Rebecca K. Leane

New Physics Searches with the Sun

Detecting Dark Matter in Exoplanets

Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess

Dark Interactions in Neutron Stars

The overarching goal of my research is discover the fundamental nature of dark matter. My approach towards achieving this goal is (i) identifying new ways that astrophysical systems can be exploited to expose new particle interactions, as well as (ii) using astrophysical datasets to discover or exclude new particle physics properties.

Astrophysical systems are highly advantageous search targets, as there is an enormous number of diverse systems that can and soon will be measured in many wavelengths. After all, the Universe has been running experiments *for us* over very long timescales (collecting dark matter, exploding and colliding systems); the outcomes already exist and are waiting to be uncovered. Celestial bodies are a playground for discovering new particle interactions!

You can find me on inSPIRE, arXiv, and Google Scholar.


Publications

(asterisk indicates alphabetically ordered author list)

Journal Articles

30.  Tidal Love Number of Novel and Admixed Celestial Objects,
M. Collier, D. Croon, R. K. Leane*,
To be submitted, [arXiv: 2205.15337 [gr-qc]].

29.  First Analysis of Jupiter in Gamma Rays and a New Search for Dark Matter,
R. K. Leane* and T. Linden,
Submitted to PRL, [arXiv: 2104.02068 [astro-ph.HE]].

Universe Today Article
Summary on Twitter

28.  Celestial-Body Focused Dark Matter Annihilation Throughout the Galaxy,
R. K. Leane*, T. Linden, P. Mukhopadhyay, N. Toro,
Phys. Rev. D 103, 075030 (2021), [arXiv: 2101.12213 [astro-ph.HE]].

Summary on Twitter

27.  Exoplanets as Sub-GeV Dark Matter Detectors,
R. K. Leane* and J. Smirnov
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 161101 (2021), [arXiv: 2010.00015 [hep-ph]].
Selected as PRL Editor's Suggestion

Science Magazine Article
SLAC News Article
Wired Magazine Article
Quanta Magazine Article
Summary on Twitter

26.  Supernova Muons: New Constraints on Z' Bosons, Axions, and ALPs,
D. Croon, G. Elor, R. K. Leane*, S. McDermott
JHEP 01 (2021) 107, [arXiv: 2006.13942 [hep-ph]].

Summary on Twitter

25.  Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess,
R. K. Leane and T. R. Slatyer
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 121105 (2020), [arXiv: 2002.12370 [astro-ph.HE]].

Summary on Twitter

24.  The Enigmatic Galactic Center Excess:
Spurious Point Sources and Signal Mismodeling,
R. K. Leane and T. R. Slatyer
Phys. Rev. D 102, 063019 (2020), [arXiv: 2002.12371 [astro-ph.HE]].

Summary on Twitter

23.  A Systematic Study of Hidden Sector Dark Matter:
Application to the Gamma-Ray and Antiproton Excesses,
D. Hooper, R. K. Leane*, Y. Tsai, S. Wegsman, S. J. Witte
JHEP 07 (2020) 163, [arXiv: 1912.08821 [hep-ph]].

22.  Warming Nuclear Pasta with Dark Matter: Kinetic and Annihilation Heating of Neutron Star Crusts,
J. Acevedo, J. Bramante, R. K. Leane*, N. Raj
JCAP 03 (2020) 038, [arXiv: 1911.06334 [hep-ph]].

Summary on Twitter

21.  Dark Matter Strikes Back at the Galactic Center,
R. K. Leane and T. R. Slatyer
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 (2019), 241101, [arXiv: 1904.08430 [astro-ph.HE]].
Selected as PRL Editor's Suggestion

Quanta Magazine Article
The Boston Globe Newspaper Article
MIT News Article
Kavli Foundation Article
Summary on Twitter

20.  Constraints on Spin-Dependent Dark Matter Scattering with Long-Lived Mediators from TeV Observations of the Sun with HAWC,
HAWC Collaboration and J. F. Beacom, R. K. Leane*, T. Linden, K. C.Y. Ng, A. Peter, B. Zhou,
Phys. Rev. D 98 (2018), 123012 [arXiv: 1808.05624 [hep-ph]].

19.  First HAWC Observations of the Sun Constrain Steady TeV Gamma-Ray Emission,
HAWC Collaboration and J. F. Beacom, R. K. Leane*, T. Linden, K. C.Y. Ng, A. Peter, B. Zhou,
Phys. Rev. D 98 (2018), 123011 [arXiv: 1808.05620 [astro-ph.HE]].

18.  GeV-Scale Thermal WIMPs: Not Even Slightly Dead,
R. K. Leane, T. R. Slatyer, J. F. Beacom, K. C.Y. Ng,
Phys.Rev. D98 (2018) no.2, 023016 [arXiv: 1805.10305 [hep-ph]].

