Closing in on mass-degenerate dark matter scenarios with antiprotons and direct detection

Understand

Over the last years both cosmic-ray antiproton measurements and direct dark matter searches have proved particularly effective in constraining the nature of dark matter candidates.

• The present work focusses on these two types of constraints in a minimal framework which features a Majorana fermion as the dark matter particle and a scalar that mediates the coupling to quarks.
• Considering a wide range of coupling schemes, we derive antiproton and direct detection constraints using the latest data and paying close attention to astrophysical and nuclear uncertainties.
• Both signals are strongly enhanced in the presence of degenerate dark matter and scalar masses, but we show that the effect is especially dramatic in direct detection.