Annihilation signals from asymmetric dark matter

Abstract

In the simplest models of asymmetric dark matter (ADM) annihilation signals are not expected, since the DM is non-self-conjugate and the relic density of anti-DM is negligible. We investigate a new class of models in which a symmetric DM component, in the 'low-mass' 1-10 GeV regime favoured for linking the DM and baryon asymmetries, is repopulated through decays. We find that, in models without significant velocity dependence of the annihilation cross section, observational constraints generally force these decays to be (cosmologically) slow. These late decays can give rise to gamma-ray signal morphologies differing from usual annihilation profiles. A distinctive feature of such models is that signals may be absent from dwarf spheroidal galaxies. © 2014 The Author(s).