Electron anisotropy: A tool to discriminate dark matter in cosmic rays

Enrico Borriello, Luca MacCione, Alessandro Cuoco

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

Indirect searches of particle Dark Matter (DM) with high energy Cosmic Rays (CR) are typically affected by large uncertainties. We show that, on the contrary, the DM intrinsic degree of anisotropy in the arrival directions of high energy CR electrons and positrons (CRE) is basically model independent and offers a straightforward criterion to discriminate among CRE from DM or from local discrete sources, like e.g. pulsars. In particular, in absence of the latter, DM sets the maximum degree of total anisotropy. As a consequence, if a larger anisotropy is detected, this would constitute an unambiguous evidence for the presence of astrophysical local discrete CRE sources. The Fermi-LAT will be able to probe such scenarios in the next years.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number012031
JournalJournal of Physics: Conference Series
Volume375
Issue numberPART 2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes
Event12th International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, TAUP 2011 - Munich, Germany
Duration: Sep 5 2011Sep 9 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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