Precision Photon Spectra for Wino Annihilation

TL;DR

This paper presents precise, next-to-leading logarithmic predictions for the hard photon spectrum from wino dark matter annihilation, crucial for interpreting indirect detection experiment data.

Contribution

It introduces a state-of-the-art calculation framework that combines resummation of large logarithms and Sommerfeld effects at NLL accuracy for wino annihilation spectra.

Findings

Resummation at NLL shows good convergence with 5% uncertainty.

Full spectrum analysis is more accurate than single endpoint approximation.

The method is adaptable to other dark matter models.

Abstract

We provide precise predictions for the hard photon spectrum resulting from neutral SU$(2)_W$ triplet (wino) dark matter annihilation. Our calculation is performed utilizing an effective field theory expansion around the endpoint region where the photon energy is near the wino mass. This has direct relevance to line searches at indirect detection experiments. We compute the spectrum at next-to-leading logarithmic (NLL) accuracy within the framework established by a factorization formula derived previously by our collaboration. This allows simultaneous resummation of large Sudakov logarithms (arising from a restricted final state) and Sommerfeld effects. Resummation at NLL accuracy shows good convergence of the perturbative series due to the smallness of the electroweak coupling constant - scale variation yields uncertainties on our NLL prediction at the level of $5\%$. We highlight a number of interesting field theory effects that appear at NLL associated with the presence of electroweak symmetry breaking, which should have more general applicability. We also study the importance of using the full spectrum as compared with a single endpoint bin approximation when computing experimental limits. Our calculation provides a state of the art prediction for the hard photon spectrum that can be easily generalized to other DM candidates, allowing for the robust interpretation of data collected by current and future indirect detection experiments.