Search for neutrinos from decaying dark matter with IceCube: IceCube Collaboration

M G Aartsen; M Ackermann; J Adams; J A Aguilar; M Ahlers; M Ahrens; I Al Samarai; D Altmann; K Andeen; T Anderson; I Ansseau; G Anton; C Argüelles; J Auffenberg; S Axani; P Backes; H Bagherpour; X Bai; J P Barron; S W Barwick; V Baum; R Bay; J J Beatty; J Becker Tjus; K-H Becker; S BenZvi; D Berley; E Bernardini; D Z Besson; G Binder; D Bindig; E Blaufuss; S Blot; C Bohm; M Börner; F Bos; S Böser; O Botner; E Bourbeau; J Bourbeau; F Bradascio; J Braun; M Brenzke; H-P Bretz; S Bron; J Brostean-Kaiser; A Burgman; R S Busse; T Carver; E Cheung; D Chirkin; A Christov; K Clark; L Classen; G H Collin; J M Conrad; P Coppin; P Correa; D F Cowen; R Cross; P Dave; M Day; J P A M de André; C De Clercq; J J DeLaunay; H Dembinski; S De Ridder; P Desiati; K D de Vries; G de Wasseige; M de With; T DeYoung; J C Díaz-Vélez; V di Lorenzo; H Dujmovic; J P Dumm; M Dunkman; E Dvorak; B Eberhardt; T Ehrhardt; B Eichmann; P Eller; P A Evenson; S Fahey; A R Fazely; J Felde; K Filimonov; C Finley; S Flis; A Franckowiak; E Friedman; A Fritz; T K Gaisser; J Gallagher; E Ganster; L Gerhardt; K Ghorbani; W Giang; T Glauch; T Glüsenkamp; A Goldschmidt; J G Gonzalez; D Grant; Z Griffith; C Haack; A Hallgren; L Halve; F Halzen; K Hanson; D Hebecker; D Heereman; K Helbing; R Hellauer; S Hickford; J Hignight; G C Hill; K D Hoffman; R Hoffmann; T Hoinka; B Hokanson-Fasig; K Hoshina; F Huang; M Huber; K Hultqvist; M Hünnefeld; R Hussain; S In; N Iovine; A Ishihara; E Jacobi; G S Japaridze; M Jeong; K Jero; B J P Jones; P Kalaczynski; W Kang; A Kappes; D Kappesser; T Karg; A Karle; U Katz; M Kauer; A Keivani; J L Kelley; A Kheirandish; J Kim; M Kim; T Kintscher; J Kiryluk; T Kittler; S R Klein; R Koirala; H Kolanoski; L Köpke; C Kopper; S Kopper; J P Koschinsky; D J Koskinen; M Kowalski; K Krings; M Kroll; G Krückl; S Kunwar; N Kurahashi; T Kuwabara; A Kyriacou; M Labare; J L Lanfranchi; M J Larson; F Lauber; K Leonard; M Lesiak-Bzdak; M Leuermann; Q R Liu; E Lohfink; C J Lozano Mariscal; L Lu; J Lünemann; W Luszczak; J Madsen; G Maggi; K B M Mahn; S Mancina; R Maruyama; K Mase; R Maunu; K Meagher; M Medici; M Meier; T Menne; G Merino; T Meures; S Miarecki; J Micallef; G Momenté; T Montaruli; R W Moore; M Moulai; R Nahnhauer; P Nakarmi; U Naumann; G Neer; H Niederhausen; S C Nowicki; D R Nygren; A Obertacke Pollmann; A Olivas; A O'Murchadha; E O'Sullivan; T Palczewski; H Pandya; D V Pankova; P Peiffer; J A Pepper; C Pérez de Los Heros; D Pieloth; E Pinat; M Plum; P B Price; G T Przybylski; C Raab; L Rädel; M Rameez; L Rauch; K Rawlins; I C Rea; R Reimann; B Relethford; M Relich; E Resconi; W Rhode; M Richman; S Robertson; M Rongen; C Rott; T Ruhe; D Ryckbosch; D Rysewyk; I Safa; S E Sanchez Herrera; A Sandrock; J Sandroos; M Santander; S Sarkar; S Sarkar; K Satalecka; M Schaufel; P Schlunder; T Schmidt; A Schneider; S Schoenen; S Schöneberg; L Schumacher; S Sclafani; D Seckel; S Seunarine; J Soedingrekso; D Soldin; M Song; G M Spiczak; C Spiering; J Stachurska; M Stamatikos; T Stanev; A Stasik; R Stein; J Stettner; A Steuer; T Stezelberger; R G Stokstad; A Stößl; N L Strotjohann; T Stuttard; G W Sullivan; M Sutherland; I Taboada; J Tatar; F Tenholt; S Ter-Antonyan; A Terliuk; S Tilav; P A Toale; M N Tobin; C Tönnis; S Toscano; D Tosi; M Tselengidou; C F Tung; A Turcati; C F Turley; B Ty; E Unger; M Usner; J Vandenbroucke; W Van Driessche; D van Eijk; N van Eijndhoven; S Vanheule; J van Santen; M Vraeghe; C Walck; A Wallace; M Wallraff; F D Wandler; N Wandkowsky; A Waza; C Weaver; M J Weiss; C Wendt; J Werthebach; S Westerhoff; B J Whelan; K Wiebe; C H Wiebusch; L Wille; D R Williams; L Wills; M Wolf; J Wood; T R Wood; E Woolsey; K Woschnagg; G Wrede; D L Xu; X W Xu; Y Xu; J P Yanez; G Yodh; S Yoshida; T Yuan

