New positron spectral features from supersymmetric dark matter: A way to explain the PAMELA data?

The space-borne antimatter experiment PAMELA has recently reported a surprising rise in the positron to electron ratio at high energies. It has also recently been found that electromagnetic radiative corrections in some cases may boost the gamma-ray yield from supersymmetric dark-matter annihilations in the galactic halo by up to 3 or 4 orders of magnitude, providing distinct spectral signatures for indirect dark matter searches to look for. Here, we investigate whether the same type of corrections can also lead to sizeable enhancements in the positron yield. We find that this is indeed the case, albeit for a smaller region of parameter space than for gamma rays; selecting models with a small mass difference between the neutralino and sleptons, like in the stau-coannihilation region in mSUGRA, the effect becomes more pronounced. The resulting, rather hard positron spectrum with a relatively sharp cutoff may potentially fit the rising positron ratio measured by the PAMELA satellite. To do so, however, very large "boost factors" have to be invoked that are not expected in current models of halo structure. If the predicted cutoff would also be confirmed by later PAMELA data or upcoming experiments, one could either assume nonthermal production in the early universe or nonstandard halo formation to explain such a spectral feature as an effect of dark-matter annihilation. At the end of the paper, we briefly comment on the impact of radiative corrections on other annihilation channels, in particular, antiprotons and neutrinos.