Search for gamma-Ray Line Signals from Dark Matter Annihilations in the Inner Galactic Halo from 10 Years of Observations with HESS
journal contribution
posted on 2018-06-07, 08:18 authored by H Abdallah, A Abramowski, F Aharonian, FA Benkhali, EO Anguner, M Arakawa, M Arrieta, P Aubert, M Backes, A Balzer, M Barnard, Y Becherini, JB Tjus, D Berge, S Bernhard, K Bernloehr, R Blackwell, M Bottcher, C Boisson, J Bolmont, S Bonnefoy, P Bordas, J Bregeon, F Brun, P Brun, M Bryan, M Buechele, T Bulik, M Capasso, S Caroff, A Carosi, J Carr, S Casanova, M Cerruti, N Chakraborty, RCG Chaves, A Chen, J Chevalier, S Colafrancesco, B Condon, J Conrad, ID Davids, J Decock, C Deil, J Devin, P Dewilt, L Dirson, A Djannati-Atai, W Domainko, A Donath, LO Drury, K Dutson, J Dyks, T Edwards, K Egberts, P Eger, G Emery, J-P Ernenwein, S Eschbach, C Farnier, S Fegan, M Fernandes, A Fiasson, G Fontaine, A Foerster, S Funk, M Fuessling, S Gabici, YA Gallant, T Garrigoux, F Gate, G Giavitto, B Giebels, D Glawion, JF Glicenstein, D Gottschall, M-H Grondin, J Hahn, M Haupt, J Hawkes, G Heinzelmann, G Henri, G Hermann, JA Hinton, W Hofmann, C Hoischen, TL Holch, M Holler, D Horns, A Ivascenko, H Iwasaki, A Jacholkowska, M Jamrozy, M Janiak, D Jankowsky, F Jankowsky, M Jingo, L Jouvin, I Jung-Richardt, MA Kastendieck, K Katarzynski, M Katsuragawa, U Katz, D Kerszberg, D Khangulyan, B Khelifi, J King, S Klepser, D Klochkov, W Kluzniak, N Komin, K Kosack, S Krakau, M Kraus, PP Krueger, H Laffon, G Lamanna, J Lau, J-P Lees, J Lefaucheur, A Lemiere, M Lemoine-Goumard, J-P Lenain, E Leser, R Liu, T Lohse, M Lorentz, R Lopez-Coto, I Lypova, D Malyshev, V Marandon, A Marcowith, C Mariaud, R Marx, G Maurin, N Maxted, M Mayer, PJ Meintjes, M Meyer, AMW Mitchell, R Moderski, M Mohamed, L Mohrmann, K Mora, E Moulin, T Murach, S Nakashima, M de Naurois, H Ndiyavala, F Niederwanger, J Niemiec, L Oakes, P O'Brien, H Odaka, S Ohm, M Ostrowski, I Oya, M Padovani, M Panter, RD Parsons, NW Pekeur, G Pelletier, C Perennes, P-O Petrucci, B Peyaud, Q Piel, S Pita, V Poireau, H Poon, D Prokhorov, H Prokoph, G Puelhofer, M Punch, A Quirrenbach, S Raab, R Rauth, A Reimer, O Reimer, M Renaud, R De Los Reyes, F Rieger, L Rinchiuso, C Romoli, G Rowell, B Rudak, CB Rulten, V Sahakian, S Saito, DA Sanchez, A Santangelo, M Sasaki, M Schandri, R Schlickeiser, F Schussler, A Schulz, U Schwanke, S Schwemmer, M Seglar-Arroyo, M Settimo, AS Seyffert, N Shafi, I Shilon, K Shiningayamwe, R Simoni, H Sol, F Spanier, M Spir-Jacob, L Stawarz, R Steenkamp, C Stegmann, C Steppa, I Sushch, T Takahashi, J-P Tavernet, T Tavernier, AM Taylor, R Terrier, L Tibaldo, D Tiziani, M Tluczykont, C Trichard, M Tsirou, N Tsuji, R Tuffs, Y Uchiyama, J van der Walt, C van Eldik, C van Rensburg, B van Soelen, G Vasileiadis, J Veh, C Venter, A Viana, P Vincent, J Vink, F Voisin, HJ Voelk, T Vuillaume, Z Wadiasingh, SJ Wagner, P Wagner, RM Wagner, R White, A Wierzcholska, P Willmann, A Woernlein, D Wouters, R Yang, D Zaborov, M Zacharias, R Zanin, AA Zdziarski, A Zech, F Zefi, A Ziegler, J Zorn, N ZywuckaSpectral lines are among the most powerful signatures for dark matter (DM) annihilation searches in
very-high-energy γ rays. The central region of the Milky Way halo is one of the most promising targets
given its large amount of DM and proximity to Earth. We report on a search for a monoenergetic spectral
line from self-annihilations of DM particles in the energy range from 300 GeV to 70 TeV using a twodimensional
maximum likelihood method taking advantage of both the spectral and spatial features of the
signal versus background. The analysis makes use of Galactic center observations accumulated over ten
years (2004–2014) with the H.E.S.S. array of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. No significant γ-ray
excess above the background is found. We derive upper limits on the annihilation cross section hσvi for
monoenergetic DM lines at the level of 4 × 10−28 cm3 s−1 at 1 TeV, assuming an Einasto DM profile for the
Milky Way halo. For a DM mass of 1 TeV, they improve over the previous ones by a factor of 6. The present
constraints are the strongest obtained so far for DM particles in the mass range 300 GeV–70 TeV. Groundbased
γ-ray observations have reached sufficient sensitivity to explore relevant velocity-averaged cross
sections for DM annihilation into two γ-ray photons at the level expected from the thermal relic density for
TeV DM particles.
Funding
The support of the Namibian authorities and of the University of Namibia in facilitating the construction and operation of H.E. S. S. is gratefully acknowledged, as is the support by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), the Max Planck Society, the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the French Ministry for Research, the CNRS-IN2P3 and the Astroparticle Interdisciplinary Programme of the CNRS, the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the IPNP of the Charles University, the Czech Science Foundation, the Polish National Science Centre, the South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation, the University of Namibia, the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology of Namibia (NCRST), the Innsbruck University, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Economy, the University of Adelaide and the Australian Research Council, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and the University of Amsterdam. We appreciate the excellent work of the technical support staff in Berlin, Durham, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Palaiseau, Paris, Saclay, and Namibia in the construction and operation of the equipment. This work benefited from services provided by the H.E.S.S. Virtual Organisation, supported by the national resource providers of the EGI Federation. Part of this work was funded by EU FP7 Marie Curie Grant Agreement No. PIEF-GA-2012- 332350.
History
Citation
Physical Review Letters, 2018, 120 (20), 201101Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and AstronomyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Published in
Physical Review LettersPublisher
American Physical Societyissn
0031-9007eissn
1079-7114Copyright date
2018Available date
2018-06-07Publisher DOI
Publisher version
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.201101Notes
See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/ supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.201101 for more details on the observational data set at the Galactic center, the signal and background measurement technique, the expected limit computation together and a study of the systematic uncertainties. In addition, the dependency of the limits for different dark matter profiles is provided.Language
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