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-6273-3

Search for neutrinos from decaying dark matter with IceCube: IceCube Collaboration

Eur Phys J C Part Fields. 2018;78(10):831. doi: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-6273-3. Epub 2018 Oct 16.

Authors

M G Aartsen¹, M Ackermann², J Adams¹, J A Aguilar³, M Ahlers⁴, M Ahrens⁵, I Al Samarai⁶, D Altmann⁷, K Andeen⁸, T Anderson⁹, I Ansseau³, G Anton⁷, C Argüelles¹⁰, J Auffenberg¹¹, S Axani¹⁰, P Backes¹¹, H Bagherpour¹, X Bai¹², J P Barron¹³, S W Barwick¹⁴, V Baum¹⁵, R Bay¹⁶, J J Beatty^{17

18}, J Becker Tjus¹⁹, K-H Becker²⁰, S BenZvi²¹, D Berley²², E Bernardini², D Z Besson²³, G Binder^{16

24}, D Bindig²⁰, E Blaufuss²², S Blot², C Bohm⁵, M Börner²⁵, F Bos¹⁹, S Böser¹⁵, O Botner²⁶, E Bourbeau⁴, J Bourbeau²⁷, F Bradascio², J Braun²⁷, M Brenzke¹¹, H-P Bretz², S Bron⁶, J Brostean-Kaiser², A Burgman²⁶, R S Busse²⁷, T Carver⁶, E Cheung²², D Chirkin²⁷, A Christov⁶, K Clark²⁸, L Classen²⁹, G H Collin¹⁰, J M Conrad¹⁰, P Coppin³⁰, P Correa³⁰, D F Cowen^{31

9}, R Cross²¹, P Dave³², M Day²⁷, J P A M de André³³, C De Clercq³⁰, J J DeLaunay⁹, H Dembinski³⁴, S De Ridder³⁵, P Desiati²⁷, K D de Vries³⁰, G de Wasseige³⁰, M de With³⁶, T DeYoung³³, J C Díaz-Vélez²⁷, V di Lorenzo¹⁵, H Dujmovic³⁷, J P Dumm⁵, M Dunkman⁹, E Dvorak¹², B Eberhardt¹⁵, T Ehrhardt¹⁵, B Eichmann¹⁹, P Eller⁹, P A Evenson³⁴, S Fahey²⁷, A R Fazely³⁸, J Felde²², K Filimonov¹⁶, C Finley⁵, S Flis⁵, A Franckowiak², E Friedman²², A Fritz¹⁵, T K Gaisser³⁴, J Gallagher³⁹, E Ganster¹¹, L Gerhardt²⁴, K Ghorbani²⁷, W Giang¹³, T Glauch⁴⁰, T Glüsenkamp⁷, A Goldschmidt²⁴, J G Gonzalez³⁴, D Grant¹³, Z Griffith²⁷, C Haack¹¹, A Hallgren²⁶, L Halve¹¹, F Halzen²⁷, K Hanson²⁷, D Hebecker³⁶, D Heereman³, K Helbing²⁰, R Hellauer²², S Hickford²⁰, J Hignight³³, G C Hill⁴¹, K D Hoffman²², R Hoffmann²⁰, T Hoinka²⁵, B Hokanson-Fasig²⁷, K Hoshina²⁷, F Huang⁹, M Huber⁴⁰, K Hultqvist⁵, M Hünnefeld²⁵, R Hussain²⁷, S In³⁷, N Iovine³, A Ishihara⁴², E Jacobi², G S Japaridze⁴³, M Jeong³⁷, K Jero²⁷, B J P Jones⁴⁴, P Kalaczynski¹¹, W Kang³⁷, A Kappes²⁹, D Kappesser¹⁵, T Karg², A Karle²⁷, U Katz⁷, M Kauer²⁷, A Keivani⁹, J L Kelley²⁷, A Kheirandish²⁷, J Kim³⁷, M Kim⁴², T Kintscher², J Kiryluk⁴⁵, T Kittler⁷, S R Klein^{16

