The role of antimatter searches in the hunt for supersymmetric dark matter

We analyse the antimatter yield of supersymmetric (SUSY) models with large neutralino annihilation cross sections. We introduce three benchmark scenarios, featuring bino, wino and higgsino-like lightest neutralinos, respectively, and we study in detail the resulting antimatter spectral features. We carry out a systematic and transparent comparison between current and future prospects for direct detection, neutrino telescopes and antimatter searches. We demonstrate that often, in the models we consider, antimatter searches are the only detection channels that already constrain the SUSY parameter space. In particular large antiprotons fluxes are expected for wino-like lightest neutralinos, while significant antideuteron fluxes result from resonantly annihilating binos. We introduce a simple and general recipe which allows us to assess the visibility of a given SUSY model at future antimatter search facilities. We provide evidence that upcoming space-based experiments, like PAMELA or AMS, are going to be, in many cases, the unique open road towards dark matter discovery.