Indirect Search for Dark Matter from the center of the Milky Way with the Fermi-Large Area Telescope

TL;DR

This paper reports on a search for dark matter signals in gamma-ray data from the Galactic Center using Fermi-LAT, finding residual emissions that could hint at dark matter or unknown sources.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of gamma-ray data from the Galactic Center, identifying residual emissions after accounting for known sources and diffuse backgrounds, and discusses improvements for future dark matter searches.

Findings

Diffuse gamma-ray backgrounds and known sources explain most of the emission.

Residual emission remains unexplained by current models.

Enhanced modeling could improve dark matter detection sensitivity.

Abstract

The Galactic Center region is expected to host the largest density of Dark Matter (DM) particles within the Milky Way. Then a relatively large gamma-ray signal would be expected from the possible DM particles annihilation (or decay). We are searching for the DM gamma-ray signal from the Galactic Center, which is also rich in bright discrete gamma-ray sources. Furthermore intense diffuse gamma-ray emission due to cosmic-ray interactions with interstellar gas and radiation is detected from the same direction. A preliminary analysis of the data, taken during the first 11 months of the Fermi satellite operations, is reported. The diffuse gamma-ray backgrounds and discrete sources, as we know them today, can account for the large majority of the detected gamma-ray emission from the Galactic Center. Nevertheless a residual emission is left, not accounted for by the above models. An improved model of the Galactic diffuse emission and a careful evaluation of new (possibly unresolved) sources (or source populations) will improve the sensitivity for a DM search.