Agradecimentos: The successful installation, commissioning, and operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory would not have been possible without the strong commitment and effort from the technical and administrative staff in Malargüe. We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations...

Agradecimentos: The successful installation, commissioning, and operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory would not have been possible without the strong commitment and effort from the technical and administrative staff in Malargüe. We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Argentina—Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Gobierno de la Provincia de Mendoza; Municipalidad de Malargüe; NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas; in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access; Australia—the Australian Research Council; Belgium—Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS); Research Foundation Flanders (FWO); Brazil—Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ); São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grants No. 2019/10151-2, No. 2010/07359-6, and No. 1999/05404-3; Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações e Comunicações (MCTIC); Czech Republic—Grants No. MSMT CR LTT18004, No. LM2015038, No. LM2018102, No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001402, No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/18_046/0016010, and No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/17_049/0008422; France—Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Conseil Régional Ile-de-France; Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS); Département Sciences de l’Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS); Institut Lagrange de Paris (ILP) Grant No. LABEX ANR-10-LABX-63 within the Investissements d’Avenir Programme Grant No. ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02; Germany—Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG); Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg; Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP); Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF); Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen; Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst des Landes Baden-Württemberg; Italy—Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN); Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF); Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Universitá e della Ricerca (MIUR); CETEMPS Center of Excellence; Ministero degli Affari Esteri (MAE); México—Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) No. 167733; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); PAPIIT DGAPA-UNAM; The Netherlands—Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO); Dutch national e-infrastructure with the support of SURF Cooperative; Poland—Ministry of Education and Science, Grant No. DIR/WK/2018/11; National Science Centre, Grants No. 2016/22/M/ST9/00198, No. 2016/23/B/ST9/01635, and No. 2020/39/B/ST9/01398; Portugal—Portuguese national funds and FEDER funds within Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (COMPETE); Romania—Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS/CCCDI—UEFISCDI, Projects No. PN19150201/16N/2019, No. PN1906010, No. TE128, and No. PED289, within PNCDI III; Slovenia—Slovenian Research Agency, Grants No. P1-0031, No. P1-0385, No. I0-0033, and No. N1-0111; Spain—Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (FPA2017-85114-P and PID2019–104676 GB-C32), Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2017/07), Junta de Andalucía (SOMM17/6104/UGR, P18-FR-4314) Feder Funds, RENATA Red Nacional Temática de Astropartículas (FPA2015-68783-REDT), and María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence (MDM-2016-0692); USA—Department of Energy, Contracts No. DE-AC02-07CH11359, No. DE-FR02-04ER41300, No. DE-FG02-99ER41107, and No. DE-SC0011689; National Science Foundation, Grant No. 0450696; The Grainger Foundation; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET; European Particle Physics Latin American Network; and UNESCO. We acknowledge for this work the support of the Institut Pascal at Université Paris-Saclay during the Paris-Saclay Astroparticle Symposium 2021, with the support of the P2IO Laboratory of Excellence (program "Investissements d’avenir" ANR-11-IDEX-0003-01 Paris-Saclay and ANR-10-LABX-0038), the P2I axis of the Graduate School Physics of Université Paris-Saclay, as well as IJCLab, CEA, IPhT, APPEC, the IN2P3 master projet UCMN, and EuCAPT ANR-11-IDEX-0003-01 Paris-Saclay and ANR-10-LABX-0038)

Abstract: Using the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we report on a search for signatures that would be suggestive of super-heavy particles decaying in the Galactic halo. From the lack of signal, we present upper limits for different energy thresholds above greater than or similar to 108 GeV on...

Abstract: Using the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we report on a search for signatures that would be suggestive of super-heavy particles decaying in the Galactic halo. From the lack of signal, we present upper limits for different energy thresholds above greater than or similar to 108 GeV on the secondary by-product fluxes expected from the decay of the particles. Assuming that the energy density of these super-heavy particles matches that of dark matter observed today, we translate the upper bounds on the particle fluxes into tight constraints on the couplings governing the decay process as a function of the particle mass. Instantons, which are nonperturbative solutions to Yang-Mills equations, can give rise to decay channels otherwise forbidden and transform stable particles into metastable ones. Assuming such instanton-induced decay processes, we derive a bound on the reduced coupling constant of gauge interactions in the dark sector: alpha X < 0.09, for 109 < MX=GeV < 1019. Conversely, we obtain that, for instance, a reduced coupling constant alpha X 1/4 0.09 excludes masses MX greater than or similar to 3 x 1013 GeV. In the context of dark matter production from gravitational interactions alone during the reheating epoch, we derive constraints on the parameter space that involves, in addition to MX and alpha X, the Hubble rate at the end of inflation, the reheating efficiency, and the nonminimal coupling of the Higgs with curvature

CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQ

FINANCIADORA DE ESTUDOS E PROJETOS - FINEP

FUNDAÇÃO CARLOS CHAGAS FILHO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DO RIO DE JANEIRO - FAPERJ

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESP

1999/05404-3; 2010/07359-6; 2019/10151-2

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