Searches for Dark Matter with Icecube and Deepcore
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Matthias Danninger Searches for Dark Matter with IceCube and DeepCore New constraints on theories predicting dark-matter particles Department of Physics Stockholm University 2013 Doctoral Dissertation 2013 Oskar Klein Center for Cosmoparticle Physics Fysikum Stockholm University Roslagstullsbacken 21 106 91 Stockholm Sweden ISBN 978-91-7447-716-0 (pp. i-xii, 1-112) (pp. i-xii, 1-112) c Matthias Danninger, Stockholm 2013 Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2013 Distributor: Department of Physics, Stockholm University Abstract The cubic-kilometer sized IceCube neutrino observatory, constructed in the glacial ice at the South Pole, searches indirectly for dark matter via neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilations. It has a high discovery potential through striking signatures. This thesis presents searches for dark matter annihilations in the center of the Sun using experimental data collected with IceCube. The main physics analysis described here was performed for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with the 79-string configuration of the IceCube neutrino telescope. For the first time, the Deep- Core sub-array was included in the analysis, lowering the energy threshold and extending the search to the austral summer. Data from 317 days live- time are consistent with the expected background from atmospheric muons and neutrinos. Upper limits were set on the dark matter annihilation rate, with conversions to limits on the WIMP-proton scattering cross section, which ini- tiates the WIMP capture process in the Sun. These are the most stringent spin- dependent WIMP-proton cross-sections limits to date above 35 GeV for most WIMP models. In addition, a formalism for quickly and directly comparing event-level Ice- Cube data with arbitrary annihilation spectra in detailed model scans, consid- ering not only total event counts but also event directions and energy estima- tors, is presented. Two analyses were made that show an application of this formalism to both model exclusion and parameter estimation in models of supersymmetry. An analysis was also conducted that extended for the first time indirect dark matter searches with neutrinos using IceCube data, to an alternative dark mat- ter candidate, Kaluza-Klein particles, arising from theories with extra space- time dimensions. The methods developed for the solar dark matter search were applied to look for neutrino emission during a flare of the Crab Nebula in 2010. List of Papers Papers included in this thesis Paper I R. Abbasi et al., (IceCube Collaboration). Limits on a Muon Flux from Kaluza-Klein Dark Matter Annihilations in the Sun from the IceCube 22-string Detector. Physical Review D81 (2010) 057101. Paper II R. Abbasi et al., (IceCube Collaboration). Neutrino Analysis of the 2010 September Crab Nebula Flare and Time-Integrated Constraints on Neutrino Emission from the Crab using IceCube. Astrophysical Journal 745 (2012) 45. Paper III P. Scott, C. Savage, J. Edsjö and the IceCube Collaboration. Use of Event-Level Neutrino Telescope Data in Global Fits for Theories of New Physics. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 11 (2012) 057. Paper IV H. Silverwood, P. Scott, M. Danninger, C. Savage, J. Edsjö, J. Adams, A.M. Brown and K. Hultqvist. Sensitivity of IceCube-DeepCore to Neutralino Dark Matter in the MSSM-25. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 03 (2013) 027. Paper V M.G. Aartsen et al., (IceCube Collaboration). Search for dark matter annihilations in the Sun with the 79-string IceCube detector. Physical Review Letters 110 (2013) 131302. Proceedings not included in this thesis Paper VI M. Danninger and K. Han for the IceCube Collaboration. Search for the Kaluza-Klein Dark Matter with the AMANDA/IceCube Detectors. Proceedings of the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, Łód´z, Poland, 7–15 July 2009, session HE.2.3, contribution 1356; arXiv:0906.3969. vi Paper VII M. Danninger and E. Strahler for the IceCube Collaboration. Searches for Dark Matter Annihilations in the Sun with IceCube and DeepCore in the 79-string Configuration. Proceeding of the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Beijing, China, 11–18 August 2011, session HE.3.4, contribution 292; arXiv:1111.2738. Paper VIII M. Danninger for the IceCube Collaboration. Searches for Dark Matter with the IceCube Detector. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle & Underground Physics, Munich (Germany), September 2011; Journal of Physics: Conference Series 375 (2012) 012038 (JPCS). Paper IX M. Danninger for the IceCube Collaboration. Latest Results on Searches for Dark Matter from IceCube. Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on High Energy Physics, Melbourne (Australia), July 2012: To be published in Proceedings of Science. Contents Abstract...................................................... iii List of Papers.................................................. v Contents..................................................... vii Acknowledgements.............................................. xi Preface...................................................... 1 Part I: Dark matter: Motivation, constraints & indirect search with neutrinos using the IceCube detector 1 Dark matter................................................ 7 1.1 Observational evidence for dark matter.......................... 7 1.2 WIMP dark matter......................................... 10 1.3 The MSSM and the neutralino................................. 11 1.4 Extra dimensions and Kaluza-Klein dark matter..................... 13 1.5 Dark matter detection...................................... 13 1.5.1 Direct detection....................................... 14 1.5.2 Indirect detection...................................... 16 1.5.3 Accelerator searches................................... 17 1.6 Indirect solar search for WIMP dark matter........................ 17 1.7 Discussion on astrophysical uncertainties......................... 20 2 Expected background......................................... 23 2.1 Atmospheric muon background................................ 23 2.2 Atmospheric neutrino background.............................. 23 2.3 Neutrinos from the solar atmosphere............................ 24 3 Neutrino detection and the IceCube neutrino observatory................. 27 3.1 Neutrino detection in ice..................................... 27 3.1.1 Neutrino-nucleon interactions............................. 27 3.1.2 Muons in ice......................................... 30 3.1.3 Cherenkov radiation.................................... 30 3.1.4 Propagation of light in the South Pole ice..................... 31 3.2 IceCube neutrino observatory................................. 33 3.2.1 IceCube digital optical module............................. 36 3.2.2 Data acquisition....................................... 38 3.2.3 Calibration.......................................... 39 Part II: Search for dark matter annihilations in the Sun with the 79- string IceCube detector 4 Event simulation............................................. 43 4.1 Event generators.......................................... 43 4.1.1 Atmospheric background................................ 43 4.1.2 WIMP signal......................................... 44 4.2 Particle propagators....................................... 46 4.3 Detector response......................................... 47 5 Event reconstruction and event observables.......................... 49 5.1 Waveform calibration & feature extraction......................... 49 5.2 Reconstruction algorithm.................................... 52 5.2.1 Coincident event splitting................................ 54 5.3 Event observables......................................... 55 6 Analysis method............................................. 57 6.1 Probability densities........................................ 57 6.2 Shape analysis........................................... 57 6.3 Calculation of WIMP signal quantities............................ 61 7 IceCube 79-string data analysis.................................. 63 7.1 Experimental dataset....................................... 65 7.2 Online filter level.......................................... 66 7.3 Filter level L2............................................ 69 7.4 Analysis specific data processing.............................. 69 7.5 Filter level L3............................................ 70 7.5.1 L3, summer event selection............................... 70 7.5.2 L3, winter event selection................................ 71 7.6 Filter level L4............................................ 71 7.6.1 L4, SL event selection.................................. 72 7.6.2 L4, WH event selection.................................. 72 7.6.3 L4, WL event selection.................................. 73 7.7 Multivariate event classification................................ 73 7.7.1 SL event selection..................................... 74 7.7.2 WH event selection.................................... 77 7.7.3 WL event selection..................................... 80 7.8 Filter level L5............................................ 83 7.8.1 L5, SL event selection.................................. 84 7.8.2 L5, WH event selection.................................. 85 7.8.3 L5, WL event selection.................................. 86 7.9 Sensitivity.............................................. 88 7.10 Results................................................ 89 7.11 Systematic uncertainties...................................