Gamma Ray Line Constraints on Effective Theories of Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper examines how gamma ray line searches constrain dark matter theories, showing that null results limit dark matter interactions more stringently than some collider experiments.

Contribution

It compares gamma ray line search results with effective dark matter interaction models, highlighting the constraints these null results impose on dark matter theories.

Findings

Gamma ray line searches set significant constraints on dark matter interactions.

Null results are more restrictive than collider constraints in some scenarios.

Constraints are complementary to other observational bounds.

Abstract

A monochromatic gamma ray line results when dark matter particles in the galactic halo annihilate to produce a two body final state which includes a photon. Such a signal is very distinctive from astrophysical backgrounds, and thus represents an incisive probe of theories of dark matter. We compare the recent null results of searches for gamma ray lines in the galactic center and other regions of the sky with the predictions of effective theories describing the interactions of dark matter particles with the Standard Model. We find that the null results of these searches provide constraints on the nature of dark matter interactions with ordinary matter which are complementary to constraints from other observables, and stronger than collider constraints in some cases.