Interpreting IceCube 6-year HESE data as an evidence for hundred TeV decaying Dark Matter

Abstract

The assumption of a single astrophysical power-law flux to explain the IceCube 6-year HESE extraterrestrial events yields a large spectral index that is in tension with gamma-ray observations and the 6-year up-going muon neutrinos data. Adopting a spectral index belonging to the range $\left[2.0,2.2\right]$, which is compatible with the one deduced by the analysis performed on the 6-year up-going muon neutrinos data and with $p$-$p$ astrophysical sources, the latest IceCube data show an up to $2.6\sigma$ excess in the number of events in the energy range 40--200 TeV. We interpret such an excess as a decaying Dark Matter signal and we perform a likelihood-ratio statistical test to compare the two-component scenario with respect to the single-component one.

Comments: 7 pages, 4 figures. v2: version published in PLB