First search for dark matter annihilations in the Earth with the IceCube detector

• Main Authors: Aartsen, MG, Abraham, K, Ackermann, M, Adams, J, Aguilar, JA, Ahlers, M, Ahrens, M, Altmann, D, Andeen, K, Anderson, T, Ansseau, I, Anton, G, Archinger, M, Argüelles, C, Auffenberg, J, Axani, S, Bai, X, Barwick, SW, Baum, V, Bay, R, Beatty, JJ, Becker Tjus, J, Becker, K-H, BenZvi, S, Berley, D, Bernardini, E, Bernhard, A, Besson, DZ, Binder, G, Bindig, D, Bissok, M, Blaufuss, E, Blot, S, Bohm, C, Börner, M, Bos, F, Bose, D, Böser, S, Botner, O, Braun, J, Brayeur, L, Bretz, H-P, Bron, S, Burgman, A, Carver, T, Casier, M, Cheung, E, Chirkin, D, Christov, A, Clark, K, Classen, L, Coenders, S, Collin, GH, Conrad, JM, Cowen, DF, Cross, R, Day, M, de André, JPAM, De Clercq, C, del Pino Rosendo, E, Dembinski, H, De Ridder, S, Desiati, P, de Vries, KD, de Wasseige, G, de With, M, DeYoung, T, Díaz-Vélez, JC, di Lorenzo, V, Dujmovic, H, Dumm, JP, Dunkman, M, Eberhardt, B, Ehrhardt, T, Eichmann, B, Eller, P, Euler, S, Evenson, PA, Fahey, S, Fazely, AR, Feintzeig, J, Felde, J, Filimonov, K, Finley, C, Flis, S, Fösig, C-C, Franckowiak, A, Friedman, E, Fuchs, T, Gaisser, TK, Gallagher, J, Gerhardt, L, Ghorbani, K, Giang, W, Gladstone, L, Glagla, M, Glauch, T, Glüsenkamp, T, Goldschmidt, A, Golup, G
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2017
• Subjects: Nuclear and Plasma Physics; Particle and High Energy Physics; Physical Sciences; astro-ph.HE; Atomic; Molecular; Nuclear; Particle and Plasma Physics; Quantum Physics; Nuclear & Particles Physics; Astronomical sciences; molecular and optical physics; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5350s08s

We present the results of the first IceCube search for dark matter annihilation in the center of the Earth. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), candidates for dark matter, can scatter off nuclei inside the Earth and fall below its escape velocity. Over time the captured WIMPs will be accumulated and may eventually self-annihilate. Among the annihilation products only neutrinos can escape from the center of the Earth. Large-scale neutrino telescopes, such as the cubic kilometer IceCube Neutrino Observatory located at the South Pole, can be used to search for such neutrino fluxes. Data from 327days of detector livetime during 2011/2012 were analyzed. No excess beyond the expected background from atmospheric neutrinos was detected. The derived upper limits on the annihilation rate of WIMPs in the Earth and the resulting muon flux are an order of magnitude stronger than the limits of the last analysis performed with data from IceCube’s predecessor AMANDA. The limits can be translated in terms of a spin-independent WIMP–nucleon cross section. For a WIMP mass of 50GeV this analysis results in the most restrictive limits achieved with IceCube data.