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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Search for dark matter using sub-PeV γ-rays observed by Tibet ASγ

Tarak Nath Maity*,†, Akash Kumar Saha*,‡, Abhishek Dubey*,§, and Ranjan Laha∥

  • Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science, C. V. Raman Avenue, Bengaluru 560012, India

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †tarak.maity.physics@gmail.com
  • ‡akashks@iisc.ac.in
  • §abhishekd1@iisc.ac.in
  • ∥ranjanlaha@iisc.ac.in
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Phys. Rev. D 105, L041301 – Published 17 February, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.105.L041301

Abstract

The discovery of diffuse sub-PeV gamma-rays by the Tibet ASγ Collaboration promises to revolutionize our understanding of the high-energy astrophysical universe. It has been shown that these data broadly agree with prior theoretical expectations. We study the impact of this discovery on a well-motivated new physics scenario: PeV-scale decaying dark matter (DM). Considering a wide range of final states in DM decay, a number of DM density profiles, and numerous astrophysical background models, we find that these data provide the most stringent limit on DM lifetime for various Standard Model final states. In particular, we find that the strongest constraints are derived for DM masses in between a few PeV to a few tens of PeV. Near-future data of these high-energy gamma-rays can be used to discover PeV-scale decaying DM.

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Phys. Rev. D 105, L041301– Published 17 February, 2022
  • Received 12 May 2021
  • Accepted 21 January 2022
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