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Title: Search for gamma-ray lines towards galaxy clusters with the Fermi-LAT

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics (Sweden); Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Physics
  2. Georg-August Univ. Gottingen (Germany)
  3. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

We report on a search for monochromatic γ-ray features in the spectra of galaxy clusters observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in the Universe that are bound by dark matter (DM), making them an important testing ground for possible selfinteractions or decays of the DM particles. Monochromatic γ-ray lines provide a unique signature due to the absence of astrophysical backgrounds and are as such considered a smoking-gun signature for new physics. An unbinned joint likelihood analysis of the sixteen most promising clusters using five years of data at energies between 10 and 400 GeV revealed no significant features. For the case of self-annihilation, we set upper limits on the monochromatic velocity-averaged interaction cross section. These limits are compatible with those obtained from observations of the Galactic Center, albeit weaker due to the larger distance to the studied clusters.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); European Union (EU); Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA); Swedish Research Council (SRC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1355673
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2016, Issue 02; ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 30 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Ruling out dark matter interpretation of the galactic GeV excess by gamma-ray data of galaxy clusters journal November 2017
Searching for dark matter annihilation from individual halos: uncertainties, scatter and signal-to-noise ratios journal August 2018
Tidal evolution of dark matter annihilation rates in subhalos journal September 2019
Evolution of dark matter microhalos through stellar encounters journal October 2019
Search for line-like signals in the all-sky Fermi-LAT data journal June 2019
Halo Substructure Boosts to the Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation journal July 2019
CROSS-CORRELATING THE γ -RAY SKY WITH CATALOGS OF GALAXY CLUSTERS journal January 2017
Ruling out dark matter interpretation of the galactic GeV excess by gamma-ray data of galaxy clusters text January 2017
Halo Substructure Boosts to the Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation text January 2019
Tidal evolution of dark matter annihilation rates in subhalos text January 2019
Evolution of dark matter microhalos through stellar encounters text January 2019

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