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Cannoni, M., Ellis, J., Gomez, M. E., Lola, S., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2016). Supersymmetry searches in GUT models with non-universal scalar masses. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 041–23pp.
Abstract: We study SO(10). SU(5) and flipped SU(5) GUT models with non-universal soft supersynrimetry-breaking scalar masses, exploring how they are constrained by LIIC super-synrimetry searches and cold dark matter experiments, and how they can be probed and distinguished in future experiments. We find characteristic differences between the-various GUT scenarios, particularly in the coannihilation region, which is very sensitive to changes of parameters. For example, the flipped SU(5) GUT predicts the possibility of (t) over tilde (1-chi) coannihilation, which is absent in the regions of the SO(10) and SU(5) GUT parameter spaces that we study. We use the relic density predictions in different models to determine upper bounds for the neutralino masses, and we find large differences between different GUT models in the sparticle spectra for the same LSP mass, leading to direct connections of distinctive possible experimental measurements with the structure of the GUT group. We find that future LHC searches for generic missing E-T, charginos and stops will be able to constrain the different GUT models in complementary ways, as will the Xenon 1 ton and Darwin dark matter scattering experiments and future FERMI or CIA gamma-ray searches.
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Bertone, G., Calore, F., Caron, S., Ruiz de Austri, R., Kim, J. S., Trotta, R., et al. (2016). Global analysis of the pMSSM in light of the Fermi GeV excess: prospects for the LHC Run-II and astroparticle experiments. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 04(4), 037–20pp.
Abstract: We present a new global fit of the 19-dimensional phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (pMSSM-19) that complies with all the latest experimental results from dark matter indirect, direct and accelerator dark matter searches. We show that the model provides a satisfactory explanation of the excess of gamma rays from the Galactic centre observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, assuming that it is produced by the annihilation of neutralinos in the Milky Way halo. We identify two regions that pass all the constraints: the first corresponds to neutralinos with a mass similar to 80 – 100 GeV annihilating into WW with a branching ratio of 95%; the second to heavier neutralinos, with mass similar to 180 – 200 GeV annihilating into (l) over barl with a branching ratio of 87%. We show that neutralinos compatible with the Galactic centre GeV excess will soon be within the reach of LHC run-II – notably through searches for charginos and neutralinos, squarks and light smuons – and of Xenon1T, thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity to spin-dependent cross-section off neutrons.
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Gomez-Vargas, G. A., Lopez-Fogliani, D. E., Muñoz, C., Perez, A. D., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2017). Search for sharp and smooth spectral signatures of μnu SSM gravitino dark matter with Fermi- LAT. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 047–23pp.
Abstract: The μnu SSM solves the μproblem of supersymmetric models and reproduces neutrino data, simply using couplings with right-handed neutrinos nu's. Given that these couplings break explicitly R parity, the gravitino is a natural candidate for decaying dark matter in the μnu SSM. In this work we carry out a complete analysis of the detection of μnu SSM gravitino dark matter through gamma-ray observations. In addition to the two-body decay producing a sharp line, we include in the analysis the three-body decays producing a smooth spectral signature. We perform first a deep exploration of the low-energy parameter space of the μnu SSM taking into account that neutrino data must be reproduced. Then, we compare the gamma-ray fluxes predicted by the model with Fermi-LAT observations. In particular, with the 95% CL upper limits on the total diffuse extragalactic gamma-ray background using 50 months of data, together with the upper limits on line emission from an updated analysis using 69.9 months of data. For standard values of bino and wino masses, gravitinos with masses larger than about 4 GeV, or lifetimes smaller than about 10(28) s, produce too large fluxes and are excluded as dark matter candidates. However, when limiting scenarios with large and close values of the gaugino masses are considered, the constraints turn out to be less stringent, excluding masses larger than 17 GeV and lifetimes smaller than 4 x 10(25) s.
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Achterberg, A., van Beekveld, M., Caron, S., Gomez-Vargas, G. A., Hendriks, L., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2017). Implications of the Fermi-LAT Pass 8 Galactic Center excess on supersymmetric dark matter. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 12(12), 040–23pp.
