All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore

Icecube Collaboration

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4375-3

All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore

Icecube Collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

56 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011–2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, ⟨ σ_Av ⟩ , for dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on ⟨ σ_Av ⟩ , reaching a level of 10^{- 23} cm³ s^{- 1}, depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.

Original language	English
Article number	531
Journal	European Physical Journal C
Volume	76
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4375-3
State	Published - Oct 1 2016
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We acknowledge the support of the following institutions: U.S. National Science Foundation-Office of Polar Programs, U.S. National Science Foundation-Physics Division, University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the Grid Laboratory Of Wisconsin (GLOW) grid infrastructure at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the Open Science Grid (OSG) grid infrastructure; U.S. Department of Energy, and National Energy Research Scientific Computing Centre, the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) grid computing resources; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, WestGrid and Compute/Calcul Canada; Swedish Research Council, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden; German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Research Department of Plasmas with Complex Interactions (Bochum), Germany; Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS-FWO), FWO Odysseus programme, Flanders Institute to encourage scientific and technological research in industry (IWT), Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (Belspo); University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Marsden Fund, New Zealand; Australian Research Council; Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS); the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Switzerland; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); Villum Fonden, Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF), Denmark. H.T. acknowledges support from the K. G. och Elisabeth Lennanders Stiftelse.

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@article{a26c917161394752a33989de8ce50f3c,

title = "All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore",

abstract = "We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011–2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, ⟨ σAv ⟩ , for dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on ⟨ σAv ⟩ , reaching a level of 10- 23 cm3 s- 1, depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.",

author = "\{Icecube Collaboration\} and Aartsen, \{M. G.\} and K. Abraham and M. Ackermann and J. Adams and Aguilar, \{J. A.\} 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. Arguelles and Arlen, \{T. C.\} and J. Auffenberg and S. Axani and X. Bai and Barwick, \{S. W.\} and V. Baum and R. Bay and Beatty, \{J. J.\} and \{Becker Tjus\}, J. and Becker, \{K. H.\} and S. BenZvi and P. Berghaus and D. Berley and E. Bernardini and A. Bernhard and Besson, \{D. Z.\} and G. Binder and D. Bindig and M. Bissok and E. Blaufuss and S. Blot and Boersma, \{D. J.\} and C. Bohm and M. B{\"o}rner and F. Bos and D. Bose and S. B{\"o}ser and O. Botner and J. Braun and L. Brayeur and Bretz, \{H. P.\} and A. Burgman and J. Casey and M. Casier and E. Cheung and J. Daughhetee",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2016.",

year = "2016",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4375-3",

language = "English",

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journal = "European Physical Journal C",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore

AU - Icecube Collaboration

AU - Aartsen, M. G.

AU - Abraham, K.

AU - Ackermann, M.

AU - Adams, J.

AU - Aguilar, J. A.

AU - Ahlers, M.

AU - Ahrens, M.

AU - Altmann, D.

AU - Andeen, K.

AU - Anderson, T.

AU - Ansseau, I.

AU - Anton, G.

AU - Archinger, M.

AU - Arguelles, C.

AU - Arlen, T. C.

AU - Auffenberg, J.

AU - Axani, S.

AU - Bai, X.

AU - Barwick, S. W.

AU - Baum, V.

AU - Bay, R.

AU - Beatty, J. J.

AU - Becker Tjus, J.

AU - Becker, K. H.

AU - BenZvi, S.

AU - Berghaus, P.

AU - Berley, D.

AU - Bernardini, E.

AU - Bernhard, A.

AU - Besson, D. Z.

AU - Binder, G.

AU - Bindig, D.

AU - Bissok, M.

AU - Blaufuss, E.

AU - Blot, S.

AU - Boersma, D. J.

AU - Bohm, C.

AU - Börner, M.

AU - Bos, F.

AU - Bose, D.

AU - Böser, S.

AU - Botner, O.

AU - Braun, J.

AU - Brayeur, L.

AU - Bretz, H. P.

AU - Burgman, A.

AU - Casey, J.

AU - Casier, M.

AU - Cheung, E.

AU - Daughhetee, J.

PY - 2016/10/1

Y1 - 2016/10/1

N2 - We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011–2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, ⟨ σAv ⟩ , for dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on ⟨ σAv ⟩ , reaching a level of 10- 23 cm3 s- 1, depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.

AB - We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011–2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, ⟨ σAv ⟩ , for dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on ⟨ σAv ⟩ , reaching a level of 10- 23 cm3 s- 1, depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84989864726

U2 - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4375-3

DO - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4375-3

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84989864726

SN - 1434-6044

VL - 76

JO - European Physical Journal C

JF - European Physical Journal C

IS - 10

M1 - 531

ER -

All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore

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