Indirect Detection of Dark Matter WIMPs in a Liquid Argon TPC

Abstract

We assess the prospects for indirect detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles using a large Liquid Argon TPC detector. Signal events will consist of energetic electron (anti)neutrinos coming from the decay of $\tau$ leptons and $b$ quarks produced in WIMP annihilation in the core of the Sun. Background contamination from atmospheric neutrinos is expected to be low, thanks to the superb angular resolution and particle identification capabilities provided by the considered experimental set-up. We evaluate the event rates predicted for an annihilating WIMP as a function of its elastic scattering cross section with nucleons. This technique is particularly useful for WIMPs lighter than $\sim100$ GeV