Shedding Light on Dark Matter with Fermi LAT Data on Gamma Rays

TL;DR

This paper analyzes Fermi LAT gamma-ray data to explore potential evidence of dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center and uses mid-latitude data to constrain dark matter density profiles.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential of gamma-ray data to identify dark matter signals independently of particle properties and provides initial bounds on dark matter density profiles.

Findings

Gamma-ray data may reveal dark matter annihilation signals.

Mid-latitude data constrains dark matter density cuspiness.

Weak upper bounds on dark matter profile parameters.

Abstract

The diffuse Galactic gamma-ray data from the region of the Galactic Center has been collected by the LAT instrument on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. In this paper we argue that it may be able to provide an unambiguous evidence of originating, in addition to known astrophysical sources, from dark matter annihilations in the halo, independently of the mass and other properties of the dark matter particle. We also show that the recently released high precision data from mid-latitudes is already providing an upper bound, albeit still a weak one, on the cuspiness of the dark matter density profile as a function of the mass of the dark matter assumed to be a stable neutralino of minimal supersymmetry.