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arXiv · 2409.07515

Anomalous Ionization in the Central Molecular Zone by sub-GeV Dark Matter

Pedro De la Torre Luque·Shyam Balaji·Joseph Silk
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Abstract

We demonstrate that the anomalous ionization rate observed in the Central Molecular Zone can be attributed to MeV dark matter annihilations into $e^+e^-$ pairs for galactic dark matter profiles with slopes $γ>1$. The low annihilation cross-sections required avoid cosmological constraints and imply no detectable inverse Compton, bremsstrahlung or synchrotron emissions in radio, X and gamma rays. The possible connection to the source of the unexplained 511 keV line emission in the Galactic Center suggests that both observations could be correlated and have a common origin.

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Pedro De la Torre Luque, Shyam Balaji, Joseph Silk. 2025-03-17. Anomalous Ionization in the Central Molecular Zone by sub-GeV Dark Matter. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.101001

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