Dark Matter decay and annihilation in the Local Universe: CLUES from Fermi

TL;DR

This study uses simulated Fermi gamma-ray maps based on constrained cosmological models to evaluate the potential for detecting dark matter decay and annihilation signals in the local universe, highlighting promising targets like galaxy clusters and filaments.

Contribution

First to use constrained simulations of the local universe to predict gamma-ray signals from dark matter decay and annihilation for Fermi observations, identifying promising detection targets.

Findings

Fermi could detect dark matter decay signals in local structures like clusters and filaments.

Dark matter decay signals are more detectable than annihilation signals in local extragalactic structures.

Nearby clusters and filaments provide stronger constraints on dark matter properties than previous studies.

Abstract

We present all-sky simulated Fermi maps of gamma-rays from dark matter decay and annihilation in the Local Universe. The dark matter distribution is obtained from a constrained cosmological simulation of the neighboring large-scale structure provided by the CLUES project. The dark matter fields of density and density squared are then taken as an input for the Fermi observation simulation tool to predict the gamma-ray photon counts that Fermi would detect in 5 years of all-sky survey for given dark matter models. Signal-to-noise sky maps have also been obtained by adopting the current Galactic and isotropic diffuse background models released by the Fermi collaboration. We point out the possibility for Fermi to detect a dark matter gamma-ray signal in local extragalactic structures. In particular, we conclude here that Fermi observations of nearby clusters (e.g. Virgo and Coma) and filaments are expected to give stronger constraints on decaying dark matter compared to previous studies. As an example, we find a significant signal-to-noise ratio in dark matter models with a decay rate fitting the positron excess as measured by PAMELA. This is the first time that dark matter filaments are shown to be promising targets for indirect detection of dark matter. On the other hand, the prospects for detectability of annihilating dark matter in local extragalactic structures are less optimistic even with extreme cross-sections. We make the dark matter density and density squared maps available online at http://www.clues-project.org/articles/darkmattermaps.html