Galactic Substructure and Dark Matter Annihilation in the Milky Way Halo

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytic model to estimate how dark matter substructures in the Milky Way enhance annihilation signals, aiding in constraining WIMP properties through gamma-ray observations.

Contribution

It introduces a calibrated analytic model for dark matter substructure effects on annihilation rates, extending simulation results to smaller scales and varying galactocentric radii.

Findings

Calculated annihilation boost factors as a function of radius.

Estimated gamma-ray intensity profiles from WIMP annihilation.

Provided a framework for future constraints on dark matter properties.

Abstract

We study the effects of substructure on the rate of dark-matter annihilation in the Galactic halo. We use an analytic model for substructure that can extend numerical simulation results to scales too small to be resolved by the simulations. We first calibrate the analytic model to numerical simulations, and then determine the annihilation boost factor, for standard WIMP models as well as those with Sommerfeld (or other) enhancements, as a function of Galactocentric radius in the Milky Way. We provide an estimate of the dependence of the gamma-ray intensity of WIMP annihilation as a function of angular distance from the Galactic center. This methodology, coupled with future numerical simulation results can be a powerful tool that can be used to constrain WIMP properties using Fermi all-sky data.