Indication of Gamma-ray Emission from the Newly Discovered Dwarf Galaxy Reticulum II

TL;DR

This study reports a gamma-ray signal from the dwarf galaxy Reticulum II, potentially indicating dark matter annihilation, with significance depending on background modeling.

Contribution

First detection of gamma-ray emission from Reticulum II consistent with dark matter annihilation, using Fermi-LAT data and background modeling.

Findings

Gamma-ray emission detected with >3.7 sigma significance under certain models.

Signal consistent with dark matter annihilation cross section.

Reticulum II shows the most significant gamma-ray signal among known dwarf galaxies.

Abstract

We present a search for gamma-ray emission from the direction of the newly discovered dwarf galaxy Reticulum II. Using Fermi-LAT data, we detect a signal that exceeds expected backgrounds between ~2-10 GeV and is consistent with annihilation of dark matter for particle masses less than a few x 10^2 GeV. Modeling the background as a Poisson process based on Fermi-LAT diffuse models, and taking into account trials factors, we detect emission with p-value less than 9.8 x 10^-5 (>3.7 sigma). An alternative, model-independent treatment of background reduces the significance, raising the p-value to 9.7 x 10^-3 (2.3 sigma). Even in this case, however, Reticulum II has the most significant gamma-ray signal of any known dwarf galaxy. If Reticulum II has a dark matter halo that is similar to those inferred for other nearby dwarfs, the signal is consistent with the s-wave relic abundance cross section for annihilation.