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Title: Spectral and spatial analysis of the dark matter subhalo candidates among Fermi Large Area Telescope unidentified sources

Abstract

Fermi-LAT unidentified sources (unIDs) have proven to be compelling targets for performing indirect dark matter (DM) searches. In a previous work, we found that among the 1235 unIDs in Fermi-LAT's catalogs (3FGL, 2FHL and 3FHL) only 44 of those are DM subhalos candidates. In the present work, we implement a spectral analysis to test whether these remaining sources are compatible or not with DM origin. This analysis is executed using almost 10 years of Pass 8 Fermi-LAT data. None of the unIDs are found to significantly prefer DM-induced emission compared to other, more conventional, astrophysical sources. In order to discriminate between pulsar and DM sources, we developed a new method which is based on the source's spectral curvature, peak energy, and its detection significance. We also look for spatial extension, which may be a hint for a DM origin according to our N-body simulation studies of the subhalo population. In addition, we used Gaia DR2 data to search for a potential stellar counterpart to our best DM subhalo candidates and, although no firm associations could be found, one of them coincides with the Sagittarius stream. Finally, previous constraints on the DM annihilation cross section are updated with the new numbermore » of remaining DM subhalo candidates among unIDs. Our limits now rule out canonical thermal WIMPs up to masses of 10 GeV for b and 20 GeV for τ+τ annihilation channels, in this way being as sensitive and complementary to those obtained from other targets and probes.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [5]
  1. Univ. Autonoma de Madrid (Spain). Inst. de Fisica Teorica and Dept. de Fisica Teorica
  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC (United States)
  3. Univ. College London (UCL), Surrey (United Kingdom). Mullard Space Science Lab. (MSSL)
  4. Univ. Complutense Madrid (Spain)
  5. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; Comunidad de Madrid; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC); Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain (MINECO); Agencia Estatal de Investigacion
OSTI Identifier:
1608811
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515; 2016-T1/TIC- 1542; PGC2018-095161-B-I00; SEV-2016-0597; FPA2017-90566-REDC
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2019; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; dark matter experiments; dark matter simulations; dark matter theory; gamma ray experiments

Citation Formats

Coronado-Blázquez, Javier, Sánchez-Conde, Miguel A., Mauro, Mattia Di, Aguirre-Santaella, Alejandra, Ciucă, Ioana, Domínguez, Alberto, Kawata, Daisuke, and Mirabal, Néstor. Spectral and spatial analysis of the dark matter subhalo candidates among Fermi Large Area Telescope unidentified sources. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2019/11/045.
Coronado-Blázquez, Javier, Sánchez-Conde, Miguel A., Mauro, Mattia Di, Aguirre-Santaella, Alejandra, Ciucă, Ioana, Domínguez, Alberto, Kawata, Daisuke, & Mirabal, Néstor. Spectral and spatial analysis of the dark matter subhalo candidates among Fermi Large Area Telescope unidentified sources. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2019/11/045
Coronado-Blázquez, Javier, Sánchez-Conde, Miguel A., Mauro, Mattia Di, Aguirre-Santaella, Alejandra, Ciucă, Ioana, Domínguez, Alberto, Kawata, Daisuke, and Mirabal, Néstor. Thu . "Spectral and spatial analysis of the dark matter subhalo candidates among Fermi Large Area Telescope unidentified sources". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2019/11/045. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1608811.
@article{osti_1608811,
title = {Spectral and spatial analysis of the dark matter subhalo candidates among Fermi Large Area Telescope unidentified sources},
author = {Coronado-Blázquez, Javier and Sánchez-Conde, Miguel A. and Mauro, Mattia Di and Aguirre-Santaella, Alejandra and Ciucă, Ioana and Domínguez, Alberto and Kawata, Daisuke and Mirabal, Néstor},
abstractNote = {Fermi-LAT unidentified sources (unIDs) have proven to be compelling targets for performing indirect dark matter (DM) searches. In a previous work, we found that among the 1235 unIDs in Fermi-LAT's catalogs (3FGL, 2FHL and 3FHL) only 44 of those are DM subhalos candidates. In the present work, we implement a spectral analysis to test whether these remaining sources are compatible or not with DM origin. This analysis is executed using almost 10 years of Pass 8 Fermi-LAT data. None of the unIDs are found to significantly prefer DM-induced emission compared to other, more conventional, astrophysical sources. In order to discriminate between pulsar and DM sources, we developed a new method which is based on the source's spectral curvature, peak energy, and its detection significance. We also look for spatial extension, which may be a hint for a DM origin according to our N-body simulation studies of the subhalo population. In addition, we used Gaia DR2 data to search for a potential stellar counterpart to our best DM subhalo candidates and, although no firm associations could be found, one of them coincides with the Sagittarius stream. Finally, previous constraints on the DM annihilation cross section are updated with the new number of remaining DM subhalo candidates among unIDs. Our limits now rule out canonical thermal WIMPs up to masses of 10 GeV for b and 20 GeV for τ+τ– annihilation channels, in this way being as sensitive and complementary to those obtained from other targets and probes.},
doi = {10.1088/1475-7516/2019/11/045},
journal = {Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics},
number = 11,
volume = 2019,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Thu Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Constraints to Dark Matter Annihilation from High-Latitude HAWC Unidentified Sources
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Constraints to dark matter annihilation from high-latitude HAWC unidentified sources
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