Weakly interacting massive particle cross section limits from LOFAR observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses LOFAR radio observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies to set new constraints on WIMP dark matter particle annihilation cross sections, especially for low WIMP masses, by analyzing non-detections of synchrotron emission.

Contribution

It introduces a method to constrain WIMP annihilation cross sections using low-frequency radio data and considers different magnetic field and diffusion scenarios for the first time.

Findings

Limits exclude WIMPs below 20 GeV in the intermediate scenario.

Limits exclude WIMPs below 70 GeV in the optimistic scenario.

Results are competitive with gamma-ray constraints from Fermi-LAT.

Abstract

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) can self-annihilate, thus providing us with a way to indirectly detect dark matter (DM). Dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are excellent places to search for annihilation signals because they are rich in DM and background emission is low. If magnetic fields in dSph galaxies exist, the particles produced in DM annihilation emit synchrotron radiation. We used the non-detection of 150 MHz radio continuum emission from dSph galaxies with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) to derive constraints on the annihilation cross section of WIMPs in electron-positron pairs. Our main underlying assumption is that the transport of the cosmic rays can be described by the diffusion approximation, which necessitates the existence of magnetic fields. We used observations of six dSph galaxies in the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). The data were reimaged and radial profiles were generated. We also used stacking to increase the sensitivity. In order to derive upper limits on the WIMP cross section, we injected fake Gaussian sources into the data, which were then detected with 2$\sigma$ significance in the radial profile. These sources represent the lowest emission we would have been able to detect. We present limits from the observations of individual galaxies as well as from stacking. We explored the uncertainty due to the choice of diffusion and magnetic field parameters by constructing three different model scenarios: optimistic (OPT), intermediate (INT), and pessimistic (PES). Assuming monochromatic annihilation into electron-positron pairs, the limits from the INT scenario exclude thermal WIMPs below 20 GeV, and the limits from the OPT scenario even exclude thermal WIMPs below 70 GeV. The INT limits can compete with limits set by Fermi-LAT using $\gamma$-ray observations of multiple dwarf galaxies, and they are especially strong for low WIMP masses.