High Energy Cosmic Rays from Decaying Supersymmetric Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper explores how decaying supersymmetric dark matter particles could explain the anomalous cosmic-ray electron and positron fluxes observed by PAMELA and ATIC, considering different LSP candidates and their associated gamma-ray and anti-proton fluxes.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of cosmic-ray fluxes from decaying LSP dark matter, linking supersymmetric models to observed cosmic-ray anomalies.

Findings

Decaying LSP dark matter can account for PAMELA and ATIC anomalies.

Gamma-ray and anti-proton fluxes are consistent with observations within certain parameters.

Different LSP candidates produce similar observable signatures.

Abstract

Motivated by the recent PAMELA and ATIC results, we calculate the electron and positron fluxes from the decay of lightest-superparticle (LSP) dark matter. We assume that the LSP is the dominant component of dark matter, and consider the case that the R-parity is very weakly violated so that the lifetime of the LSP becomes of the order of 10^26 sec. We will see that, with such a choice of the lifetime, the cosmic-ray electron and positron from the decay can be the source of the anomalous electron and positron fluxes observed by PAMELA and ATIC. We consider the possibilities that the LSP is the gravitino, the lightest neutralino, and scalar neutrino, and discuss how the resultant fluxes depend on the dark-matter model. We also discuss the fluxes of gamma-ray and anti-proton, and show that those fluxes can be consistent with the observed value in the parameter region where the PAMELA and ATIC anomalies are explained.