Foreground effect on the J-factor estimation of classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Abstract

The gamma-ray observation of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) is a promising approach to search for the dark matter annihilation (or decay) signal. The dSphs are the nearby satellite galaxies with a clean environment and dense dark matter halo so that they give stringent constraints on the O(1) TeV dark matter. However, recent studies have revealed that current estimation of astrophysical factors relevant for the dark matter searches are not conservative, where the various non-negligible systematic uncertainties are not taken into account. Among them, the effect of foreground stars on the astrophysical factors has not been paid much attention, which becomes more important for deeper and wider stellar surveys in the future. In this article, we assess the effects of the foreground contamination by generating the mock samples of stars and using a model of future spectrographs. We investigate various data cuts to optimize the quality of the data and find that the cuts on the velocity and surface gravity can efficiently eliminate the contamination. We also propose a new likelihood function which includes the foreground distribution function. We apply this likelihood function to the fit of the three types of the mock data (Ursa Minor, Draco with large dark matter halo, and Draco with small halo) and three cases of the observation. The likelihood successfully reproduces the input J-factor value while the fit without considering the foreground distribution gives large deviation from the input value by a factor of three.

Toward (finally!) ruling out Z and Higgs mediated dark matter models

“…In this case, constraints from Fermi's observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies [13] may be relevant, depending on the precise value of the dark matter mass. We also note that uncertainties associated with the distribution of dark matter in these systems could plausibly weaken these constraints to some degree [34][35][36][37]. It may also be possible in this scenario [18,[38][39][40][41] to generate the gamma-ray excess observed from the region surrounding the Galactic Center [42][43][44][45][46][47][48].…”

Novel gamma-ray signatures of PeV-scale dark matter

“…[87] determine a value of log 10 (J tot /GeV 2 cm −5 ) = 18.8 ± 0.16 (see also Refs. [88][89][90]), although this may underestimate the impact of some systematic uncertainties [91][92][93]. The flux of gamma rays from decaying dark matter in a dwarf galaxy such as Draco can be similarly calculated as follows:…”

Impact of Cosmic-Ray Physics on Dark Matter Indirect Searches

“…The three panels refer to the residual photon count maps discussed in [245]. DM content in these galaxies, potentially affected by several systematics [311][312][313][314].…”