Minimal Dark Matter: model and results

Abstract

We recap the main features of Minimal Dark Matter (MDM) and assess its status in the light of the recent experimental data. The theory selects an electroweak 5-plet with hypercharge Y=0 as a fully successful DM candidate, automatically stable against decay and with no free parameters: DM is a fermion with a 9.6 TeV mass. The direct detection cross-section, predicted to be 10^-44 cm2, is within reach of next-generation experiments. DM is accompanied by a charged fermion 166 MeV heavier: we discuss how it might manifest. Thanks to an electroweak Sommerfeld enhancement of more than 2 orders of magnitude, DM annihilations into W+W- give, in presence of a modest astrophysical boost factor, a positron flux compatible with the PAMELA excess (but not with the ATIC hint for a peak: MDM instead predicts a quasi-power-law spectrum), a anti-proton flux concentrated at energies above 100 GeV, and to photon fluxes comparable with present limits, depending on the DM density profile.

28 pages, 9 figures. Invited contribution to the NJP Focus Issue on 'Dark Matter and Particle Physics'. v2: Added comments on antideuterium signals and on the implications of Fermi and HESS data. One figure on direct detection updated; references added and typos fixed. v3: one typo fixed