Electroweak Bremsstrahlung Processes as the Dominant Annihilation Channel for Dark Matter
The most popular models describing the unknown dark matter are those in which it consists of weakly interacting massive particles or WIMPs. Many models for WIMPs contain the possibility of the annihilation of a pair of dark matter particles into visible states, allowing the potential for such models to be constrained by astrophysical observations.
In this talk I will outline a particular class of model for dark matter, in which annihilation into a pair of visible particles contains both helicity and velocity suppression. I will demonstrate that the internal bremsstrahlung of an electroweak gauge boson during the annihilation process can lift helicity suppression, thereby enhancing the total annihilation cross section. Consequently, various astrophysical experiments can be use to place significant constraint on these models.