Dark matter annihilation and decay profiles for the Reticulum II dwarf spheroidal galaxy

TL;DR

This study reconstructs dark matter profiles for the Reticulum II dwarf galaxy, highlighting its potential for dark matter detection due to its high J-factor, using advanced kinematic analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed dark matter annihilation and decay profiles for Reticulum II using an optimized spherical Jeans analysis.

Findings

Reticulum II has one of the highest J-factors among Milky Way dSphs.

Results are robust against various analysis assumptions.

Reticulum II could be key for dark matter particle studies.

Abstract

The dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph) of the Milky Way are among the most attractive targets for indirect searches of dark matter. In this work, we reconstruct the dark matter annihilation (J-factor) and decay profiles for the newly discovered dSph Reticulum II. Using an optimized spherical Jeans analysis of kinematic data obtained from the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS), we find Reticulum II's J-factor to be among the largest of any Milky Way dSph. We have checked the robustness of this result against several ingredients of the analysis. Unless it suffers from tidal disruption or significant inflation of its velocity dispersion from binary stars, Reticulum II may provide a unique window on dark matter particle properties.