DWARF GALAXY ANNIHILATION AND DECAY EMISSION PROFILES FOR DARK MATTER EXPERIMENTS

Gamma-ray searches for dark matter annihilation and decay in dwarf galaxies rely on an understanding of the dark matter density profiles of these systems. Conversely, uncertainties in these density profiles propagate into the derived particle physics limits as systematic errors. In this paper we qua...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2015-03, Vol.801 (2), p.1-18
Main Authors: Geringer-Sameth, Alex, Koushiappas, Savvas M, Walker, Matthew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANNIHILATION
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COSMIC GAMMA SOURCES
Dark matter
Decomposition
DENSITY
Dwarf galaxies
Dynamical systems
Dynamics
EQUILIBRIUM
ERRORS
Galaxies
GAMMA RADIATION
MILKY WAY
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
Searching
SPACE
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
STARS
SYMMETRY
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Description
Summary:Gamma-ray searches for dark matter annihilation and decay in dwarf galaxies rely on an understanding of the dark matter density profiles of these systems. Conversely, uncertainties in these density profiles propagate into the derived particle physics limits as systematic errors. In this paper we quantify the expected dark matter signal from 20 Milky Way dwarfs using a uniform analysis of the most recent stellar-kinematic data available. Assuming that the observed stellar populations are equilibrium tracers of spherically symmetric gravitational potentials that are dominated by dark matter, we find that current stellar-kinematic data can predict the amplitudes of annihilation signals to within a factor of a few for the ultra-faint dwarfs of greatest interest. On the other hand, the expected signal from several classical dwarfs (with high-quality observations of large numbers of member stars) can be localized to the ~20% level. These results are important for designing maximally sensitive searches in current and future experiments using space and ground-based instruments.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/801/2/74