High Energy Neutrinos As A Test of Leptophilic Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how large volume neutrino telescopes like IceCube can test leptophilic dark matter models suggested by cosmic ray observations, potentially detecting neutrino signals from the Milky Way's center.

Contribution

It proposes using neutrino telescopes to constrain dark matter models that explain cosmic ray anomalies, linking neutrino detection to dark matter annihilation signals.

Findings

IceCube can detect neutrino signals from dark matter annihilation in the Milky Way.

If dark matter causes cosmic ray signals, IceCube should observe corresponding neutrinos.

Neutrino observations can exclude or confirm leptophilic dark matter models.

Abstract

Recently, observations by PAMELA, the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, and other cosmic ray experiments have generated a great deal of interest in dark matter (DM) particles which annihilate at a high rate to leptons. In this letter, we explore the possibility of using large volume neutrino telescopes, such as IceCube, to constrain such models; specifically we consider signals due to DM annihilation in the inner Milky Way. We find that, if Dark Matter annihilations are responsible for the signals observed by PAMELA and FGST, then IceCube (in conjunction with the planned low threshold extension, DeepCore) should detect or exclude the corresponding neutrino signal from the inner Milky Way with a few years of observation.