24}, R Koirala³⁴, H Kolanoski³⁶, L Köpke¹⁵, C Kopper¹³, S Kopper⁴⁶, J P Koschinsky¹¹, D J Koskinen⁴, M Kowalski^{36

2}, K Krings⁴⁰, M Kroll¹⁹, G Krückl¹⁵, S Kunwar², N Kurahashi⁴⁷, T Kuwabara⁴², A Kyriacou⁴¹, M Labare³⁵, J L Lanfranchi⁹, M J Larson⁴, F Lauber²⁰, K Leonard²⁷, M Lesiak-Bzdak⁴⁵, M Leuermann¹¹, Q R Liu²⁷, E Lohfink¹⁵, C J Lozano Mariscal²⁹, L Lu⁴², J Lünemann³⁰, W Luszczak²⁷, J Madsen⁴⁸, G Maggi³⁰, K B M Mahn³³, S Mancina²⁷, R Maruyama⁴⁹, K Mase⁴², R Maunu²², K Meagher³, M Medici⁴, M Meier²⁵, T Menne²⁵, G Merino²⁷, T Meures³, S Miarecki^{16

24}, J Micallef³³, G Momenté¹⁵, T Montaruli⁶, R W Moore¹³, M Moulai¹⁰, R Nahnhauer², P Nakarmi⁴⁶, U Naumann²⁰, G Neer³³, H Niederhausen⁴⁵, S C Nowicki¹³, D R Nygren²⁴, A Obertacke Pollmann²⁰, A Olivas²², A O'Murchadha³, E O'Sullivan⁵, T Palczewski^{16

24}, H Pandya³⁴, D V Pankova⁹, P Peiffer¹⁵, J A Pepper⁴⁶, C Pérez de Los Heros²⁶, D Pieloth²⁵, E Pinat³, M Plum⁸, P B Price¹⁶, G T Przybylski²⁴, C Raab³, L Rädel¹¹, M Rameez⁴, L Rauch², K Rawlins⁵⁰, I C Rea⁴⁰, R Reimann¹¹, B Relethford⁴⁷, M Relich⁴², E Resconi⁴⁰, W Rhode²⁵, M Richman⁴⁷, S Robertson⁴¹, M Rongen¹¹, C Rott³⁷, T Ruhe²⁵, D Ryckbosch³⁵, D Rysewyk³³, I Safa²⁷, S E Sanchez Herrera¹³, A Sandrock²⁵, J Sandroos¹⁵, M Santander⁴⁶, S Sarkar^{4

51}, S Sarkar¹³, K Satalecka², M Schaufel¹¹, P Schlunder²⁵, T Schmidt²², A Schneider²⁷, S Schoenen¹¹, S Schöneberg¹⁹, L Schumacher¹¹, S Sclafani⁴⁷, D Seckel³⁴, S Seunarine⁴⁸, J Soedingrekso²⁵, D Soldin³⁴, M Song²², G M Spiczak⁴⁸, C Spiering², J Stachurska², M Stamatikos¹⁷, T Stanev³⁴, A Stasik², R Stein², J Stettner¹¹, A Steuer¹⁵, T Stezelberger²⁴, R G Stokstad²⁴, A Stößl⁴², N L Strotjohann², T Stuttard⁴, G W Sullivan²², M Sutherland¹⁷, I Taboada³², J Tatar^{16

