DARK MATTER AND SYNCHROTRON EMISSION FROM GALACTIC CENTER RADIO FILAMENTS

Journal Article · Thu Nov 10 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/95; COUNTRY OF INPUT: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA)· OSTI ID:21612702

Linden, Tim ^[1]; Hooper, Dan ^[2]; Yusef-Zadeh, Farhad ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064 (United States)
2. Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 (United States)

The inner degrees of the Galactic center contain a large population of filamentary structures observed at radio frequencies. These so-called non-thermal radio filaments (NRFs) trace magnetic field lines and have attracted significant interest due to their hard (S{sub v} {proportional_to}{nu}{sup -0.1{+-}0.4}) synchrotron emission spectra. The origin of these filaments remains poorly understood. We show that the electrons and positrons created through the annihilations of a relatively light ({approx}5-10 GeV) dark matter particle with the cross section predicted for a simple thermal relic can provide a compelling match to the intensity, spectral shape, and flux variation of the NRFs. Furthermore, the characteristics of the dark matter particle necessary to explain the synchrotron emission from the NRFs are consistent with those required to explain the excess {gamma}-ray emission observed from the Galactic center by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, as well as the direct detection signals observed by CoGeNT and DAMA/LIBRA.

• OSTI ID: 21612702
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 741, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/741/2/95; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ANNIHILATION
CROSS SECTIONS
ELECTRONS
EMISSION
EMISSION SPECTRA
GALAXIES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
POSITRONS
TELESCOPES
VISIBLE RADIATION
ANTILEPTONS
ANTIMATTER
ANTIPARTICLES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
INTERACTIONS
LEPTONS
MATTER
PARTICLE INTERACTIONS
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA