Limits to Gauge coupling in the dark sector set by the nonobservation of instanton-induced decay of super-heavy dark matter in the Pierre Auger Observatory data

0574830 - FZÚ 2024 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Abreu, P. - Aglietta, M. - Albury, J.M. - Bakalová, Alena - Blažek, Jiří - Boháčová, Martina - Chudoba, Jiří - Ebr, Jan - Hamal, Petr - Janeček, Petr - Juryšek, Jakub - Mandát, Dušan - Müller, Ana Laura - Palatka, Miroslav - Pech, Miroslav - Prouza, Michael - Řídký, Jan - dos Santos, Eva M. Martins - Schovánek, Petr - Tobiška, Petr - Trávníček, Petr - Vícha, Jakub - Yushkov, Alexey … Total 376 authors
Limits to Gauge coupling in the dark sector set by the nonobservation of instanton-induced decay of super-heavy dark matter in the Pierre Auger Observatory data.
Physical Review Letters. Roč. 130, č. 6 (2023), č. článku 061001. ISSN 0031-9007. E-ISSN 1079-7114
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LTT18004; GA MŠMT EF16_013/0001402; GA MŠMT(CZ) EF18_046/0016010
Research Infrastructure: AUGER-CZ II - 90102
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : Pierre Auger Observatory * ultra-high-energy * limits to gauge couplings * Super-Heavy Dark Matter
OECD category: Particles and field physics
Impact factor: 8.6, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.061001

Instantons, which are nonperturbative solutions to Yang-Mills equations, provide a signal for the occurrence of quantum tunneling between distinct classes of vacua. They can give rise to decays of particles otherwise forbidden. Using data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory, we search for signatures of such instanton-induced processes that would be suggestive of super-heavy particles decaying in the Galactic halo. These particles could have been produced during the post-inflationary epoch and match the relic abundance of dark matter inferred today. The nonobservation of the signatures searched for allows us to derive a bound on the reduced coupling constant of gauge interactions in the dark sector: alpha X < 0.09, for 109 < MX=GeV < 1019. Conversely, we obtain that, for instance, a reduced coupling constant alpha X = 0.09 excludes masses MX greater than or similar to 3 x 1013 GeV.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0346591