24}, F Tenholt¹⁹, S Ter-Antonyan³⁸, A Terliuk², S Tilav³⁴, P A Toale⁴⁶, M N Tobin²⁷, C Tönnis³⁷, S Toscano³⁰, D Tosi²⁷, M Tselengidou⁷, C F Tung³², A Turcati⁴⁰, C F Turley⁹, B Ty²⁷, E Unger²⁶, M Usner², J Vandenbroucke²⁷, W Van Driessche³⁵, D van Eijk²⁷, N van Eijndhoven³⁰, S Vanheule³⁵, J van Santen², M Vraeghe³⁵, C Walck⁵, A Wallace⁴¹, M Wallraff¹¹, F D Wandler¹³, N Wandkowsky²⁷, A Waza¹¹, C Weaver¹³, M J Weiss⁹, C Wendt²⁷, J Werthebach²⁷, S Westerhoff²⁷, B J Whelan⁴¹, K Wiebe¹⁵, C H Wiebusch¹¹, L Wille²⁷, D R Williams⁴⁶, L Wills⁴⁷, M Wolf⁴⁰, J Wood²⁷, T R Wood¹³, E Woolsey¹³, K Woschnagg¹⁶, G Wrede⁷, D L Xu²⁷, X W Xu³⁸, Y Xu⁴⁵, J P Yanez¹³, G Yodh¹⁴, S Yoshida⁴², T Yuan²⁷

Affiliations

¹ 16Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
² 51DESY, 15738 Zeuthen, Germany.
³ 12Science Faculty CP230, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ 20Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ 43Department of Physics, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ 25Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Université de Genève, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
⁷ 24Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
⁸ 33Department of Physics, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53201 USA.
⁹ 48Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA.
¹⁰ 14Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA.
¹¹ 1III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany.
¹² 40Physics Department, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD 57701 USA.
¹³ 23Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1 Canada.
¹⁴ 27Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 USA.
¹⁵ 32Institute of Physics, University of Mainz, Staudinger Weg 7, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
¹⁶ 8Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA.
¹⁷ 18Department of Physics and Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 USA.
¹⁸ 19Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 USA.
¹⁹ 11Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
²⁰ 50Department of Physics, University of Wuppertal, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
²¹ 42Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627 USA.
²² 17Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.
²³ 28Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 USA.
²⁴ 9Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA.
²⁵ 21Department of Physics, TU Dortmund University, 44221 Dortmund, Germany.
²⁶ 49Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden.
²⁷ 31Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 USA.
²⁸ SNOLAB, 1039 Regional Road 24, Creighton Mine 9, Lively, ON P3Y 1N2 Canada.
²⁹ 35Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
³⁰ 13Dienst ELEM, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
³¹ 47Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA.
³² 6School of Physics and Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332 USA.
³³ 22Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA.
³⁴ 36Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 USA.
³⁵ 26Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Gent, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
³⁶ 10Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
³⁷ 45Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746 Korea.
³⁸ 7Department of Physics, Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA 70813 USA.
³⁹ 30Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 USA.
⁴⁰ 34Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany.
⁴¹ 2Department of Physics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, 5005 Australia.
⁴² 15Department of Physics and Institute for Global Prominent Research, Chiba University, Chiba, 263-8522 Japan.
⁴³ 5CTSPS, Clark-Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA 30314 USA.
⁴⁴ 4Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, 502 Yates St., Science Hall Rm 108, Box 19059, Arlington, TX 76019 USA.
⁴⁵ 44Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3800 USA.
⁴⁶ 46Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA.
⁴⁷ 39Department of Physics, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA.
⁴⁸ 41Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, WI 54022 USA.
⁴⁹ 37Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 USA.
⁵⁰ 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Dr., Anchorage, AK 99508 USA.
⁵¹ 38Department of Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP UK.

Abstract

With the observation of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, interest has risen in models of PeV-mass decaying dark matter particles to explain the observed flux. We present two dedicated experimental analyses to test this hypothesis. One analysis uses 6 years of IceCube data focusing on muon neutrino 'track' events from the Northern Hemisphere, while the second analysis uses 2 years of 'cascade' events from the full sky. Known background components and the hypothetical flux from unstable dark matter are fitted to the experimental data. Since no significant excess is observed in either analysis, lower limits on the lifetime of dark matter particles are derived: we obtain the strongest constraint to date, excluding lifetimes shorter than $10^{28} s$ at 90% CL for dark matter masses above $10 TeV$ .