Solar wind bremsstrahlung in our Solar System at 21cm, 3mm, and 12microns Wavelengths

TL;DR

This study models the bremsstrahlung radiation from solar wind particles interacting with dark matter in the solar system across various wavelengths, assessing detectability with current telescopes.

Contribution

It introduces Monte Carlo simulations of solar wind dark matter interactions at multiple wavelengths, exploring potential observational signals and their detectability.

Findings

Observable signals require specific dark matter particle masses.

Scalar interactions are unlikely to produce detectable signals.

Comparison with existing telescope sensitivities shows limited prospects for detection.

Abstract

Using Monte Carlo techniques, we calculate the bremsstrahlung spectrum that protons and electrons in the solar wind would produce when encountering dark matter (DM) particles within the solar system. We consider two types of interactions for the DM: one where a spin-1/2 neutral DM particle interacts with matter through the exchange of a lighter neutral scalar DM particle and one where a scalar neutral DM particle interacts directly with the matter particle. We consider three wavelengths: 21 cm, 3 mm, and 12 microns. In order to estimate the significance of the signal, we compare our results to experimental results from ARCADE2 and PLANCK, and consider the sensitivities of three telescopes: VLA, ALMA and KECK. We find that in order to produce an observable signal in the first scenario, the neutral fermion must have a mass comparable to the solar wind particle while the exchanged particle must have a mass typically $few\times 10^5$ smaller. The scalar direct interaction however appears beyond reach for any reasonable coupling.