Possible High-Energy Neutrino Emission from Dark Matter Annihilation in the Disrupting Dwarf Galaxy Boötes~III
Abstract
We report the first search for high-energy neutrino emissions from dark matter (DM) annihilation in stellar-stream cores. Motivated by a recent gamma-ray study that proposed these cores as a new class of indirect DM targets, we analyze three stream cores in the Northern Hemisphere using the public ten-year track-like neutrino data released by IceCube. Under the χχ→νν̅ annihilation hypothesis, the most significant excess among the three targets is found at the position of the nearby dwarf galaxy Boötes~III, the core of the Styx stream, with the DM mass of mχ≃10--31 TeV. The excess has a post-trial significance of 3.1σ. Considering the existing IceCube dwarf-galaxy limit for the same channel, we obtain a limit on the J-factor Jann, log10(Jann/GeV2 cm−5)≳ 19.1+0.3−0.5. This limit is broadly consistent with empirical estimates of Jann for Boötes~III. The results provide the first candidate target with a possible HE neutrino signal associated with DM annihilation. This neutrino excess and the general existence of DM-induced neutrino signals from other similar sources will be confirmed with the near-future large high-energy neutrino detectors, thus enabling us to probe the nature of DM particles.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{ji2026possible,
title = {{Possible High-Energy Neutrino Emission from Dark Matter Annihilation in the Disrupting Dwarf Galaxy Boötes~III}},
author = {Shunhao Ji and Zhongxiang Wang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.01853},
eprint = {2606.01853},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.01853},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Possible High-Energy Neutrino Emission from Dark Matter Annihilation in the Disrupting Dwarf Galaxy Boötes~III
AU - Shunhao Ji
AU - Zhongxiang Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/16
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.01853
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.01853
AB - We report the first search for high-energy neutrino emissions from dark matter (DM) annihilation in stellar-stream cores. Motivated by a recent gamma-ray study that proposed these cores as a new class of indirect DM targets, we analyze three stream cores in the Northern Hemisphere using the public ten-year track-like neutrino data released by IceCube. Under the χχ→νν̅ annihilation hypothesis, the most significant excess among the three targets is found at the position of the nearby dwarf galaxy Boötes~III, the core of the Styx stream, with the DM mass of m_χ≃10--31 TeV. The excess has a post-trial significance of 3.1σ. Considering the existing IceCube dwarf-galaxy limit for the same channel, we obtain a limit on the J-factor J_ann, log_10(J_ann/GeV^2 cm^−5)≳ 19.1^+0.3_−0.5. This limit is broadly consistent with empirical estimates of J_ann for Boötes~III. The results provide the first candidate target with a possible HE neutrino signal associated with DM annihilation. This neutrino excess and the general existence of DM-induced neutrino signals from other similar sources will be confirmed with the near-future large high-energy neutrino detectors, thus enabling us to probe the nature of DM particles.
ER -