arXiv subjects

Xiao-Jun Bi

Publications and source records attributed to Xiao-Jun Bi.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Systematic study of the uncertainties in fitting the cosmic positron data by AMS-02

The operation of AMS-02 opens a new era for the study of cosmic ray physics with unprecedentedly precise data which are comparable with the laboratory measurements. The high precision data allow a quantitative study on the cosmic ray physics and give strict constraints on the nature of cosmic ray sources. However, the intrinsic errors from the theoretical models to interpret the data become dominant over the errors in the data. In the present work we try to give a systematic study on the uncertainties of the models to explain the AMS-02 positron fraction data, which shows the cosmic ray $e^+e^-$ excesses together with the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT measurements. The excesses can be attributed to contributions from the extra $e^+e^-$ sources, such as pulsars or the dark matter annihilation. The possible systematic uncertainties of the theoretical models considered include the cosmic ray propagation, the treatment of the low energy data, the solar modulation, the $pp$ interaction models, the nuclei injection spectrum and so on. We find that in general a spectral hardening of the primary electron injection spectrum above $\sim50-100$ GeV is favored by the data. Furthermore, the present model uncertainties may lead to a factor of $\sim2$ enlargement in the determination of the parameter regions of the extra source, such as the dark matter mass, annihilation rate and so on.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

Quantitative study of the AMS-02 electron/positron spectra: implications for the pulsar and dark matter properties

The AMS-02 has just published the unprecedentedly precise measurement of the cosmic electron and positron spectra. In this paper we try to give a quantitative study on the AMS-02 results by a global fitting to the electron and positron spectra, together with the updated positron fraction data. The Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm is adopted to do the fitting. The primary electron spectrum and the parameters for pulsars or dark matter which contribute extra positrons are determined simultaneously. We find that there is a hardening of the primary electron spectrum at $\sim 60$ GeV. With such a new feature at the background spectrum both the pulsars and dark matter can explain the AMS-02 results very well. The dark matter scenario shows a drop at positron fraction at $\sim 300$ GeV, however, suffers very strong constraints from Fermi $γ$-ray observations. The fitting results also suggest that the propagation model with convection may be more favored by the lepton data than the reacceleration model.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Tau Portal Dark Matter models at the LHC

Motivated by the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess in the Fermi-LAT data, we study the signatures of a class of tau portal dark matter (DM) models where DM particles preferentially couple to tau leptons at the LHC. We consider the constraints from the DM direct detection and investigate the sensitivity of the LHC to di-tau plus missing energy signatures. We find that the LHC with a high luminosity of 3000 fb$^{-1}$ can test the tau portal DM models with fermionic mediators in the mass range of $120\sim450$ GeV.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Status of Dark Matter Detection

The detection of dark matter has made great progresses in recent years. We give a brief review on the status and progress in dark matter detection, including the progresses in direct detection, collider detection at LHC and focus on the indirect detection. The results from PAMELA, ATIC, Fermi-LAT and relevant studies on these results are introduced. Then we give the progress on indirect detection of gamma rays from Fermi-LAT and ground based Cerenkov telescopes. Finally the detection of neutrinos and constraints on the nature of dark matter are reviewed briefly.

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arXiv2014

Implications of the AMS-02 positron fraction in cosmic rays

The AMS-02 collaboration has just released its first result of the cosmic positron fraction $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ with high precision up to $\sim 350$ GeV. The AMS-02 result shows the same trend with the previous PAMELA result, which requires extra electron/positron sources on top of the conventional cosmic ray background, either from astrophysical sources or from dark matter annihilation/decay. In this paper we try to figure out the nature of the extra sources by fitting to the AMS-02 $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ data, as well as the electron and proton spectra by PAMELA and the $(e^-+e^+)$ spectrum by Fermi and HESS. We adopt the GALPROP package to calculate the propagation of the Galactic cosmic rays and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampler to do the fit. We find that the AMS-02 data have implied essential difference from the PAMELA data. There is {\rm tension} between the AMS-02 $e^+/(e^-+e^+)$ data and the Fermi/HESS $(e^-+e^+)$ spectrum, that the AMS-02 data requires less contribution from the extra sources than Fermi/HESS. Then we redo the fit without including the Fermi/HESS data. In this case both the pulsars and dark matter annihilation/decay can explain the AMS-02 data. The pulsar scenario has a soft inject spectrum with the power-law index $\sim 2$, while the dark matter scenario needs $τ^+τ^-$ final state with mass $\sim 600$ GeV and a boost factor $\sim 200$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Reconcile the AMS-02 positron fraction and Fermi-LAT/HESS total $e^{\pm}$ spectra by the primary electron spectrum hardening

