Searching for Dark Matter in the Sun using Hyper-Kamiokande

TL;DR

This paper evaluates Hyper-Kamiokande's potential to detect neutrino signals from dark matter annihilation in the Sun, showing it can significantly improve current detection limits.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation framework for Hyper-Kamiokande's sensitivity to dark matter signals, extending previous Super-Kamiokande analyses.

Findings

Hyper-Kamiokande can improve dark matter detection limits by a factor of 2-3.

Sensitivity can be further enhanced with reduced systematic errors.

The study covers various dark matter annihilation channels.

Abstract

We study the ability of the Hyper-Kamiokande (HyperK) experiment, currently under construction, to constrain a neutrino signal produced via the annihilation of dark matter captured in the Sun. We simulate upward stopping and upward through-going muon events at HyperK, using Super-Kamiokande (SuperK) atmospheric neutrino results for validation, together with fully and partially contained events. Considering the annihilation of dark matter to various standard model final states, we determined the HyperK sensitivity to the dark matter spin-dependent scattering cross-section. We find that HyperK will improve upon current SuperK limits by a factor of 2-3, with a further improvement in sensitivity possible if systematic errors can be decreased relative to SuperK.