AMS-02 electrons and positrons: astrophysical interpretation and Dark Matter constraints

TL;DR

This paper analyzes AMS-02 leptonic data to determine the contributions of astrophysical sources and Dark Matter, deriving constraints on Dark Matter properties through statistical modeling.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive quantitative analysis combining astrophysical sources and Dark Matter to interpret AMS-02 data, establishing limits on Dark Matter annihilation or decay rates.

Findings

AMS-02 leptonic data aligns well with astrophysical source models

Dark Matter contribution is constrained with upper limits on annihilation/decay rates

Robust statistical methods improve Dark Matter parameter estimation

Abstract

We present here a quantitative analysis of the recent AMS-02 data with the purpose of investigating the interplay between astrophysical sources and Dark Matter in their interpretation. First, we show that AMS-02 leptonic measurements are in a remarkably good agreement with the hypothesis that all electrons and positrons are the outcome of primary or secondary astrophysical processes. Then, we add Dark Matter to the picture, in order to establish which are the informations on its annihilation cross section (or lifetime) that can be inferred by fitting AMS-02 data within a scenario in which Dark Matter and astrophysical sources jointly contribute to the different leptonic observables. In particular, by performing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling of the parameters space of the theory, we attempt at characterizing the significance of a possible Dark Matter contribution to the observed data and we derive robust upper limits on the Dark Matter annihilation/decay rate.