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SUMMARY:Cosmic Ray Backgrounds for Dark Matter Indirect Detection - Philip
 p Mertsch (Oxford)
DTSTART:20110317T160000Z
DTEND:20110317T170000Z
UID:TALK29468@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Kazuki Sakurai
DESCRIPTION:Although cold dark matter has proven successful in explaining 
 astrophysical observations on a wide range of scales\, its particle physic
 s nature has so far not been uncovered. If the dark matter particle was in
  fact weakly interacting one possible way of investigation would be the ob
 servation of high energy particles from the dark matter annihilation or de
 cay in the galactic halo. Recently\, apparent anomalies in charged lepton 
 cosmic rays as well as in galactic microwaves have been interpreted in ter
 ms of such interactions. In this talk I will argue that the standard astro
 physical backgrounds considered in these analyses are in fact much more co
 mplex than previously thought. In particular\, I will explain how the acce
 leration of secondary leptons produced inside old supernova remnants can e
 xplain the observed signatures. I will also discuss how the foreground sub
 traction employed to reveal the so-called WMAP haze can produce fake signa
 tures.
LOCATION:Seminar Room B\, Rutherford Building\, Cavendish Laboratory
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