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Searching For Dark Matter Annihilation In The Smith High-Velocity Cloud

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  2. Pontificia Univ. Catolica de Chile, Santiago (Chile); Inst. Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Rome (Italy)
  3. Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  4. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Kavli Inst. for Cosmological Physics (KICP)
  5. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use γ-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant γ-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (~3 × 10-26 cm3 s-1) for dark matter masses . 30 GeV annihilating via the b¯b or τ⁺τ⁻ channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.
Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1356466
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1156511
OSTI ID: 22365627
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 790; ISSN 0004-637X
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (10)

Model-independent analysis of the DAMPE excess journal February 2018
The Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey—Data Release 3 journal January 2018
Wavelet-based techniques for the gamma-ray sky journal July 2016
Strong optimized conservative Fermi-LAT constraints on dark matter models from the inclusive photon spectrum journal April 2015
Search for γ -ray emission from dark matter particle interactions from the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope journal June 2019
Selection Rule for Enhanced Dark Matter Annihilation journal June 2017
Wimp searches with gamma rays in the Fermi era: Challenges, methods and results journal December 2015
WIMP searches with gamma rays in the Fermi era: challenges, methods and results text January 2015
Strong Optimized Conservative Fermi-LAT Constraints on Dark Matter Models from the Inclusive Photon Spectrum text January 2015
Model-independent analysis of the DAMPE excess text January 2017

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