Searches for Dark Matter signatures in the Segue 1 dwarf spheroidal galaxy with the MAGIC-I telescope

TL;DR

This study conducted the deepest gamma-ray observation of the Segue 1 dwarf galaxy with MAGIC-I to search for dark matter signatures, but found no significant emission, setting upper limits on possible dark matter annihilation signals.

Contribution

It presents the deepest Cherenkov telescope observations of Segue 1 and introduces a novel analysis method considering spectral features of specific dark matter models.

Findings

No significant gamma-ray emission detected above 100 GeV.

Established upper limits on gamma-ray flux for various spectra.

Analysis accounts for spectral features of dark matter models.

Abstract

Despite the interest in Dark Matter (DM) searches is currently more focused on underground experiments, a signature of DM annihilation/decay in gamma-rays from the space would constitute a smoking gun for its identification. Here, we present the results of the survey of Segue1 by the MAGIC-I telescope performed in 2008 and 2009. This source is considered by many as the most DM dominated Milky Way satellite galaxy known so far. The nearly 43 hours of data taken constitute the deepest observation ever made on a single dwarf galaxy by Cherenkov telescopes. No significant gamma-ray emission was found above an energy threshold of 100 GeV. Integral upper limits on the gamma-ray flux were calculated assuming various power-law spectra for the possible emission spectrum and for different energy thresholds. We also discuss a novel analysis that fully takes into account the spectral features of the gamma-ray spectrum of specific DM models in a SuperSymmetric scenario.