The recently reported positron fraction up to $\sim 350$ GeV by AMS-02 seems to have tension with the total electron/positron spectra detected by Fermi and HESS, for either pulsar or dark matter annihilation/decay scenario as the primary positron sources. In this work we will show that the tension will be removed by an adjustment of the primary electron spectrum. If the primary electron spectrum becomes harder above $\sim50$ GeV, similar as the cosmic ray nuclei spectrum, the AMS-02 positron fraction and Fermi/HESS data can be well fitted by both the pulsar and dark matter models. This result indicates that there should be a common origin of the cosmic ray nuclei and the primary electrons. Furthermore, this study also implies that the properties of the extra sources derived from the fitting to the AMS-02 data should depend on the form of background.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

Dark matter searches in the mono-$Z$ channel at high energy $e^+e^-$ colliders

We explore the mono-$Z$ signature for dark matter searches at future high energy $e^+e^-$ colliders. In the context of effective field theory, we consider two kinds of contact operators describing dark matter interactions with electroweak gauge bosons and with electron/positron, respectively. For five benchmark models, we propose kinematic cuts to distinguish signals from backgrounds for both charged leptonic and hadronic decay modes of the $Z$ boson. We also present the experimental sensitivity to cutoff scales of effective operators and compare it with that of the Fermi-LAT indirect search and demonstrate the gains in significance for the several configurations of polarized beams.

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arXiv2013

Light stop/sbottom pair production searches in the NMSSM

In this work, we study the constraints on the scenario of light stops and sbottoms in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM), especially by a 125 GeV Higgs boson discovery and the LHC bounds on supersymmetry. The constraints from dark matter detections are also taken into account. From the parameter scan, we find that the NMSSM can well accommodate a light Higgs boson around 125 GeV and decay patterns. We would like to stress that the LHC direct supersymmetry searches with b-tagging are very powerful and can set strong bounds on many NMSSM parameter points with light stops and sbottoms. We find $\tilde {t}\to b\tildeχ^+_1$ is a very promising channel for light stop detection if the mass splitting between $\tildeχ^+_1$ and $\tildeχ^0_1$ is very small. It is also pointed out that in order to close the parameter space of light stops and sbottoms, new search strategies for signal channels such as $p p \to {\tilde t_1} {\tilde t_1} \to t {\bar t} h h \tildeχ^0_1 \tildeχ^0_1$ and $p p \to {\tilde b_1} {\tilde b_1} \to t {\bar t} W^+ W^- \tildeχ^0_1 \tildeχ^0_1$ may be necessary.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Pulsar interpretation for the AMS-02 result

The AMS-02 collaboration has just published a high precision measurement of the cosmic positron fraction $e^+/(e^- + e^+)$, which rises with energy from $\sim 5$ GeV to $\sim 350$ GeV. The result indicates the existence of primary electron/positron sources to account for the positron excess. In this work, we investigate the possibility that the nearby mature pulsars are the primary positron sources. By fitting the data we find that the positrons from a single nearby pulsar, such as Geminga or Monogem, with the spectral index $α\sim 2$ can interpret the AMS-02 result. We also investigate the possibility that high energy positrons are generated by multiple known pulsars in the ATNF catalogue. Such a scenario can also fit the AMS-02 data well. Future precise measurements of fine structures in the positron spectrum would be a support to the pulsar scenario.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Measuring the extragalactic background light from very high energy gamma-ray observations of blazars

The extragalactic background light (EBL) contains important information about stellar and galaxy evolution. It leaves imprint on the very high energy $γ$-ray spectra from sources at cosmological distances due to the process of pair production. In this work we propose to {\em measure} the EBL directly by extracting the collective attenuation effects in a number of $γ$-ray sources at different redshifts. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo fitting method, the EBL intensities and the intrinsic spectral parameters of $γ$-ray sources are derived simultaneously. No prior shape of EBL is assumed in the fit. With this method, we can for the first time to derive the spectral shape of the EBL model-independently. Our result shows the expected features predicted by the present EBL models and thus support the understanding of the EBL origin.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Detecting light stop pairs in coannihilation scenarios at the LHC

