@misc{10481/80986,
year = {2023},
month = {2},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/80986},
abstract = {Using the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we report on a search for signatures that would be
suggestive of super-heavy particles decaying in the Galactic halo. From the lack of signal, we present upper
limits for different energy thresholds above ≳108 GeV on the secondary by-product fluxes expected from
the decay of the particles. Assuming that the energy density of these super-heavy particles matches that of
dark matter observed today, we translate the upper bounds on the particle fluxes into tight constraints on the
couplings governing the decay process as a function of the particle mass. Instantons, which are
nonperturbative solutions to Yang-Mills equations, can give rise to decay channels otherwise forbidden
and transform stable particles into metastable ones. Assuming such instanton-induced decay processes, we
derive a bound on the reduced coupling constant of gauge interactions in the dark sector: αX ≲ 0.09, for
109 ≲ MX=GeV < 1019. Conversely, we obtain that, for instance, a reduced coupling constant αX ¼ 0.09
excludes masses MX ≳ 3 × 1013 GeV. In the context of dark matter production from gravitational
interactions alone during the reheating epoch, we derive constraints on the parameter space that involves,
in addition to MX and αX, the Hubble rate at the end of inflation, the reheating efficiency, and the
nonminimal coupling of the Higgs with curvature.},
organization = {Argentina—Comisión Nacional de
Energía Atómica; Agencia Nacional de Promoción
Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT); Consejo Nacional
de Investigaciones Científicas y T´ecnicas (CONICET);
Gobierno de la Provincia de Mendoza; Municipalidad de
Malargüe; NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas},
organization = {Australia—the Australian Research Council},
organization = {Belgium—
Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS); Research
Foundation Flanders (FWO)},
organization = {Brazil—Conselho Nacional
de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq);
Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP); Fundação de
Amparo `a Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ);
São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grants
No. 2019/10151-2, No. 2010/07359-6, and No. 1999/
05404-3; Minist´erio da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e
Comunicações (MCTIC)},
organization = {Czech Republic—Grants
No. MSMT CR LTT18004, No. LM2015038,
No. LM2018102, No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/
0001402, No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/18_046/0016010, and No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_049/0008422},
organization = {France—Centre
de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS; Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS); Conseil R´egional Ile-de-France;
D´epartement Physique Nucl´eaire et Corpusculaire
(PNC-IN2P3/CNRS); D´epartement Sciences de
l’Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS); Institut Lagrange de
Paris (ILP) Grant No. LABEX ANR-10-LABX-63 within
the Investissements d’Avenir Programme Grant No. ANR-
11-IDEX-0004-02},
organization = {Germany—Bundesministerium für
Bildung und Forschung (BMBF); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(DFG); Finanzministerium Baden-
Württemberg; Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle
Physics (HAP); Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren
(HGF); Ministerium für Innovation,
Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-
Westfalen; Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und
Kunst des Landes Baden-Württemberg},
organization = {Italy—Istituto
Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN); Istituto Nazionale di
Astrofisica (INAF); Ministero dell’Istruzione,
dell’Universitá e della Ricerca (MIUR); CETEMPS
Center of Excellence; Ministero degli Affari Esteri
(MAE)},
organization = {México—Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y
Tecnología (CONACYT) No. 167733; Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de M´exico (UNAM); PAPIIT
DGAPA-UNAM},
organization = {The Netherlands—Ministry of
Education, Culture and Science; Netherlands Organisation
for Scientific Research (NWO); Dutch national einfrastructure
with the support of SURF Cooperative},
organization = {Poland—Ministry of Education and Science, Grant
No. DIR/WK/2018/11; National Science Centre, Grants
No. 2016/22/M/ST9/00198, No. 2016/23/B/ST9/01635,
and No. 2020/39/B/ST9/01398},
organization = {Portugal—Portuguese
national funds and FEDER funds within Programa
Operacional Factores de Competitividade through
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (COMPETE)},
organization = {Romania—Ministry of Research, Innovation and
Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI—UEFISCDI, Projects
No. PN19150201/16N/2019, No. PN1906010, No. TE128,
and No. PED289, within PNCDI III},
organization = {Slovenia—Slovenian
Research Agency, GrantsNo. P1-0031, No. P1-0385, No. I0-
0033, and No. N1-0111},
organization = {Spain—Ministerio de Economía,
Industria y Competitividad (FPA2017-85114-P and
PID2019–104676 GB-C32), Xunta de Galicia (ED431C
2017/07), Junta de Andalucía (SOMM17/6104/UGR, P18-
FR-4314) Feder Funds, RENATA Red Nacional Temática de
Astropartículas (FPA2015-68783-REDT), and María de
Maeztu Unit of Excellence (MDM-2016-0692)},
organization = {USA—
Department of Energy, Contracts No. DE-AC02-
07CH11359, No. DE-FR02-04ER41300, No. DE-FG02-
99ER41107, and No. DE-SC0011689; National Science
Foundation, Grant No. 0450696; The Grainger
Foundation; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET; European
Particle Physics Latin American Network; and UNESCO},
publisher = {American Physical Society},
title = {Cosmological implications of photon-flux upper limits at ultrahigh energies in scenarios of Planckian-interacting massive particles for dark matter},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.107.042002},
author = {Abreu, P. and Bueno Villar, Antonio and Pierre Auger Collaboration},
}