Searching for dark matter with cosmic gamma rays
Dark matter (Astronomy) Gamma rays Nuclear astrophysics
IOP Publishing
2016
EISBN 9781681742694
Preface.
1. Introduction.
2. Observational and theoretical motivation for particle dark matter.
2.1. Gravitational evidence for dark matter halos.
2.2. Weakly interacting massive particles.
2.3. Other particle dark matter candidates
3. Investigating dark matter with cosmic gamma rays.
3.1. Calculating the expected gamma-ray flux
4. Recent results and unexplained anomalies from gamma-ray dark matter searches.
4.1. Searches for axion signatures.
4.2. Search for gamma-ray spectral lines.
4.3. Searches for dark matter subhalos.
4.4. Galaxy clusters.
4.5. EGRET GeV excess.
4.6. The galactic center.
4.7. Milky Way dwarf galaxies.
4.8. Overview of recent results
5. Future outlook.
5.1. New instruments and targets.
5.2. Complementarity with terrestrial searches.
6. Conclusion.
"Searching for Dark Matter with Cosmic Gamma Rays" summarizes the evidence for dark matter and what we can learn about its particle nature using cosmic gamma rays. It has almost been 100 years since Fritz Zwicky first detected hints that most of the matter in the Universe that doesn't directly emit or reflect light. Since then, the observational evidence for dark matter has continued to grow. Dark matter may be a new kind of particle that is governed by physics beyond our Standard Model of particle physics. In many models, dark matter annihilation or decay produces gamma rays. There are a variety of instruments observing the gamma-ray sky from tens of MeV to hundreds of TeV. Some make deep, focused observations of small regions, while others provide coverage of the entire sky. Each experiment offers complementary sensitivity to dark matter searches in a variety of target sizes, locations, and dark matter mass scales. We review results from recent gamma-ray experiments including anomalies some have attributed to dark matter. We also discuss how our gamma-ray observations complement other dark matter searches and the prospects for future experiments.
1. Introduction.
2. Observational and theoretical motivation for particle dark matter.
2.1. Gravitational evidence for dark matter halos.
2.2. Weakly interacting massive particles.
2.3. Other particle dark matter candidates
3. Investigating dark matter with cosmic gamma rays.
3.1. Calculating the expected gamma-ray flux
4. Recent results and unexplained anomalies from gamma-ray dark matter searches.
4.1. Searches for axion signatures.
4.2. Search for gamma-ray spectral lines.
4.3. Searches for dark matter subhalos.
4.4. Galaxy clusters.
4.5. EGRET GeV excess.
4.6. The galactic center.
4.7. Milky Way dwarf galaxies.
4.8. Overview of recent results
5. Future outlook.
5.1. New instruments and targets.
5.2. Complementarity with terrestrial searches.
6. Conclusion.
"Searching for Dark Matter with Cosmic Gamma Rays" summarizes the evidence for dark matter and what we can learn about its particle nature using cosmic gamma rays. It has almost been 100 years since Fritz Zwicky first detected hints that most of the matter in the Universe that doesn't directly emit or reflect light. Since then, the observational evidence for dark matter has continued to grow. Dark matter may be a new kind of particle that is governed by physics beyond our Standard Model of particle physics. In many models, dark matter annihilation or decay produces gamma rays. There are a variety of instruments observing the gamma-ray sky from tens of MeV to hundreds of TeV. Some make deep, focused observations of small regions, while others provide coverage of the entire sky. Each experiment offers complementary sensitivity to dark matter searches in a variety of target sizes, locations, and dark matter mass scales. We review results from recent gamma-ray experiments including anomalies some have attributed to dark matter. We also discuss how our gamma-ray observations complement other dark matter searches and the prospects for future experiments.
