The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter
Past studies have identified a spatially extended excess of ~1-3 GeV gamma rays from the region surrounding the Galactic Center, consistent with the emission expected from annihilating dark matter. We revisit and scrutinize this signal with the intention of further constraining its characteristics a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier BV
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116342 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3472-7606 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9699-9047 |
| _version_ | 1811076480406388736 |
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| author | Daylan, Tansu Finkbeiner, Douglas P. Hooper, Dan Linden, Tim Portillo, Stephen K.N. Rodd, Nicholas Llewellyn Slatyer, Tracy Robyn |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Daylan, Tansu Finkbeiner, Douglas P. Hooper, Dan Linden, Tim Portillo, Stephen K.N. Rodd, Nicholas Llewellyn Slatyer, Tracy Robyn |
| author_sort | Daylan, Tansu |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Past studies have identified a spatially extended excess of ~1-3 GeV gamma rays from the region surrounding the Galactic Center, consistent with the emission expected from annihilating dark matter. We revisit and scrutinize this signal with the intention of further constraining its characteristics and origin. By applying cuts to the Fermi event parameter CTBCORE, we suppress the tails of the point spread function and generate high resolution gamma-ray maps, enabling us to more easily separate the various gamma-ray components. Within these maps, we find the GeV excess to be robust and highly statistically significant, with a spectrum, angular distribution, and overall normalization that is in good agreement with that predicted by simple annihilating dark matter models. For example, the signal is very well fit by a 36-51 GeV dark matter particle annihilating to bb with an annihilation cross section of σv=(1-3)×10-26cm3/s (normalized to a local dark matter density of 0.4 GeV/cm 3 ). Furthermore, we confirm that the angular distribution of the excess is approximately spherically symmetric and centered around the dynamical center of the Milky Way (within ~0.05 ° of Sgr A * ), showing no sign of elongation along the Galactic Plane. The signal is observed to extend to at least ≃10° from the Galactic Center, which together with its other morphological traits disfavors the possibility that this emission originates from previously known or modeled pulsar populations. Keywords: Dark matter; Indirect detection;
Gamma-rays |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:22:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/116342 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:22:50Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Elsevier BV |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1163422022-09-30T20:43:45Z The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter Daylan, Tansu Finkbeiner, Douglas P. Hooper, Dan Linden, Tim Portillo, Stephen K.N. Rodd, Nicholas Llewellyn Slatyer, Tracy Robyn Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics Rodd, Nicholas Llewellyn Slatyer, Tracy Robyn Past studies have identified a spatially extended excess of ~1-3 GeV gamma rays from the region surrounding the Galactic Center, consistent with the emission expected from annihilating dark matter. We revisit and scrutinize this signal with the intention of further constraining its characteristics and origin. By applying cuts to the Fermi event parameter CTBCORE, we suppress the tails of the point spread function and generate high resolution gamma-ray maps, enabling us to more easily separate the various gamma-ray components. Within these maps, we find the GeV excess to be robust and highly statistically significant, with a spectrum, angular distribution, and overall normalization that is in good agreement with that predicted by simple annihilating dark matter models. For example, the signal is very well fit by a 36-51 GeV dark matter particle annihilating to bb with an annihilation cross section of σv=(1-3)×10-26cm3/s (normalized to a local dark matter density of 0.4 GeV/cm 3 ). Furthermore, we confirm that the angular distribution of the excess is approximately spherically symmetric and centered around the dynamical center of the Milky Way (within ~0.05 ° of Sgr A * ), showing no sign of elongation along the Galactic Plane. The signal is observed to extend to at least ≃10° from the Galactic Center, which together with its other morphological traits disfavors the possibility that this emission originates from previously known or modeled pulsar populations. Keywords: Dark matter; Indirect detection; Gamma-rays United States. Department of Energy (Contract DE-FG02-05ER41360) 2018-06-15T17:14:27Z 2018-06-15T17:14:27Z 2016-02 2015-12 2018-06-13T15:35:45Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2212-6864 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116342 Daylan, Tansu et al. “The Characterization of the Gamma-Ray Signal from the Central Milky Way: A Case for Annihilating Dark Matter.” Physics of the Dark Universe 12 (June 2016): 1–23 © 2016 Elsevier B.V. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3472-7606 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9699-9047 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/J.DARK.2015.12.005 Physics of the Dark Universe Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier BV arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Daylan, Tansu Finkbeiner, Douglas P. Hooper, Dan Linden, Tim Portillo, Stephen K.N. Rodd, Nicholas Llewellyn Slatyer, Tracy Robyn The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter |
| title | The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter |
| title_full | The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter |
| title_fullStr | The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter |
| title_full_unstemmed | The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter |
| title_short | The characterization of the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way: A case for annihilating dark matter |
| title_sort | characterization of the gamma ray signal from the central milky way a case for annihilating dark matter |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116342 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3472-7606 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9699-9047 |
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