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Title: Search for gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation in the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Abstract

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is the second-largest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and is only 60 kpc away. As a nearby, massive, and dense object with relatively low astrophysical backgrounds, it is a natural target for dark matter indirect detection searches. In this work, we use six years of Pass 8 data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for gamma-ray signals of dark matter annihilation in the SMC. Using data-driven ts to the gamma-ray backgrounds, and a combination of N-body simulations and direct measurements of rotation curves to estimate the SMC DM density pro le, we found that the SMC was well described by standard astrophysical sources, and no signal from dark matter annihilation was detected. We set conservative upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section. These constraints are in agreement with stronger constraints set by searches in the Large Magellanic Cloud and approach the canonical thermal relic cross section at dark matter masses lower than 10 GeV in the bb¯and τ⁺τ⁻ channels.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [5];  [6];  [4]
  1. Univ. of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
  2. Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)
  3. CNRS, IRAP, Toulouse cedex (France)
  4. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
  5. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  6. Univ. of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
OSTI Identifier:
1327421
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1242881; OSTI ID: 1355680
Report Number(s):
arXiv:1603.00965; FERMILAB-PUB-16-408-AE
Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010; PRVDAQ; 1425917
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359; AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review D
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 93; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

Caputo, Regina, Buckley, Matthew R., Martin, Pierrick, Charles, Eric, Brooks, Alyson M., Drlica-Wagner, Alex, Gaskins, Jennifer M., and Wood, Matthew. Search for gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation in the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.062004.
Caputo, Regina, Buckley, Matthew R., Martin, Pierrick, Charles, Eric, Brooks, Alyson M., Drlica-Wagner, Alex, Gaskins, Jennifer M., & Wood, Matthew. Search for gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation in the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.062004
Caputo, Regina, Buckley, Matthew R., Martin, Pierrick, Charles, Eric, Brooks, Alyson M., Drlica-Wagner, Alex, Gaskins, Jennifer M., and Wood, Matthew. Tue . "Search for gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation in the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Fermi Large Area Telescope". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.93.062004. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1327421.
@article{osti_1327421,
title = {Search for gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation in the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Fermi Large Area Telescope},
author = {Caputo, Regina and Buckley, Matthew R. and Martin, Pierrick and Charles, Eric and Brooks, Alyson M. and Drlica-Wagner, Alex and Gaskins, Jennifer M. and Wood, Matthew},
abstractNote = {The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is the second-largest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and is only 60 kpc away. As a nearby, massive, and dense object with relatively low astrophysical backgrounds, it is a natural target for dark matter indirect detection searches. In this work, we use six years of Pass 8 data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for gamma-ray signals of dark matter annihilation in the SMC. Using data-driven ts to the gamma-ray backgrounds, and a combination of N-body simulations and direct measurements of rotation curves to estimate the SMC DM density pro le, we found that the SMC was well described by standard astrophysical sources, and no signal from dark matter annihilation was detected. We set conservative upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section. These constraints are in agreement with stronger constraints set by searches in the Large Magellanic Cloud and approach the canonical thermal relic cross section at dark matter masses lower than 10 GeV in the bb¯and τ⁺τ⁻ channels.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.93.062004},
journal = {Physical Review D},
number = 6,
volume = 93,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Mar 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Cited by: 28 works
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