In this work, we study the light stop pair signals at the large hadron collider (LHC) in three coannihilation scenarios. In order to yield the desired dark matter (DM) relic density, the neutralino can coannihilate with stop, chargino and stau, respectively. Signatures of the first scenario can be probed at the LHC via the associated jet production processes $pp \to j + {\tilde t} {\tilde t}^*$ by tagging an energetic mono-jet and a large missing transverse energy. The signatures of the other two scenarios can be searched via the pair production process $pp \to {\tilde t} {\tilde t}^*$ by tagging energetic b-jets in the final states and a large missing transverse energy. We find that the LHC results at 7 TeV with 5 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of data can exclude the stop mass up to 220, 380 and 220 GeV for these three scenarios, respectively. While the 20 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ dataset at 8 TeV is considered, the LHC can be expected to exclude the stop mass up to 340, 430 and 370 GeV.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Gamma-rays From Warm WIMP Dark Matter Annihilation

The weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) often serves as a candidate for the cold dark matter, however when produced non-thermally it could behave like warm dark matter. In this paper we study the properties of the $γ$-ray emission from annihilation of WIMP dark matter in the halo of our own Milky-Way Galaxy with high resolution $N$-body simulations of a Milky-Way like dark matter halo, assuming different nature of WIMPs. Due to the large free-streaming length in the scenario of warm WIMPs, the substructure contend of the dark matter halo is significantly different from that of the cold WIMP counterpart, resulting in distinct predictions of the $γ$-ray signals from the dark matter annihilation. We illustrate these by comparing the predicted $γ$-ray signals from the warm WIMP annihilation to that of cold WIMPs. Pronounced differences from the subhalo skymap and statistical properties between two WIMP models are demonstrated. Due to the potentially enhanced cross section of the non-thermal production mechanism in warm WIMP scenario, the Galactic center might be prior for the indirect detection of warm WIMPs to dwarf galaxies, which might be different from the cold dark matter scenario. As a specific example we consider the non-thermally produced neutralino of supersymmetric model and discuss the detectability of warm WIMPs with Fermi $γ$-ray telescope.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Constraints on the dark matter annihilation scenario of Fermi 130 GeV $γ$-ray line emission by continuous gamma-rays, Milky Way halo, galaxy clusters and dwarf galaxies observations

It was recently reported that there may exist monochromatic $γ$-ray emission at $\sim 130$ GeV from the Galactic center in the Fermi Large Area Telescope data, which might be related with dark matter (DM) annihilation. In this work we carry out a comprehensive check of consistency of the results with the DM annihilation scenario, using the 3.7 yrs Fermi observation of the inner Galaxy, Galactic halo, clusters of galaxies and dwarf galaxies. The results found are as follows. 1) Very strong constraints on the DM annihilation into continuous $γ$-rays from the Galactic center are set, which are as stringent as the "natural" scale assuming thermal freeze-out of DM. Such limit sets strong constraint on the DM models to explain the line emission. 2) No line emission from the Galactic halo is found in the Fermi data, and the constraints on line emission is marginally consistent with the DM annihilation interpretation of the $\sim 130$ GeV line emission from the inner Galaxy. 3) No line emission from galaxy clusters and dwarf galaxies is detected, although possible concentration of photons from clusters in 120-140 GeV is revealed. The constraints from clusters and dwarf galaxies are weak and consistent with the DM annihilation scenario to explain the $\sim 130$ GeV line emission.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Unified model for the gamma-ray emission of supernova remnants

Shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs) are important (and perhaps the dominant) agents for production of the Galactic cosmic rays. Recent $γ$-ray observations of several SNRs have made this case more compelling. However, these broadband high-energy measurements also reveal a variety of spectral shape demanding more comprehensive modeling of emissions from SNRs. According to the locally observed fluxes of cosmic ray protons and electrons, the electron-to-proton number ratio is known to be about 1%. Assuming such a ratio is universal for all SNRs and identical spectral shape for all kinds of accelerated particles, we propose a unified model that ascribes the distinct $γ$-ray spectra of different SNRs to variations of the medium density and the spectral difference between cosmic ray electrons and protons observed at Earth to transport effects. For low density environments, the $γ$-ray emission is inverse-Compton dominated. For high density environments like systems of high-energy particles interacting with molecular clouds, the $γ$-ray emission is $π^0$-decay dominated. The model predicts a hadronic origin of $γ$-ray emission from very old remnants interacting mostly with molecular clouds and a leptonic origin for intermediate age remnants whose shocks propagate in a low density environment created by their progenitors via e.g., strong stellar winds. These results can be regarded as evidence in support of the SNR-origin of the Galactic cosmic rays.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

