Enlightening the dark Exploring the dark sector with gamma-rays and neutrinos

Open Access
Authors
Supervisors
Cosupervisors
Award date 17-01-2019
ISBN
  • 9789463234542
Number of pages 126
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Institute of Physics (IoP) - Institute for Theoretical Physics Amsterdam (ITFA)
Abstract
In this thesis, several aspects of the dark sector are explored, using neutrinos and gamma-rays.
Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are low-luminosity satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, suspected to be largely dominated by dark matter (DM). Usually, a spherical Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile is assumed for the mass distribution in DM analyses of the dwarf galaxies. We investigate the impact of observationally motivated axisymmetric mass models on indirect dark matter searches using gamma-rays, compared to the general NFW profile.
Recent observations indicate that during the era of reionization, the primordial gas was much colder than expected, which could be explained by interactions between dark matter and particles in the gas. Several constraints on the DM parameter space have already been made. We explore the yet unconstrained region using neutrino detectors, in the case that the milli-charged DM that would be responsible for this cooling makes up for ~2% of the total dark matter, through the scenario in which this DM annihilates only into muon and tau neutrinos.
Furthermore, we investigate another subject in the dark sector: dark energy. If dark energy is a scalar field rather than a cosmological constant, it could undergo interactions with neutrinos. We explore the effect of a dark energy-neutrino coupling on neutrino oscillations, and the impact on the flavor ratio of astrophysical neutrinos measured on Earth.
Document type PhD thesis
Language English
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