Abstract: The Fermi Collaboration has recently updated their analysis of gamma rays from the center of the Galaxy. They reconfirm the presence of an unexplained emission feature which is most prominent in the region of 1-10 GeV, known as the Galactic Center GeV excess (GCE). Although the GCE is now fi rmly detected, an interpretation of this emission as a signal of self-annihilating dark matter (DM) particles is not unambiguously possible due to systematic effects in the gamma-ray modeling estimated in the Galactic Plane. In this paper we build a covariance matrix, collecting different systematic uncertainties investigated in the Fermi Collaboration's paper that affect the GCE spectrum. We show that models where part of the GCE is due to annihilating DM is still consistent with the new data. We also re-evaluate the parameter space regions of the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) that can contribute dominantly to the GCE via neutralino DM annihilation. All recent constraints from DM direct detection experiments such as PICO, LUX, PandaX and Xenon1T, limits on the annihilation cross section from dwarf spheroidal galaxies and the Large Hadron Collider limits are considered in this analysis. Due to a slight shift in the energy spectrum of the GC excess with respect to the previous Fermi analysis, and the recent limits from direct detection experiments, we find a slightly shifted parameter region of the MSSM, compared to our previous analysis, that is consistent with the GCE. Neutralinos with a mass between 85-220 GeV can describe the excess via annihilation into a pair of W-bosons or top quarks. Remarkably, there are models with low fine-tuning among the regions that we have found. The complete set of solutions will be probed by upcoming direct detection experiments and with dedicated searches in the upcoming data of the Large Hadron Collider.
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Bertone, G., Bozorgnia, N., Kim, J. S., Liem, S., McCabe, C., Otten, S., et al. (2018). Identifying WIMP dark matter from particle and astroparticle data. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 026–42pp.
Abstract: One of the most promising strategies to identify the nature of dark matter consists in the search for new particles at accelerators and with so-called direct detection experiments. Working within the framework of simplified models, and making use of machine learning tools to speed up statistical inference, we address the question of what we can learn about dark matter from a detection at the LHC and a forthcoming direct detection experiment. We show that with a combination of accelerator and direct detection data, it is possible to identify newly discovered particles as dark matter, by reconstructing their relic density assuming they are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) thermally produced in the early Universe, and demonstrating that it is consistent with the measured dark matter abundance. An inconsistency between these two quantities would instead point either towards additional physics in the dark sector, or towards a non-standard cosmology, with a thermal history substantially different from that of the standard cosmological model.
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Caron, S., Gomez-Vargas, G. A., Hendriks, L., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2018). Analyzing gamma rays of the Galactic Center with deep learning. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 058–24pp.
Abstract: We present the application of convolutional neural networks to a particular problem in gamma ray astronomy. Explicitly, we use this method to investigate the origin of an excess emission of GeV gamma rays in the direction of the Galactic Center, reported by several groups by analyzing Fermi-LAT data. Interpretations of this excess include gamma rays created by the annihilation of dark matter particles and gamma rays originating from a collection of unresolved point sources, such as millisecond pulsars. We train and test convolutional neural networks with simulated Fermi-LAT images based on point and diffuse emission models of the Galactic Center tuned to measured gamma ray data. Our new method allows precise measurements of the contribution and properties of an unresolved population of gamma ray point sources in the interstellar diffuse emission model. The current model predicts the fraction of unresolved point sources with an error of up to 10% and this is expected to decrease with future work.
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Casas, J. A., Gomez Vargas, G. A., Moreno, J. M., Quilis, J., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2018). Extended Higgs-portal dark matter and the Fermi-LAT Galactic Center Excess. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 06(6), 031–16pp.
