Stringent constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section from subhalo searches with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

Berlin, Asher

doi:10.1103/physrevd.89.016014

Cited by 66 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The number and fraction of the unIDs in each catalog is different; there are 1010 unIDs (33% if the full catalog) in the 3FGL, 48 (13%) in the 2FHL and 177 (11%) in the 3FHL. Both the 3FGL and 2FHL catalogs have been used in previous works [23,[29][30][31][32][33], while other works utilized previous catalogs [34][35][36][37][38][39]. Since we do not know the distance to these unIDs, for a signal, the DM subhalo mass would be degenerate with distance, i.e., the same flux could be produced either by a massive, distant DM subhalo or by a less massive but closer one.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Thus, when we search for such objects in Fermi-LAT data, one of the biggest challenges is to find a good and reliable characterization of the low-mass subhalo population that allows us to make realistic predictions of the expected annihilation fluxes. In our work, we will use a repopulation of the Via Lactea II (VL-II) N-body simulation 4 Fermi -LAT sensitivity to DM subhalos Most of previous works [29,30,32,34,35,38] assumed that the sensitivity of the LAT to DM subhalos is the same across the sky and equal to the detection threshold of the catalog under 13 https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov…”

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confidence: 99%

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Unidentified gamma-ray sources as targets for indirect dark matter detection with theFermi-Large Area Telescope

Coronado-Blázquez

Domínguez

Aguirre-Santaella

et al. 2019

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

115

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One of the predictions of the ΛCDM cosmological framework is the hierarchical formation of structure, giving rise to dark matter (DM) halos and subhalos. When the latter are massive enough they retain gas (i.e., baryons) and become visible. This is the case of the dwarf satellite galaxies in the Milky Way (MW). Below a certain mass, halos may not accumulate significant amounts of baryons and remain completely dark. However, if DM particles are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), we expect them to annihilate in subhalos, producing gamma rays which can be detected with the Fermi satellite. Using the three most recent point-source Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) catalogs (3FGL, 2FHL and 3FHL), we search for DM subhalo candidates among the unidentified sources, i.e., sources with no firm association to a known astrophysical object. We apply several selection criteria based on the expected properties of the DM-induced emission from subhalos, which allow us to significantly reduce the list of potential candidates. Then, by characterizing the minimum detection flux of the instrument and comparing our sample to predictions from the Via Lactea II (VL-II) N-body cosmological simulation, we place conservative and robust constraints on the σv − m DM parameter space. For annihilation via the τ + τ − channel, we put an upper limit of 4 × 10 −26 (5 × 10 −25 ) cm 3 s −1 for a mass of 10 (100) GeV. A critical improvement over previous treatments is the repopulation we made to include low-mass subhalos below the VL-II mass resolution. With more advanced subhalo candidate filtering the sensitivity reach of our method can potentially improve these constraints by a factor 3 (2) for τ + τ − (bb) channel.are an example of the most massive members of this population [11]. Yet, these dSphs are exceptional objects, in that they are massive enough to retain baryons (i.e., gas) and form stars. Conversely, the vast majority of the Galactic DM subhalos are not expected to host baryons and therefore remain completely dark [12]. Given their much larger number density, many of these small subhalos will be much closer to the Earth than the bigger ones, making them potentially interesting for dark matter searches.Should the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) DM model be correct (see, e.g., [13, 14] for a review), these objects may be detectable in the gamma-ray data. WIMPs can achieve the correct relic DM abundance (the so-called "WIMP miracle") through selfannihilation in the early Universe. Self-annihilation of WIMPs gives rise to a Standard Model (SM) particle-antiparticle pair which, among other possible subsequent by-products, typically yields gamma-ray photons. The ongoing self-annihilation of WIMPs in subhalos could be bright enough to be detectable.Since its launch in 2008, the Large Area Telescope on board the NASA Fermi Gammaray Space Telescope (Fermi-LAT) has been surveying the sky searching for gamma-ray sources [15]. The Fermi-LAT is a pair conversion telescope designed to observe the energy band from 20 MeV to gre...

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Unidentified gamma-ray sources as targets for indirect dark matter detection with theFermi-Large Area Telescope

Coronado-Blázquez

Domínguez

Aguirre-Santaella

et al. 2019

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

115

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“…Such dark matter candidates are motivated by hints of signals in direct detection experiments found by CoGeNT [375,376], DAMA [377], CDMS [378] and CRESST [379], although the interpretation of these results in terms of dark matter is challenged by negative results obtained by XENON [256,380] and LUX [89]. Hints of order 10 GeV dark matter might also be present in indirect dark matter searches, as discussed in, e.g., [381][382][383]. More generally, light dark matter candidates are allowed in many of the popular extensions of the SM and it is therefore interesting to explore this possibility irrespective of the direct detection results.…”

Section: Lhc Constraints On Light Neutralino Dark Matter In the Mssmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latest upper limits from Fermi-LAT indirect searches for photons produced from DM annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies constrain a very small subset of the points with light DM annihilating into τ τ . Some of these points are also in the region probed by Fermi-LAT searches for DM annihilation in subhalos [383] or from the Galactic Center [381], the latter bounds however depend on the assumed DM profile. However, a large fraction of allowed points corresponding to mχ0 1 > 30 GeV are several orders of magnitude below the current limits whether their main annihilation channel be into τ τ or bb.…”

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confidence: 93%

Higgs, Supersymmetry and Dark Matter After Run I of the LHC

Dumont

2017

Springer Theses

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“…Searches for such subhalos have been carried out by various authors, (e.g Mirabal et al 2012). Using the cosmological simulations of the Aquarius numerical code Berlin and Hooper (2013) and Bertoni et al (2015) predicted the distribution of nearby DM subhalos and compared it to selected samples of Fermi UGS. This comparison allowed them to derive limits on the DM annihilation cross section that in the "mass" range of DM particles lighter than ∼200 GeV is compatible with those derived from observations of dwarf galaxies, the Galactic Center, or the EGB (see also Rando and Buson 2015).…”

Section: Dark Matter Constraints From Unseen Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The extragalactic gamma-ray sky in the Fermi era

Massaro

Thompson

Ferrara

2015

Astron Astrophys Rev

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The Universe is largely transparent to γ -rays in the GeV energy range, making these high-energy photons valuable for exploring energetic processes in the cosmos. After 7 years of operation, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has produced a wealth of information about the high-energy sky. This review focuses on extragalactic γ -ray sources: what has been learned about the sources themselves and about how they can be used as cosmological probes. Active galactic nuclei (blazars, radio galaxies, Seyfert galaxies) and star-forming galaxies populate the extragalactic high-energy sky. Fermi observations have demonstrated that these powerful nonthermal sources display substantial diversity in energy spectra and temporal behavior. Coupled with contemporaneous multifrequency observations, the Fermi results are enabling detailed, time-dependent modeling of the energetic particle acceleration and interaction processes that produce the γ -rays, as well as providing indirect measurements of the extragalactic background light and intergalactic magnetic fields. Population studies of the γ -ray source classes compared to the extragalactic γ -ray background place constraints on some models of dark matter. Ongoing searches for the nature of the large number of γ -ray sources without obvious counterparts at other wavelengths remain an important challenge.

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Stringent constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section from subhalo searches with the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

Cited by 66 publications

References 56 publications

Unidentified gamma-ray sources as targets for indirect dark matter detection with theFermi-Large Area Telescope

Unidentified gamma-ray sources as targets for indirect dark matter detection with theFermi-Large Area Telescope

Higgs, Supersymmetry and Dark Matter After Run I of the LHC

The extragalactic gamma-ray sky in the Fermi era

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