Blazar-Boosted Dark Matter at Super-Kamiokande

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new method to detect dark matter particles boosted by blazars, deriving stronger constraints on their interactions with electrons using Super-Kamiokande data, especially for low-mass dark matter.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to constrain dark matter-electron scattering cross sections using blazar-boosted dark matter flux and Super-Kamiokande observations.

Findings

Limits on dark matter-electron scattering cross section as low as 10^{-38} cm^2 for masses below 100 MeV.

Blazar-boosted dark matter flux provides significantly stronger constraints than galactic cosmic rays.

Focus on specific blazars TXS 0506+056 and BL Lacertae enhances the analysis.

Abstract

Dark matter particles near the center of a blazar, after being accelerated by the elastic collisions with relativistic electrons and protons in the blazar jet, can be energetic enough to trigger detectable signals at terrestrial detectors. In this work, focusing on the blazars TXS 0506+056 and BL Lacertae, we derive novel limits on the cross section of the elastic scattering between dark matter and electrons by means of the available Super-Kamiokande data. Thanks to the large blazar-boosted dark matter flux, the limit on the dark matter-electron scattering cross section for dark matter masses below 100 MeV can be as low as $\sim10^{-38}~\text{cm}^2$, which is orders of magnitude stronger than the analogous results from galactic cosmic rays.