Dark matter interpretation of recent electron and positron data

TL;DR

This paper investigates an excess in high-energy electron and positron data from Fermi-LAT, proposing dark matter as a potential explanation, and predicts a related gamma-ray spectral feature.

Contribution

It introduces a dark matter model that explains the excess in electron and positron data and fits multiple experimental results.

Findings

Dark matter models fit Fermi-LAT, PAMELA, and HESS data well

Predicts a sharp gamma-ray spectral break from final state radiation

Supports dark matter as a possible source of high-energy cosmic rays

Abstract

We analyze the recently released Fermi-LAT data on the sum of electrons and positrons. Compared to a conventional, pre-Fermi, background model, a surprising excess in the several hundred GeV range is found and here we analyze it in terms of dark matter models. We also compare with newly published results from PAMELA and HESS, and find models giving very good fits to these data sets as well. If this dark matter interpretation is correct, we also predict the possibility of a sharp break in the diffuse gamma ray spectrum coming from final state radiation.