Dark matter constraints from observations of 25 Milky Way satellite galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Abstract

The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are some of the most dark-matter-dominated objects known. Due to their proximity, high dark matter content, and lack of astrophysical backgrounds, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are widely considered to be among the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter via γ rays. Here we report on γ-ray observations of 25 Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies based on 4 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. None of the dwarf galaxies are significantly detected in γ rays, and we present γ-ray flux upper limits between 500 MeV and 500 GeV. We determine the dark matter content of 18 dwarf spheroidal galaxies from stellar kinematic data and combine LAT observations of 15 dwarf galaxies to constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section. We set some of the tightest constraints to date on the annihilation of dark matter particles with masses between 2 GeV and 10 TeV into prototypical standard model channels. We find these results to be robust against systematic uncertainties in the LAT instrument performance, diffuse γ-ray background modeling, and assumed dark matter density profile. © 2014 American Physical Society.

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• Université Paris Cité FR
• Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules FR
• AlbaNova SE
• University of Padua IT
• Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology US
• Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino IT
• Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano IT
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory US
• Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Roma Tor Vergata IT
• Université de Montpellier FR
• State University of New York US
• CEA Paris-Saclay FR
• Universidad Autónoma de Madrid ES
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique FR
• University of California, Irvine US
• Polytechnic University of Bari IT
• Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie FR
• Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna IT
• Astrophysique, Instrumentation et Modélisation FR
• University of Pisa IT
• University of Trieste IT
• Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova IT
• Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari IT
• Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa IT
• Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives FR
• Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier FR
• National Postdoctoral Association US
• Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY DE
• Agenzia Spaziale Italiana IT
• Université Libre de Bruxelles BE
• United States Naval Research Laboratory US
• University of Johannesburg ZA
• Fraunhofer Chalmers Research Centre for Industrial Mathematics SE
• École Polytechnique FR
• Hiroshima University JP
• Stockholm University SE
• Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia IT
• University of Maryland, College Park US
• University of Denver US
• Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste IT
• University of California, Santa Cruz US
• Stanford University US
• SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory US
• University of Perugia IT
• Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers FR
• Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet FR
• The Ohio State University US
• Astronomical Observatory of Rome IT
• George Mason University US
• The University of Tokyo JP
• Goddard Space Flight Center US
• Stony Brook University US
• Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées FR
• Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier FR
• Universität Innsbruck AT
• National Institute for Astrophysics IT

Related Publications