Combined searches for dark matter in dwarf spheroidal galaxies observed with the MAGIC telescopes, including new data from Coma Berenices and Draco

TL;DR

This study combines multi-year MAGIC telescope observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, including new data from Draco and Coma Berenices, to set the most stringent limits yet on dark matter annihilation cross-sections, without detecting a signal.

Contribution

The paper presents the first combined analysis of multiple dSph observations with MAGIC, significantly improving constraints on WIMP annihilation cross-sections across several channels.

Findings

No gamma-ray signals detected from Draco or Coma Berenices.

New upper limits on WIMP annihilation cross-section reach ~10^{-24} cm^3/s at 1 TeV.

Combined data analysis enhances sensitivity and reduces systematic uncertainties.

Abstract

Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are among the best candidates to search for signals of dark matter annihilation with Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, given their high mass-to-light ratios and the fact that they are free of astrophysical gamma-ray emitting sources. Since 2011, MAGIC has performed a multi-year observation program in search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in dSphs. Results on the observations of Segue 1 and Ursa Major II dSphs have already been published and include some of the most stringent upper limits (ULs) on the velocity-averaged cross-section $\langle \sigma_{\mathrm{ann}} v \rangle$ of WIMP annihilation from observations of dSphs. In this work, we report on the analyses of 52.1 h of data of Draco dSph and 49.5 h of Coma Berenices dSph observed with the MAGIC telescopes in 2018 and in 2019 respectively. No hint of a signal has been detected from either of these targets and new constraints on the $\langle \sigma_{\mathrm{ann}} v \rangle$ of WIMP candidates have been derived. In order to improve the sensitivity of the search and reduce the effect of the systematic uncertainties due to the $J$-factor estimates, we have combined the data of all dSphs observed with the MAGIC telescopes. Using 354.3 h of dSphs good quality data, 95 % CL ULs on $\langle \sigma_{\mathrm{ann}} v \rangle$ have been obtained for 9 annihilation channels. For most of the channels, these results reach values of the order of $10^{-24} $cm$^3$/s at ${\sim}1$ TeV and are the most stringent limits obtained with the MAGIC telescopes so far.