17.  Enhancing Dark Matter Annihilation Rates with Dark Bremsstrahlung,
N. F. Bell, Y. Cai, J. B. Dent, R. K. Leane*, T. J. Weiler
Phys. Rev. D96 (2017) no. 2, 023011 [arXiv: 1705.01105 [hep-ph]].

16.  Powerful Solar Signatures of Long-Lived Dark Mediators,
R. K. Leane, K. C.Y. Ng, J. F. Beacom
Phys. Rev. D95 (2017) no. 12, 123016 [arXiv: 1703.04629 [astro-ph.HE]].

15.  Impact of Mass Generation for Simplified Dark Matter Models,
N. F. Bell, Y. Cai, R. K. Leane*
JCAP 01 (2017) 039 [arXiv: 1610.03063 [hep-ph]].

14.  Dark Forces in the Sky: Signals from Z' and the Dark Higgs,
N. F. Bell, Y. Cai, R. K. Leane*
JCAP 08 (2016) 001 [arXiv: 1605.09382 [hep-ph]].

13.  Mono-W Dark Matter Signals at the LHC: Simplified Model Analysis,
N. F. Bell, Y. Cai, R. K. Leane*
JCAP 01 (2016) 051 [arXiv: 1512.00476 [hep-ph]].

12.  Dark matter at the LHC: Effective field theories and gauge invariance,
N. F. Bell, Y. Cai, J. B. Dent, R. K. Leane*, T. J. Weiler
Phys. Rev. D92, no. 5, 053008 (2015) [arXiv:1503.07874 [hep-ph]].

11.  Leptophilic dark matter with Z' interactions,
N. F. Bell, Y. Cai, R. K. Leane*, A. D. Medina
Phys. Rev. D 90, no. 3, 035027 (2014) [arXiv:1407.3001 [hep-ph]].


Review Articles

10.  Indirect Detection of Dark Matter in the Galaxy,
R. K. Leane
MIT-CTP/5199 [arXiv: 2006.00513 [hep-ph]].


White Papers
9.  Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier:
Puzzling excesses in dark matter searches and how to resolve them,
R. K. Leane, S. Shin, L. Yang, et al, (2022) [arXiv:2203.06859 [hep-ph]].
(Role: Paper coordinator/editor, and leader of the Galactic Center Excess section.)

8.  Axion Dark Matter,
L. Winslow, et al (incl R. K. Leane), (2022) [arXiv:2203.14923 [hep-ex]].
(Role: Contributor to “Synergies with astrophysical searches” section.)

7.  Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier:
Synergies between dark matter searches and multiwavelength/multimessenger astrophysics,
P. Harding, S. Horiuchi, D. Walker, et al (incl R. K. Leane), (2022) [arXiv:2203.06781 [hep-ph]].
(Role: Contributor to “Searches with Celestial Bodies” section.)

6.  Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier:
Ultra-heavy particle dark matter,
D. Carney, N. Raj, et al (incl R. K. Leane), (2022) [arXiv:2203.06508 [hep-ph]].
(Role: Contributor to “Indirect Detection” section.)

5.  Dark Matter In Extreme Astrophysical Environments,
M Baryakhtar, R. Caputo, D. Croon, K. Perez, et al (incl R. K. Leane), (2022) [arXiv:2203.07984 [hep-ph]].
(Role: Contributor to “Light Dark Matter” section.)

4.  Astrophysical and Cosmological Probes of Dark Matter,
K. Boddy, M. Lisanti, S. McDermott, N. Rodd, C, Weniger, et al (incl R. K. Leane), (2022) [arXiv:2203.06380 [hep-ph]].
(Role: Contributor to “X-ray and γ-ray Dark Matter Signatures” section.)

3.  Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier:
The landscape of cosmic-ray and high-energy photon probes of particle dark matter,
T Aramaki, P. von Doetinchem, S. Profumo, et al (incl R. K. Leane), (2022) [arXiv:2203.06894 [hep-ex]].
(Role: Contributor to “Photon Probes” section.)

2.  The Sun at GeV-TeV Energies: A New Laboratory for Astroparticle Physics,
M. Un Nisa, J. F. Beacom, S. Y. BenZvi, R. K. Leane, T. Linden, K. C.Y. Ng, A. H.G. Peter, B. Zhou
Astro2020 Science White Paper [arXiv:1903.06349 [astro-ph.HE]].
(Role: Contributor to paper text, content based in part on my solar dark matter search papers.)

Quanta Magazine Article

1.  Les Houches 2011: Physics at TeV Colliders New Physics Working Group Report,
G. Brooijmans et al, (2012) [arXiv:1203.1488 [hep-ph]].
(Role: Contribution 1, “DLHA: Dark Matter Les Houches Agreement”, is heavily based on my bachelor thesis.)


Theses
Phenomenology of Particle Dark Matter,
R. K. Leane, Ph.D. Thesis, School of Physics, University of Melbourne (2017).




Associate Staff Scientist in the Particle Theory Group at SLAC.


Senior Member, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford.


SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Stanford University
2575 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA



  @RKLeane

  rleane@slac.stanford.edu