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arXiv · 1005.5102

Light WIMPs in the Sun: Constraints from Helioseismology

Daniel T. Cumberbatch·Joyce. A. Guzik·Joseph Silk·L. Scott Watson·Stephen M. West
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Abstract

We calculate solar models including dark matter (DM) weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs) of mass 5-50 GeV and test these models against helioseismic constraints on sound speed, convection zone depth, convection zone helium abundance, and small separations of low-degree p-modes. Our main conclusion is that both direct detection experiments and particle accelerators may be complemented by using the Sun as a probe for WIMP DM particles in the 5-50 GeV mass range. The DM most sensitive to this probe has suppressed annihilations and a large spin-dependent elastic scattering cross section. For the WIMP cross-section parameters explored here, the lightest WIMP masses <10 GeV are ruled out by constraints on core sound speed and low-degree frequency spacings. For WIMP masses 30-50 GeV, the changes to the solar structure are confined to the inner 4% of the solar radius and so do not significantly affect the solar p-modes. Future helioseismology observations, most notably involving g-modes, and future solar neutrino experiments may be able to constrain the allowable DM parameter space in a mass range that is of current interest for direct detection.

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Daniel T. Cumberbatch, Joyce. A. Guzik, Joseph Silk, L. Scott Watson, Stephen M. West. 2010-10-14. Light WIMPs in the Sun: Constraints from Helioseismology. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.82.103503

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