Search for dark matter signals with Fermi-LAT observation of globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15

The globular clusters are probably good targets for dark matter (DM) searches in $γ$-rays due to the possible adiabatic contraction of DM by baryons. In this work we analyse the three-year data collected by {\it Fermi} Large Area Telescope of globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15 to search for possible DM signals. For NGC 6388 the detection of $γ$-ray emission was reported by {\it Fermi} collaboration, which is consistent with the emission of a population of millisecond pulsars. The spectral shape of NGC 6388 is also shown to be consistent with a DM contribution if assuming the annihilation final state is $b\bar{b}$. No significant $γ$-ray emission from M 15 is observed. We give the upper limits of DM contribution to $γ$-ray emission in both NGC 6388 and M 15, for annihilation final states $b\bar{b}$, $W^+W^-$, $μ^+μ^-$, $τ^+τ^-$ and monochromatic line. The constraints are stronger than that derived from observation of dwarf galaxies by {\it Fermi}.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2012

CosRayMC: a global fitting method in studying the properties of the new sources of cosmic e$^{\pm}$ excesses

Recently PAMELA collaboration published the cosmic nuclei and electron spectra with high precision, together with the cosmic antiproton data updated, and the Fermi-LAT collaboration also updated the measurement of the total $e^+e^-$ spectrum to lower energies. In this paper we develop a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) package {\it CosRayMC}, based on the GALPROP cosmic ray propagation model to study the implications of these new data. It is found that if only the background electrons and secondary positrons are considered, the fit is very bad with $χ_{\rm red}^2 \approx 3.68$. Taking into account the extra $e^+e^-$ sources of pulsars or dark matter annihilation we can give much better fit to these data, with the minimum $χ_{\rm red}^2 \approx 0.83$. This means the extra sources are necessary with a very high significance in order to fit the data. However, the data show little difference between pulsar and dark matter scenarios. Both the background and extra source parameters are well constrained with this MCMC method. Including the antiproton data, we further constrain the branching ratio of dark matter annihilation into quarks $B_q<0.5%$ at $2σ$ confidence level. The possible systematical uncertainties of the present study are discussed.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

Constraining the interaction strength between dark matter and visible matter: II. scalar, vector and spin-3/2 dark matter

We investigate the constraints on the scalar, vector and spin-3/2 dark matter interaction with the standard model particles, from the observations of dark matter relic density, the direct detection experiments of CDMS and XENON, and the indirect detection of the antiproton-to-proton ratio by PAMELA. A model independent way is adopted by constructing general 4-particle operators up to dimension 6 for the effective interaction between dark matter and standard model particles. We find that the constraints from different experiments are complementary with each other. Comparison among these constraints may exclude some effective models of dark matter and limit some parameters of others. The spin-independent direct detection gives strong constraints for some operators, while the indirect detection of antiproton-to-proton data can be more sensitive than direct detection or relic density for light dark matter (whose mass less than 70 GeV) in some cases. The constraints on some operators for spin-3/2 dark matter are shown to be similar to those on their analogous operators for Dirac fermionic dark matter. There are still some operators not sensitive to the current dark matter direct and indirect search experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Constraints and tests of the OPERA superluminal neutrinos

The superluminal neutrinos detected by OPERA indicates Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) of the neutrino sector at the order of $10^{-5}$. We study the implications of the result in this work. We find that such a large LIV implied by OPERA data will make the neutrino production process $π\to μ+ ν_μ$ kinematically forbidden for neutrino energy greater than about 5 GeV. The OPERA detection of neutrinos at 40 GeV can constrain the LIV parameter to be smaller than $3\times 10^{-7}$. Furthermore the neutrino decay in the LIV framework will modify the neutrino spectrum greatly. The atmospheric neutrino spectrum measured by IceCube can constrain the LIV parameter to the level of $10^{-12}$. The future detection of astrophysical neutrinos of Galactic sources is expected to be able to give even stronger constraint on the LIV parameter of neutrinos.

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