The IceCube low-energy excess: a Dark Matter interpretation

TL;DR

This paper explores the possibility that decaying or annihilating Dark Matter particles contribute to the low-energy excess observed in IceCube's neutrino data, suggesting a two-component flux model to explain the observations.

Contribution

It introduces a two-component neutrino flux model including Dark Matter contributions to explain IceCube's low-energy excess in neutrino observations.

Findings

Dark Matter particles may contribute to the neutrino flux in the 10-100 TeV range.

A two-component model fits the IceCube data better than a single astrophysical source.

Statistical analysis supports the Dark Matter hypothesis for the low-energy excess.

Abstract

The recent study on the the 6-year up-going muon neutrinos by the IceCube Collaboration support the hypothesis of a two-component scenario explaining the diffuse TeV-PeV neutrino flux. Once a hard astrophysical power-law is considered, an excess in the IceCube data is shown in the energy range 10-100 TeV (low-energy excess}). By means of a statistical analysis on the neutrino energy spectrum and on the angular distribution of neutrino arrival directions, we characterize a two-component neutrino flux where decaying/annihilating Dark Matter particles provide a contribution to the IceCube observations.