Interpretation of AMS-02 Results: Correlations among Dark Matter Signals

TL;DR

This paper analyzes AMS-02 positron data to explore dark matter interpretations, highlighting correlations among signals and predicting antiproton fluxes, which could potentially rule out dark matter explanations if no excess is observed.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach emphasizing correlations among dark matter signals, providing predictions for antiproton fluxes based on AMS-02 data, and assessing constraints on dark matter models.

Findings

TeV-scale dark matter annihilating into tau leptons best fits AMS-02 data

Gamma-ray constraints severely limit dark matter interpretations

Future antiproton measurements could rule out dark matter explanations

Abstract

The AMS-02 collaboration has recently released data on the positron fraction $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ up to energies of about 350 GeV. If one insists on interpreting the observed excess as a dark matter signal, then we find it is best described by a TeV-scale dark matter annihilating into $\tau^+\tau^-$, although this situation is already severely constrained by gamma-ray measurements. The annihilation into $\mu^+\mu^-$ is allowed by gamma-rays more than $\tau^+\tau^-$, but it gives a poorer fit to \textsc{AMS-02} data. Moreover, since electroweak corrections induce correlations among the fluxes of stable particles from dark matter annihilations, the recent AMS-02 data imply a well-defined prediction for the correlated flux of antiprotons. Under the assumption that their future measurements will not show any antiproton excess above the background, the dark matter interpretation of the positron rise will possibly be ruled out by only making use of data from a single experiment. This work is the first of a program where we emphasize the role of correlations among dark matter signals.