First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube Detector
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
2017-06-02 v2
Abstract
We present the results of the first IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the center of the Earth. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), candidates for dark matter, can scatter off nuclei inside the Earth and fall below its escape velocity. Over time the captured WIMPs will be accumulated and may eventually self-annihilate. Among the annihilation products only neutrinos can escape from the center of the Earth. Large-scale neutrino telescopes, such as the cubic kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, can be used to search for such neutrino fluxes. Data from 327 days of detector livetime during 2011/ 2012 were analyzed. No excess beyond the expected background from atmospheric neutrinos was detected. The derived upper limits on the annihilation rate of WIMPs in the Earth and the resulting muon flux are an order of magnitude stronger than the limits of the last analysis performed with data from IceCube's predecessor AMANDA. The limits can be translated in terms of a spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section. For a WIMP mass of 50 GeV this analysis results in the most restrictive limits achieved with IceCube data.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1609.01492,
title = {First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube Detector},
author = {IceCube Collaboration and M. G. Aartsen and K. Abraham and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and J. A. Aguilar and M. Ahlers and M. Ahrens and D. Altmann and K. Andeen and T. Anderson and I. Ansseau and G. Anton and M. Archinger and C. Argüelles and J. Auffenberg and S. Axani and X. Bai and S. W. Barwick and V. Baum and R. Bay and J. J. Beatty and J. Becker Tjus and K. -H. Becker and S. BenZvi and D. Berley and E. Bernardini and A. Bernhard and D. Z. Besson and G. Binder and D. Bindig and M. Bissok and E. Blaufuss and S. Blot and C. Bohm and M. Börner and F. Bos and D. Bose and S. Böser and O. Botner and J. Braun and L. Brayeur and H. -P. Bretz and S. Bron and A. Burgman and T. Carver and M. Casier and E. Cheung and D. Chirkin and A. Christov and K. Clark and L. Classen and S. Coenders and G. H. Collin and J. M. Conrad and D. F. Cowen and R. Cross and M. Day and J. P. A. M. de André and C. De Clercq and E. del Pino Rosendo and H. Dembinski and S. De Ridder and P. Desiati and K. D. de Vries and G. de Wasseige and M. de With and T. DeYoung and J. C. Díaz-Vélez and V. di Lorenzo and H. Dujmovic and J. P. Dumm and M. Dunkman and B. Eberhardt and T. Ehrhardt and B. Eichmann and P. Eller and S. Euler and P. A. Evenson and S. Fahey and A. R. Fazely and J. Feintzeig and J. Felde and K. Filimonov and C. Finley and S. Flis and C. -C. Fösig and A. Franckowiak and E. Friedman and T. Fuchs and T. K. Gaisser and J. Gallagher and L. Gerhardt and K. Ghorbani and W. Giang and L. Gladstone and M. Glagla and T. Glauch and T. Glüsenkamp and A. Goldschmidt and G. Golup and J. G. Gonzalez and D. Grant and Z. Griffith and C. Haack and A. Haj Ismail and A. Hallgren and F. Halzen and E. Hansen and B. Hansmann and T. Hansmann and K. Hanson and D. Hebecker and D. Heereman and K. Helbing and R. Hellauer and S. Hickford and J. Hignight and G. C. Hill and K. D. Hoffman and R. Hoffmann and K. Holzapfel and K. Hoshina and F. Huang and M. Huber and K. Hultqvist and S. In and A. Ishihara and E. Jacobi and G. S. Japaridze and M. Jeong and K. Jero and B. J. P. Jones and M. Jurkovic and A. Kappes and T. Karg and A. Karle and U. Katz and M. Kauer and A. Keivani and J. L. Kelley and J. Kemp and A. Kheirandish and M. Kim and T. Kintscher and J. Kiryluk and T. Kittler and S. R. Klein and G. Kohnen and R. Koirala and H. Kolanoski and R. Konietz and L. Köpke and C. Kopper and S. Kopper and D. J. Koskinen and M. Kowalski and K. Krings and M. Kroll and G. Krückl and C. Krüger and J. Kunnen and S. Kunwar and N. Kurahashi and T. Kuwabara and M. Labare and J. L. Lanfranchi and M. J. Larson and F. Lauber and D. Lennarz and M. Lesiak-Bzdak and M. Leuermann and J. Leuner and L. Lu and J. Lünemann and J. Madsen and G. Maggi and K. B. M. Mahn and S. Mancina and M. Mandelartz and R. Maruyama and K. Mase and R. Maunu and F. McNally and K. Meagher and M. Medici and M. Meier and A. Meli and T. Menne and G. Merino and T. Meures and S. Miarecki and L. Mohrmann and T. Montaruli and M. Moulai and R. Nahnhauer and U. Naumann and G. Neer and H. Niederhausen and S. C. Nowicki and D. R. Nygren and A. Obertacke Pollmann and A. Olivas and A. O'Murchadha and T. Palczewski and H. Pandya and D. V. Pankova and P. Peiffer and Ö. Penek and J. A. Pepper and C. Pérez de los Heros and D. Pieloth and E. Pinat and P. B. Price and G. T. Przybylski and M. Quinnan and C. Raab and L. Rädel and M. Rameez and K. Rawlins and R. Reimann and B. Relethford and M. Relich and E. Resconi and W. Rhode and M. Richman and B. Riedel and S. Robertson and M. Rongen and C. Rott and T. Ruhe and D. Ryckbosch and D. Rysewyk and L. Sabbatini and S. E. Sanchez Herrera and A. Sandrock and J. Sandroos and S. Sarkar and K. Satalecka and M. Schimp and P. Schlunder and T. Schmidt and S. Schoenen and S. Schöneberg and L. Schumacher and D. Seckel and S. Seunarine and D. Soldin and M. Song and G. M. Spiczak and C. Spiering and M. Stahlberg and T. Stanev and A. Stasik and J. Stettner and A. Steuer and T. Stezelberger and R. G. Stokstad and A. Stößl and R. Ström and N. L. Strotjohann and G. W. Sullivan and M. Sutherland and H. Taavola and I. Taboada and J. Tatar and F. Tenholt and S. Ter-Antonyan and A. Terliuk and G. Tešić and S. Tilav and P. A. Toale and M. N. Tobin and S. Toscano and D. Tosi and M. Tselengidou and A. Turcati and E. Unger and M. Usner and J. Vandenbroucke and N. van Eijndhoven and S. Vanheule and M. van Rossem and J. van Santen and J. Veenkamp and M. Vehring and M. Voge and E. Vogel and M. Vraeghe and C. Walck and A. Wallace and M. Wallraff and N. Wandkowsky and Ch. Weaver and M. J. Weiss and C. Wendt and S. Westerhoff and B. J. Whelan and S. Wickmann and K. Wiebe and C. H. Wiebusch and L. Wille and D. R. Williams and L. Wills and M. Wolf and T. R. Wood and E. Woolsey and K. Woschnagg and D. L. Xu and X. W. Xu and Y. Xu and J. P. Yanez and G. Yodh and S. Yoshida and M. Zoll},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.01492},
year = {2017}
}