Neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Milky Way satellites

• Main Author: Una Kamilla Steinsen 1996-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Eðlisfræði; South Pole; Draga; Svæði; Milky Way; Merki; South pole
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/34944

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory under the South Pole observes the interaction of high-energy neutrinos within its cubic kilometre volume. This project aims to analyse these events in order to probe the nature of dark matter by exploring the possibility that the dark matter subhaloes of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies are the source of the high-energy neutrinos detected by IceCube. This could be possible in a WIMP dark matter model where annihilations are enhanced by a Sommerfeld enhancement. 9 of the 51 events are within a 40° circle around the Galactic Centre and were excluded in this analysis to subtract the potential dark matter signal from this region. Of the other 42 events, 13 spatially coincide with 11 of 37 Milky Way satellites. An estimate of the probability of this happening purely by chance is ~50%, compared to a similar previous study's reported probability of ~35%. When comparing the satellites on the expected annihilation signal, it is clear that there is no trend between the coincidences and the amplitude of the estimated signal. This indicates that a correlation between the satellites' dark matter haloes and the high-energy neutrino events cannot be made at present. Í IceCube fiseindarannsóknarstöðinni undir Suðurpólnum fara fram rannsóknir á víxlverkun háorku-fiseinda innan rúmkílómetra geymis í heimskautaísnum. Markmið verkefnisins er að greina þessa víxverkunaratburði til að kanna möguleikann á því hvort hulduefnishjúpar fylgiþoka Vetrarbrautarinnar geti verið uppspretta háorku-fiseindanna sem greinast í IceCube. Þessi möguleiki er fyrir hendi ef gert er ráð fyrir WIMP hulduefni þar sem eyðingin er auðguð með Sommerfeld-auðgun. Af samtals 51 atburði eru níu innan 40° hrings um miðju Vetrarbrautarinnar og voru þeir undanskildir í rannsókninni til að draga úr mögulegu merki hulduefnis frá þessu svæði. Af hinum 42 atburðunum reyndust 13 samfallandi í rúmi við 11 af 37 fylgiþokum Vetrarbrautarinnar. Líkindi þess að slíkt verði eingöngu fyrir tilviljun eru metin ~50%, samanborið við ~35% ...