Thermal WIMPs on the Brink

by Tim Linden (Stockholm University )

Thursday 20 Feb 2020, 10:30 → 12:30 Europe/Stockholm

Beurlingrummet (Ångström)

Weakly Interacting Dark Matter Particles (WIMPs) are among the most well-motivated models for particle dark matter. While these particles can be detected through direct, indirect, and collider experiments, only their indirect annihilation cross-section is guaranteed within the confines of a thermal model. Intriguingly, experimental searches using both gamma-rays and cosmic-rays are beginning to close in on the coveted "thermal annihilation cross-section". More intriguingly, several excesses in Galactic center gamma-rays and cosmic-ray antiprotons have been discovered. Even more intriguingly, these excesses are potentially consistent with each other. In this talk, I will summarize the current state of the field, and argue that there is hope of resolving this puzzle within the next five years.