to 3 orders of magnitude smaller than the current bounds, precisely thanks to the significant leverage provided by their sensitivity to secondary emissions. We comment on astrophysical and methodological uncertainties, and compare with the reach of high-energy gamma ray experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_04907
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prospects of future MeV telescopes in probing weak-scale Dark Matter
Cirelli, Marco
Kar, Arpan
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Galactic weak-scale Dark Matter (DM) particles annihilating into lepton-rich channels not only produce gamma-rays via prompt radiation but also generate abundant energetic electrons and positrons, which subsequently emit through bremsstrahlung or inverse Compton scattering (collectively called `secondary-radiation photons'). While the prompt gamma-rays concentrate at high-energy, the secondary emission falls in the MeV range, which a number of upcoming experiments (AMEGO, E-ASTROGAM, MAST...) will probe. We investigate the sensitivity of these future telescopes for weak-scale DM, focusing for definiteness on observations of the galactic center. We find that they have the potential of probing a wide region of the DM parameter space which is currently unconstrained. Namely, in rather optimistic configurations, future MeV telescopes could probe thermally-produced DM with a mass up to the TeV range, or GeV DM with an annihilation cross section 2 to 3 orders of magnitude smaller than the current bounds, precisely thanks to the significant leverage provided by their sensitivity to secondary emissions. We comment on astrophysical and methodological uncertainties, and compare with the reach of high-energy gamma ray experiments.
title Prospects of future MeV telescopes in probing weak-scale Dark Matter
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04907