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An Excited Dark Matter Solution to the MeV Galactic Center Excesses

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2026-01-16 v2 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

Recent COMPTEL data analysis reveals a \sim 2 MeV continuum excess whose spatial distribution closely matches the long-standing 511 keV line observed by INTEGRAL/SPI, indicating a common population of low-energy positrons that is difficult to reconcile with known astrophysical sources or standard thermal dark matter (DM). We show that a minimal Excited Dark Matter (XDM) model naturally explains these features. In this scenario a DM particle χ\chi is inelastically upscattered into an excited state χ\chi^*, followed by de-excitation χχe+e\chi^*\to\chi e^+ e^- producing \sim2 MeV positrons that reproduce the 511 keV line morphology and the COMPTEL MeV continuum. Using a full cosmic-ray (CR) propagation treatment, we obtain an excellent fit for mχm_\chi\simeq 1.5 TeV DM particle with mass-splitting Δm=mχmχ\Delta m =m_{\chi^*}-m_\chi \simeq 4 MeV for an inelastic geometric scattering cross section of σmr=34×1023cm2\sigma_\textrm{mr}= 3-4\times 10^{-23}\,\textrm{cm}^2. The same positrons supply a substantial, radially flat contribution to the anomalous Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) ionization rate. This is the first unified treatment of XDM-induced positrons across all three observables, yielding correlated MeV signatures testable by upcoming missions targeting the Galactic MeV band.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.13797,
  title  = {An Excited Dark Matter Solution to the MeV Galactic Center Excesses},
  author = {Shyam Balaji and Damon Cleaver and Pedro De la Torre Luque},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.13797},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages plus appendices and references, 8 figures