Indirect Searches for Ultraheavy Dark Matter in the Time Domain

TL;DR

This paper proposes that ultraheavy dark matter collisions produce brief, intense gamma-ray bursts that can be detected with existing telescopes, offering a new way to explore dark matter properties beyond current limits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detection method for ultraheavy dark matter via brief gamma-ray bursts and suggests existing telescopes can be adapted for this purpose.

Findings

Detection of potential dark matter bursts with IACTs and PANOSETI

Probing new dark matter parameter space beyond current limits

Presentation of a concrete dark matter model producing detectable bursts

Abstract

Dark matter may exist today in the form of ultraheavy composite bound states. Collisions between such dark matter states can release intense bursts of radiation that includes gamma-rays among the final products. Thus, indirect-detection signals of dark matter may include unconventional gamma-ray bursts. Such bursts may have been missed not necessarily because of their low arriving gamma-ray fluxes, but rather their briefness and rareness. We point out that intense bursts whose non-detection thus far are due to the latter can be detected in the near future with existing and planned facilities. In particular, we propose that, with slight experimental adjustments and suitable data analyses, imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) and Pulsed All-sky Near-infrared and Optical Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (PANOSETI) are promising tools for detecting such rare, brief, but intense bursts. We also show that if we assume these bursts originate from collisions of dark matter states, IACTs and PANOSETI can probe a large dark matter parameter space beyond existing limits. Additionally, we present a concrete model of dark matter that produces bursts potentially detectable in these instruments.