Indirect search for dark matter with a combined analysis of dwarf spheroidal galaxies from VERITAS
Understanding the nature and identity of dark matter is a key goal in the physics community. In the case that TeV-scale dark matter particles decay or annihilate into Standard Model particles, very-high-energy (VHE) gamma rays (greater than 100 GeV) will be present in the final state. The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) is an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array that can indirectly detect VHE gamma rays in an energy range of 100 GeV to $>30\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are ideal candidates in the search for dark matter due to their high dark matter content, high mass-to-light ratios, and their low gamma-ray fluxes from astrophysical processes. This study uses a legacy dataset of 638 h collected on 17 dSphs, built over 11 years with an observing strategy optimized according to the dark matter content of the targets. The study addresses a broad dark matter particle mass range, extending from 200 GeV to 30 PeV. In the absence of a detection, we set the upper limits on the dark matter velocity-weighted annihilation cross section.
Authors
- M. Splettstoesser
- R. Shang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9856-989X)
- A. J. Chromey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3194-8277)
- W. Hanlon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0109-4737)
- A. K. Talluri
- D. Tak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9852-2469)
- T. K. Kleiner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4260-9186)
- P. Rabinowitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5104-5263)
- J. L. Christiansen
- J. Ryan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-5925)
- M. J. Millard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7106-8502)
- A. Acharyya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2028-9230)
- C. B. Adams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9021-6192)
- L. Fortson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1067-8558)
- R. Mukherjee
- N. Korzoun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4289-7106)
- M. J. Lang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4641-4201)
- M. Lundy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3802-1619)
- E. Pueschel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0529-1973)
- R. A. Ong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4837-5253)
- C. E McGrath (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4427-6490)
- W. Benbow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2098-170X)
- G. M. Foote (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2944-6060)
- I. Sadeh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1387-8915)
- C. L. Mooney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5937-446X)
- N. Park (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4282-736X)
- D. Kieda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4785-0101)
- D. Ribeiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7523-7366)
- J. Quinn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4855-2694)
- A. Furniss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1614-1273)
- J. V. Tucci
- P. Bangale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3886-3739)
- P. Batista (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8138-1391)
- J. T. Bartkoske (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9675-7328)
- P. Moriarty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1499-2667)
- C. E. Hinrichs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6951-2299)
- Q. Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6674-4238)
- T. B. Humensky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1432-7771)
- S. Kumar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5167-1221)
- A. J. Weinstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2126-2419)
- G. Maier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9868-4700)
- Ann Duerr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3399-2208)
- P. T. Reynolds
- J. Holder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6833-0474)
- M. Errando (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1853-863X)
- M. N. Johnson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2688-0815)
- L. Saha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3171-5039)
- Ning Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6450-0421)
- W. Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1089-1754)
- S. L. Wong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2730-2733)
- M. Pohl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7861-1707)
- D. Hanna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8513-5603)
- A. Falcone
- G. H. Sembroski
- M. Kertzman
- Philip Kaaret
- S. O’Brien
- O. Hervet
- V. V. Vassiliev
- D. A. Williams
- K. Ragan
- E. Roache
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- DePauw University (US)
- University of Iowa (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Seoul National University (KR)
- California Polytechnic State University (US)
- Iowa State University (US)
- University of Potsdam (DE)
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- California State University, East Bay (US)
- Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway (IE)
- Queen's University (CA)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- University of Utah (US)
- University of Minnesota System (US)
- University of California System (US)
- Munster Technological University (IE)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- McGill University (CA)
- Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- University of Delaware (US)
- Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2024-09-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.110.063034
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.94
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Smithsonian Institution
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
- National Research Foundation
- Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea
- Office of Science
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada