Minimal dark matter: model and results

We recap the main features of minimal dark matter (MDM) and assess its status in the light of recent experimental data. The theory selects an electroweak 5-plet with hypercharge Y =0 as a fully successful DM candidate, automatically stable against decay and with no free parameters: DM is a fermion with a 9.6 TeV mass. The direct detection cross-section, predicted to be 10 −44 cm 2 , is within reach of next-generation experiments. DM is accompanied by a charged fermion 166 MeV heavier: we discuss how it might manifest. Thanks to an electroweak Sommerfeld enhancement of more than 2 orders of magnitude, DM annihilations into W + W − give, in the presence of a modest astrophysical boost factor, an e + flux compatible with the PAMELA excess (but not with the ATIC hint for a peak: MDM instead predicts a quasi-power-law spectrum), a flux concentrated at energies above 100 GeV, and photon fluxes comparable with present limits, depending on the DM density profile.