Phenomenology of dark matter indirect detection

TL;DR

This thesis provides a comprehensive overview of dark matter detection methods, focusing on indirect detection through photon emissions, and sets new constraints on sub-GeV dark matter particles and primordial black holes using observational data.

Contribution

It introduces detailed analysis of indirect detection signals from sub-GeV dark matter and primordial black holes, offering new constraints based on observational data.

Findings

Strong constraints on sub-GeV dark matter from X-ray observations

Significant limits on primordial black holes as dark matter candidates

Analysis of inverse Compton scattering signals from dark matter interactions

Abstract

In this thesis, we present a comprehensive and pedagogical overview of dark matter (DM). Chapter 1 discusses the main evidences for its existence, its properties, and potential candidates. We then explore major detection strategies, with Chapter 2 specifically dedicated to indirect detection. In the following chapters, we study the emission of secondary photons resulting from the interaction between DM products and the Galactic environment. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on DM as sub-GeV particles, analysing how the DM-produced electrons and positrons interact with ambient photons to generate X-rays through inverse Compton scattering. Comparing the predicted spectra with data from X-ray observatories yields strong constraints on sub-GeV DM. Chapter 5 extends these techniques to the case of primordial black hole (PBH) evaporation, imposing significant limits on PBHs as potential DM candidates.