Abstract: In the present work, we show that the Galactic Center Excess (GCE) emission, as recently updated by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration, could be explained by a mixture of Fermi bubbles-like emission plus dark matter (DM) annihilation, in the context of a scalar-singlet Higgs portal scenario (SHP). In fact, the standard SHP, where the DM particle, S, only has renormalizable interactions with the Higgs, is non-operational due to strong constraints, especially from DM direct detection limits. Thus we consider the most economical extension, called ESHP (for extended SHP), which consists solely in the addition of a second (more massive) scalar singlet in the dark sector. The second scalar can be integrated-out, leaving a standard SHP plus a dimension-6 operator. Mainly, this model has only two relevant parameters (the DM mass and the coupling of the dim-6 operator). DM annihilation occurs mainly into two Higgs bosons, SS -> hh. We demonstrate that, despite its economy, the ESHP model provides an excellent fit to the GCE (with p-value similar to 0.6-0.7) for very reasonable values of the parameters, in particular, ms similar or equal to 130 GeV. This agreement of the DM candidate to the GCE properties does not clash with other observables and keep the S – particle relic density at the accepted value for the DM content in the universe.
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Folgado, M. G., Gomez-Vargas, G. A., Rius, N., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2018). Probing the sterile neutrino portal to Dark Matter with gamma rays. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 08(8), 002–20pp.
Abstract: Sterile neutrinos could provide a link between the Standard Model particles and a dark sector, besides generating active neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism type I. We show that, if dark matter annihilation into sterile neutrinos determines its observed relic abundance, it is possible to explain the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess reported by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration as due to an astrophysical component plus dark matter annihilations. We observe that sterile neutrino portal to dark matter provides an impressively good fit, with a p-value of 0.78 in the best fit point, to the Galactic Center gamma-ray flux, for DM masses in the range (40-80) GeV and sterile neutrino masses 20 GeV less than or similar to M-N < M-DM. Such values are compatible with the limits from Fermi-LAT observations of the dwarfs spheroidal galaxies in the Milky Way halo, which rule out dark matter masses below similar to 50 GeV ( 90 GeV), for sterile neutrino masses M-N less than or similar to MDM ( M-N << M-DM). We also estimate the impact of AMS-02 anti-proton data on this scenario.
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Amoroso, S., Caron, S., Jueid, A., Ruiz de Austri, R., & Skands, P. (2019). Estimating QCD uncertainties in Monte Carlo event generators for gamma-ray dark matter searches. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 007–44pp.
Abstract: Motivated by the recent galactic center gamma-ray excess identified in the Fermi-LAT data, we perform a detailed study of QCD fragmentation uncertainties in the modeling of the energy spectra of gamma-rays from Dark-Matter (DM) annihilation. When Dark-Matter particles annihilate to coloured final states, either directly or via decays such as W(*) -> qq-', photons are produced from a complex sequence of shower, hadronisation and hadron decays. In phenomenological studies their energy spectra are typically computed using Monte Carlo event generators. These results have however intrinsic uncertainties due to the specific model used and the choice of model parameters, which are difficult to asses and which are typically neglected. We derive a new set of hadronisation parameters (tunes) for the PYTHIA 8.2 Monte Carlo generator from a fit to LEP and SLD data at the Z peak. For the first time we also derive a conservative set of uncertainties on the shower and hadronisation model parameters. Their impact on the gamma-ray energy spectra is evaluated and discussed for a range of DM masses and annihilation channels. The spectra and their uncertainties are also provided in tabulated form for future use. The fragmentation-parameter uncertainties may be useful for collider studies as well.
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Lopez-Fogliani, D. E., Perez, A. D., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2021). Dark matter candidates in the NMSSM with RH neutrino superfields. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 04(4), 067–35pp.
Abstract: R-parity conserving supersymmetric models with right-handed (RH) neutrinos are very appealing since they could naturally explain neutrino physics and also provide a good dark matter (DM) candidate such as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). In this work we consider the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) plus RH neutrino superfields, with effective Majorana masses dynamically generated at the electroweak scale (EW). We perform a scan of the relevant parameter space and study both possible DM candidates: RH sneutrino and neutralino. Especially for the case of RH sneutrino DM we analyse the intimate relation between both candidates to obtain the correct amount of relic density. Besides the well-known resonances, annihilations through scalar quartic couplings and coannihilation mechanisms with all kind of neutralinos, are crucial. Finally, we present the impact of current and future direct and indirect detection experiments on both DM candidates.
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