Radio constraints on dark matter annihilation in Canes Venatici I with LOFAR

TL;DR

This study uses LOFAR radio observations of Canes Venatici I to set constraints on dark matter annihilation, providing competitive limits with gamma-ray data and highlighting significant uncertainties in the modeling assumptions.

Contribution

First radio constraints on WIMP annihilation in a dwarf galaxy using LOFAR, with a detailed analysis of propagation uncertainties and comparison to gamma-ray limits.

Findings

Limits comparable to Fermi gamma-ray observations.

Excluded certain WIMP models in the 2-20 GeV mass range.

Uncertainties can shift limits by several orders of magnitude.

Abstract

Dwarf galaxies are dark matter-dominated and therefore promising targets for the search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are well-known candidates for dark matter. Annihilation of WIMPs produce ultra-relativistic cosmic-ray electrons and positrons that emit synchrotron radiation in the presence of magnetic fields. For typical magnetic field strengths (few $\mu $G) and $\mathcal O$(GeV--TeV) WIMP masses, this emission peaks at hundreds of MHz. Here, we use the non-detection of 150-MHz radio continuum emission from the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Canes Venatici I with the LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) to derive constraints on the annihilation cross section of WIMPs into primary electron-positron and other fundamental particle-antiparticle pairs. Our main underlying assumption is that the transport of the cosmic rays can be described by the diffusion approximation, thus requiring a non-zero magnetic field strength with small-scale structure. In particular, by adopting magnetic field strengths of $\mathcal O(1\,\mu$G) and diffusion coefficients $\sim 10^{27}~\rm cm^2\,s^{-1}$, we obtain limits that are comparable with those set by \emph{Fermi} Large Area Telescope using gamma-ray observations of this particular galaxy. Assuming s-wave annihilation and WIMPs making up 100 per cent of the DM density, our benchmark limits exclude several thermal WIMP realisations in the $[2,20]$-GeV mass range. We caution, however, that our limits for the cross section are subject to enormous uncertainties which we also quantitatively assess. In particular, variations on the propagation parameters or on the DM halo can shift our limits up by several orders of magnitude (in the pessimistic scenario).