LHC and Tevatron bounds on the dark matter direct detection cross-section for vector mediators

(2012)

Authors:

Mads T Frandsen, Felix Kahlhoefer, Anthony Preston, Subir Sarkar, Kai Schmidt-Hoberg

A search for anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultra high energy cosmic rays recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2012:4 (2012)

Authors:

P Abreu, M Aglietta, M Ahlers, EJ Ahn, IFM Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, A Almela, J Alvarez Castillo, J Alvarez-Mũiz, M Ambrosio, A Aminaei, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, T Antici'C, C Aramo, E Arganda, F Arqueros, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, M Avenier, G Avila, T Bäcker, AM Badescu, M Balzer, KB Barber, AF Barbosa, R Bardenet, SLC Barroso, B Baughman, J Bäuml, JJ Beatty, BR Becker, KH Becker, A Bellétoile, JA Bellido, S Benzvi, C Berat, X Bertou, PL Biermann, P Billoir, F Blanco, M Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, M Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, I Brancus, P Brogueira, WC Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, RE Burton, KS Caballero-Mora, B Caccianiga, L Caramete, R Caruso, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, SH Cheng, A Chiavassa, JA Chinellato, J Chirinos Diaz, J Chudoba, M Cilmo, RW Clay, MR Coluccia, R Conceiço, F Contreras, H Cook, MJ Cooper, J Coppens, A Cordier, S Coutu, CE Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, S Dasso, K Daumiller, BR Dawson, RM De Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato

Abstract:

Observations of cosmic ray arrival directions made with the Pierre Auger Observatory have previously provided evidence of anisotropy at the 99% CL using the correlation of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with objects drawn from the Véron-Cetty Véron catalog. In this paper we report on the use of three catalog independent methods to search for anisotropy. The 2pt-L, 2pt+ and 3pt methods, each giving a different measure of self-clustering in arrival directions, were tested on mock cosmic ray data sets to study the impacts of sample size and magnetic smearing on their results, accounting for both angular and energy resolutions. If the sources of UHECRs follow the same large scale structure as ordinary galaxies in the local Universe and if UHECRs are deflected no more than a few degrees, a study of mock maps suggests that these three methods can efficiently respond to the resulting anisotropy with a P-value = 1.0% or smaller with data sets as few as 100 events. Using data taken from January 1, 2004 to July 31, 2010 we examined the 20,30,110 highest energy events with a corresponding minimum energy threshold of about 49.3 EeV. The minimum P-values found were 13.5% using the 2pt-L method, 1.0% using the 2pt+ method and 1.1% using the 3pt method for the highest 100 energy events. In view of the multiple (correlated) scans performed on the data set, these catalog-independent methods do not yield strong evidence of anisotropy in the highest energy cosmic rays. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.

Description of atmospheric conditions at the Pierre Auger Observatory using the Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS)

Astroparticle Physics 35:9 (2012) 591-607

Authors:

P Abreu, M Aglietta, M Ahlers, EJ Ahn, IFM Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, A Almela, J Alvarez Castillo, J Alvarez-Muñiz, M Ambrosio, A Aminaei, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, T Antičic, C Aramo, E Arganda, F Arqueros, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, M Avenier, G Avila, T Bäcker, AM Badescu, M Balzer, KB Barber, AF Barbosa, R Bardenet, SLC Barroso, B Baughman, J Bäuml, JJ Beatty, BR Becker, KH Becker, A Bellétoile, JA Bellido, S Benzvi, C Berat, X Bertou, PL Biermann, P Billoir, F Blanco, M Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, M Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, I Brancus, P Brogueira, WC Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, RE Burton, KS Caballero-Mora, B Caccianiga, L Caramete, R Caruso, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, SH Cheng, A Chiavassa, JA Chinellato, J Chirinos Diaz, J Chudoba, RW Clay, MR Coluccia, R Conceião, F Contreras, H Cook, MJ Cooper, J Coppens, A Cordier, S Coutu, CE Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, B Daniel, S Dasso, K Daumiller, BR Dawson, RM De Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato

Abstract:

Atmospheric conditions at the site of a cosmic ray observatory must be known for reconstructing observed extensive air showers. The Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) is a global atmospheric model predicated on meteorological measurements and numerical weather predictions. GDAS provides altitude-dependent profiles of the main state variables of the atmosphere like temperature, pressure, and humidity. The original data and their application to the air shower reconstruction of the Pierre Auger Observatory are described. By comparisons with radiosonde and weather station measurements obtained on-site in Malargüe and averaged monthly models, the utility of the GDAS data is shown. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Searches for periodic neutrino emission from binary systems with 22 and 40 strings of IceCube

Astrophysical Journal 748:2 (2012)

Authors:

