pMSSM Dark Matter Searches on Ice

TL;DR

This paper assesses IceCube/DeepCore's ability to detect neutrinos from supersymmetric dark matter annihilations in the Sun, analyzing a large set of pMSSM models and comparing detection prospects with other experiments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the pMSSM parameter space for dark matter detection via neutrinos, including realistic detector modeling and comparison with other search methods.

Findings

Many pMSSM models predict detectable neutrino signals in IceCube/DeepCore.

Some models with low relic density LSPs still produce observable signals.

IceCube/DeepCore coverage complements direct detection and LHC searches.

Abstract

We explore the capability of the IceCube/Deepcore array to discover signal neutrinos resulting from the annihilations of Supersymmetric WIMPS that may be captured in the solar core. In this analysis, we use a previously generated set of /sim 70k model points in the 19-dimensional parameter space of the pMSSM which satisfy existing experimental and theoretical constraints. Our calculations employ a realistic estimate of the IceCube/DeepCore effective area that has been modeled by the IceCube collaboration. We find that a large fraction of the pMSSM models are shown to have significant signal rates in the anticipated IceCube/DeepCore 1825 day dataset, including some prospects for an early discovery. Many models where the LSP only constitutes a small fraction of the total dark matter relic density are found to have observable rates. We investigate in detail the dependence of the signal neutrino fluxes on the LSP mass, weak eigenstate composition, annihilation products and thermal relic density, as well as on the spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering cross sections. Lastly, We compare the model coverage of IceCube/DeepCore to that obtainable in near-future direct detection experiments and to pMSSM searches at the 7 TeV LHC.