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Optimal gamma-ray selections for monochromatic line searches with DAMPE

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Abstract

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a space high-energy cosmic-ray detector covering a wide energy band with a high energy resolution. One of the key scientific goals of DAMPE is to carry out indirect detection of dark matter by searching for high-energy gamma-ray line structure. To promote the sensitivity of gamma-ray line search with DAMPE, it is crucial to improve the acceptance and energy resolution of gamma-ray photons. In this paper, we quantitatively proved that the photon sample with the largest ratio of acceptance to energy resolution is optimal for line search. We therefore developed a line-search sample specifically optimized for the line-search. Meanwhile, in order to increase the statistics, we also selected the so-called BGO-only photons that convert into e+e− pairs only in the BGO calorimeter. The standard, the line-search, and the BGO-only photon samples are then tested for line-search individually and collectively. The results show that a significantly improved limit could be obtained from an appropriate combination of the date sets, and the increase is about 20% for the highest case compared with using the standard sample only.

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Acknowledgements

The DAMPE mission was funded by the strategic priority science and technology projects in space science of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In China the data analysis is supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFA0400200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U1738210, U1738123, U1738205, U1738138, 11921003, and 12003074), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS, the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Grant (No. ZDRW-KT-2019-5), and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province. In Europe the activities and data analysis are supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Switzerland, the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Zun-Lei Xu, Kai-Kai Duan, Wei Jiang, Shi-Jun Lei, Xiang Li, Zhao-Qiang Shen, Tao Ma, Meng Su, Qiang Yuan, Chuan Yue, Yi-Zhong Fan & Jin Chang

  2. School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Zun-Lei Xu, Xiang Li, Tao Ma, Qiang Yuan, Yi-Zhong Fan & Jin Chang

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  1. Zun-Lei Xu
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  2. Kai-Kai Duan
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  3. Wei Jiang
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  4. Shi-Jun Lei
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  5. Xiang Li
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  7. Tao Ma
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  9. Qiang Yuan
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  10. Chuan Yue
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  11. Yi-Zhong Fan
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  12. Jin Chang
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Correspondence to Xiang Li or Zhao-Qiang Shen.

Additional information

arXiv: 2107.13208v1. This article can also be found at http://journal.hep.com.cn/fop/EN/10.1007/s11467-021-1121-6.

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Xu, ZL., Duan, KK., Jiang, W. et al. Optimal gamma-ray selections for monochromatic line searches with DAMPE. Front. Phys. 17, 34501 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-021-1121-6

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