Searches for dark matter subhaloes with wide-field Cherenkov telescope surveys

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.83.015003· OSTI ID:21503892

Brun, Pierre; Moulin, Emmanuel; Glicenstein, Jean-Francois ^[1]; Diemand, Juerg ^[2]

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1. CEA, Irfu, Service de Physique des Particules, Centre de Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
2. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich (Switzerland)

The presence of substructures in dark matter haloes is an unavoidable consequence of the cold dark matter paradigm. Indirect signals from these objects have been extensively searched for with cosmic rays and {gamma} rays. At first sight, Cherenkov telescopes seem not very well suited for such searches, due to their small fields of view and the random nature of the possible dark matter substructure positions in the sky. However, with long enough exposure and an adequate observation strategy, the very good sensitivity of this experimental technique allows us to constrain particle dark matter models. We confront here the sensitivity map of the HESS experiment built out of their Galactic scan survey to the state-of-the-art cosmological N-body simulation Via Lactea II. We obtain competitive constraints on the annihilation cross section, at the level of 10{sup -24}-10{sup -23} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1}. The results are extrapolated to the future Cherenkov Telescope Array, in the cases of a Galactic plane survey and of an even wider extragalactic survey. In the latter case, it is shown that the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array will be sufficient to reach the most natural particle dark matter models.

• OSTI ID: 21503892
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 83, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.83.015003; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
ANNIHILATION
CHERENKOV COUNTERS
COSMIC PHOTONS
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMIC RAY DETECTION
CROSS SECTIONS
GAMMA RADIATION
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
PARTICLES
RANDOMNESS
SENSITIVITY
SIMULATION
TELESCOPES
BOSONS
DETECTION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
INTERACTIONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATTER
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
PHOTONS
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATIONS