# Update on decaying and annihilating heavy dark matter with the 6-year IceCube HESE data

## TL;DR

This paper analyzes 6-year IceCube HESE data to explore if a combination of dark matter decay and astrophysical sources better explains high-energy neutrino observations, finding improved fits and considering dark matter annihilation scenarios.

## Contribution

It introduces updated fits for dark matter decay and annihilation channels using 6-year IceCube data, comparing them to astrophysical models and previous 4-year analyses.

## Key findings

- Combined dark matter decay and astrophysical flux improves data fit.
- Dark matter decay alone can explain the neutrino data.
- Dark matter annihilation scenarios are also consistent with observations.

## Abstract

In view of the IceCube's 6-year high-energy starting events (HESE) sample, we revisit the possibility that the updated data may be better explained by a combination of neutrino fluxes from dark matter decay and an isotropic astrophysical power-law than purely by the latter. We find that the combined two-component flux qualitatively improves the fit to the observed data over a purely astrophysical one, and discuss how these updated fits compare against a similar analysis done with the 4-year HESE data. We also update fits involving dark matter decay via multiple channels, without any contribution from the astrophysical flux. We find that a DM-only explanation is not excluded by neutrino data alone. Finally, we also consider the possibility of a signal from dark matter annihilations and perform analogous analyses to the case of decays, commenting on its implications.