Search for dark matter signals with Fermi-LAT observation of globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2012/04/030· OSTI ID:22280125

Feng, Lei; Yuan, Qiang; Yin, Peng-Fei; Bi, Xiao-Jun ^[1]; Li, Mingzhe ^[2]

---

1. Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China)
2. Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)

The globular clusters are probably good targets for dark matter (DM) searches in γ-rays due to the possible adiabatic contraction of DM by baryons. In this work we analyse the three-year data collected by Fermi Large Area Telescope of globular clusters NGC 6388 and M 15 to search for possible DM signals. For NGC 6388 the detection of γ-ray emission was reported by Fermi collaboration, which is consistent with the emission of a population of millisecond pulsars. The spectral shape of NGC 6388 is also shown to be consistent with a DM contribution if assuming the annihilation final state is b b-bar . No significant γ-ray emission from M 15 is observed. We give the upper limits of DM contribution to γ-ray emission in both NGC 6388 and M 15, for annihilation final states b b-bar , W{sup +}W{sup −}, μ{sup +}μ{sup −}, τ{sup +}τ{sup −} and monochromatic line. The constraints are stronger than that derived from observation of dwarf galaxies by Fermi.

• OSTI ID: 22280125
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 04 Vol. 2012; ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ANNIHILATION
ASTROPHYSICS
BARYONS
COSMOLOGY
GALAXIES
MONOCHROMATIC RADIATION
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
PHOTON EMISSION
PULSARS
STAR CLUSTERS
TELESCOPES
W MINUS BOSONS
W PLUS BOSONS