arXiv subjects

Katherine Richardson

Publications and source records attributed to Katherine Richardson.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2015

Tools for Studying Low-Mass Dark Matter at Neutrino Detectors

We determine the neutrino spectra arising from low-mass (4-10 GeV) dark matter annihilating in the sun. We also determine the low-mass dark matter capture rates (element by element in the sun), assuming dark matter interacts either through elastic contact interactions, elastic long-range interactions, or inelastic contact interactions. These are the non-detector-specific data needed for determining the sensitivity of a neutrino detector to dark matter annihilating in the sun. As an application, we estimate the sensitivity of a one kiloton liquid scintillation neutrino detector (such as KamLAND) and LBNE (LAr-based) to low-mass dark matter with long-range interactions and compare this to the expected CDMS sensitivity. It is found that KamLAND's sensitivity can exceed that obtainable from the current CDMS data set by up to two orders of magnitude.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Distinguishing among dark matter annihilation channels with neutrino telescopes

We investigate the prospects for distinguishing dark matter annihilation channels using the neutrino flux from gravitationally captured dark matter particles annihilating inside the sun. We show that, even with experimental error in energy reconstruction taken into account, the spectrum of contained muon tracks may be used to discriminate neutrino final states from the gauge boson/charged lepton final states and to determine their corresponding branching ratios. We also discuss the effect of $ν_τ$ regeneration inside the sun as a novel method to distinguish the flavor of final state neutrinos. This effect as evidenced in the muon spectrum becomes important for dark matter masses above 300 GeV. Distinguishing primary neutrinos and their flavor may be achieved using multi-year data from a detector with the same capability and effective volume as the IceCube/DeepCore array.

hep-ph↗