R Abbasi, Y Abdou, T Abu-Zayyad, M Ackermann, J Adams, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, MM Allen, D Altmann, K Andeen, J Auffenberg, X Bai, M Baker, SW Barwick, R Bay, JL Bazo Alba, K Beattie, JJ Beatty, S Bechet, JK Becker, KH Becker, ML Benabderrahmane, S Benzvi, J Berdermann, P Berghaus, D Berley, E Bernardini, D Bertrand, DZ Besson, D Bindig, M Bissok, E Blaufuss, J Blumenthal, DJ Boersma, C Bohm, D Bose, S Böser, O Botner, AM Brown, S Buitink, KS Caballero-Mora, M Carson, D Chirkin, B Christy, F Clevermann, S Cohen, C Colnard, DF Cowen, AH Cruz Silva, MV D'Agostino, M Danninger, J Daughhetee, JC Davis, C De Clercq, T Degner, L Demirörs, F Descamps, P Desiati, G De Vries-Uiterweerd, T Deyoung, JC Díaz-Vélez, M Dierckxsens, J Dreyer, JP Dumm, M Dunkman, J Eisch, RW Ellsworth, O Engdegrd, S Euler, PA Evenson, O Fadiran, AR Fazely, A Fedynitch, J Feintzeig, T Feusels, K Filimonov, C Finley, T Fischer-Wasels, BD Fox, A Franckowiak, R Franke, TK Gaisser, J Gallagher, L Gerhardt, L Gladstone, T Glüsenkamp, A Goldschmidt, JA Goodman, D Góra, D Grant, T Griesel, A Gro, S Grullon, M Gurtner, C Ha, A Haj Ismail, A Hallgren, F Halzen, K Han, K Hanson

Abstract:

In this paper, we present the results of searches for periodic neutrino emission from a catalog of binary systems. Such modulation, observed in the photon flux, would be caused by the geometry of these systems. In the analysis, the period is fixed by these photon observations, while the phase and duration of the neutrino emission are treated as free parameters to be fit with the data. If the emission occurs during 20% or less of the total period, this analysis achieves better sensitivity than a time-integrated analysis. We use the IceCube data taken from 2007 May 31 to 2008 April 5 with its 22 string configuration and from 2008 April 5 to 2009 May 20 with its 40 string configuration. No evidence for neutrino emission is found, with the strongest excess occurring for CygnusX-3 at 2.1σ significance after accounting for trials. Neutrino flux upper limits for both periodic and time-integrated emission are provided. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Multiyear search for dark matter annihilations in the Sun with the AMANDA-II and IceCube detectors

Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 85:4 (2012)

Authors:

R Abbasi, Y Abdou, T Abu-Zayyad, M Ackermann, J Adams, K Andeen, JA Aguilar, M Ahlers, D Altmann, J Auffenberg, X Bai, M Baker, SW Barwick, R Bay, JL Bazo Alba, K Beattie, JJ Beatty, S Bechet, JK Becker, KH Becker, M Bell, ML Benabderrahmane, S Benzvi, J Berdermann, P Berghaus, D Berley, E Bernardini, D Bertrand, DZ Besson, D Bindig, M Bissok, E Blaufuss, J Blumenthal, DJ Boersma, C Bohm, D Bose, S Böser, O Botner, L Brayeur, AM Brown, S Buitink, KS Caballero-Mora, M Carson, M Casier, D Chirkin, B Christy, F Clevermann, S Cohen, C Colnard, DF Cowen, AH Cruz Silva, MV D'Agostino, M Danninger, J Daughhetee, JC Davis, C De Clercq, T Degner, F Descamps, P Desiati, G De Vries-Uiterweerd, T Deyoung, JC Díaz-Vélez, M Dierckxsens, J Dreyer, JP Dumm, M Dunkman, J Eisch, RW Ellsworth, O Engdegård, S Euler, PA Evenson, O Fadiran, AR Fazely, A Fedynitch, J Feintzeig, T Feusels, K Filimonov, C Finley, T Fischer-Wasels, S Flis, A Franckowiak, R Franke, TK Gaisser, J Gallagher, L Gerhardt, L Gladstone, T Glüsenkamp, A Goldschmidt, JA Goodman, D Góra, D Grant, T Griesel, A Groß, S Grullon, M Gurtner, C Ha, A Haj Ismail, A Hallgren, F Halzen, K Han

Abstract:

A search for an excess of muon neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Sun has been performed with the AMANDA-II neutrino telescope using data collected in 812 days of live time between 2001 and 2006 and 149 days of live time collected with the AMANDA-II and the 40-string configuration of IceCube during 2008 and early 2009. No excess over the expected atmospheric neutrino background has been observed. We combine these results with the previously published IceCube limits obtained with data taken during 2007 to obtain a total live time of 1065 days. We provide an upper limit at 90% confidence level on the annihilation rate of captured neutralinos in the Sun, as well as the corresponding muon flux limit at the Earth, both as functions of the neutralino mass in the range 50-5000GeV. We also derive a limit on the neutralino-proton spin-dependent and spin-independent cross section. The limits presented here improve the previous results obtained by the collaboration between a factor of 2 and 5, as well as extending the neutralino masses probed down to 50GeV. The spin-dependent cross section limits are the most stringent so far for neutralino masses above 200GeV, and well below direct search results in the mass range from 50GeV to 5TeV. © 2012 American Physical Society.