A Solar Probe of Dark Matter Decay in the Galaxy

TL;DR

This study uses 15 years of Fermi-LAT data to set new limits on dark matter decay by analyzing gamma-ray emissions produced through inverse-Compton scattering of solar photons by decay products in the solar halo.

Contribution

It introduces the first quantitative analysis of solar inverse-Compton gamma-ray signals as an indirect method to constrain decaying dark matter in the galaxy.

Findings

Set stringent limits on dark matter lifetime at ~10^{27} seconds for 10 GeV-10 TeV masses.

Demonstrated the Sun as a sensitive local converter of sunlight into gamma rays via dark matter decay products.

Showed the gamma-ray flux from solar inverse-Compton scattering decreases at high energies due to Klein-Nishina suppression.

Abstract

Dark matter (DM) particles decaying in the Galactic halo can inject energetic $e^\pm$ that inverse-Compton scatter (ICS) solar photons into $\gamma$-rays, producing a diffuse and extended halo of emission around the Sun. We present the first quantitative study of this signal as an indirect probe of decaying DM. The intense solar photon field in the inner heliosphere amplifies the inverse-Compton emissivity by many orders of magnitude relative to the interstellar radiation field, making the Sun an unusually sensitive local converter of sunlight into $\gamma$-rays via scattering with injected $e^\pm$. Using 15 years of Fermi-LAT solar-halo data, we derive stringent limits on the DM lifetime for 10 GeV-10TeV masses at the level of $\tau_\chi \sim 10^{27}\,\mathrm{s}$ in leptonic decay channels. The predicted surface brightness rises steeply toward the Sun, and the $\gamma$-ray flux falls off at high energy due to Klein-Nishina suppression. Solar ICS $\gamma$-rays measured with degree scale angular resolution therefore provide a novel and complementary probe of DM decays, adding a local $\gamma$-ray search channel that is systematically distinct from both Galactic diffuse analyses and direct charged-particle measurements.