Collisions of Jets of Particles from Active Galactic Nuclei with Neutralino Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how energetic particles from active galactic nuclei jets might interact with surrounding neutralino dark matter, potentially revealing new physics through spectral features observed by gamma-ray telescopes.

Contribution

It explores the resonant scattering of AGN jet particles off neutralino dark matter, proposing a method to constrain supersymmetric models using gamma-ray observations.

Findings

Resonant scattering can produce distinctive spectral edges.

Gamma-ray data constrains supersymmetric dark matter models.

Potential for new detection channels for dark matter.

Abstract

We examine the possibility that energetic Standard Model particles contained in the jets produced by active galactic nuclei (AGN) may scatter off of the dark matter halo which is expected to surround the AGN. In particular, if there are nearby states in the dark sector which can appear resonantly in the scattering, the cross section can be enhanced and a distinctive edge feature in the energy spectrum may appear. We examine bounds on supersymmetric models which may be obtained from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope observation of the nearby AGN Centaurus A.