Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation from Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with Six Years of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data

M Ackermann; A Albert; B Anderson; W B Atwood; L Baldini; G Barbiellini; D Bastieri; K Bechtol; R Bellazzini; E Bissaldi; R D Blandford; E D Bloom; R Bonino; E Bottacini; T J Brandt; J Bregeon; P Bruel; R Buehler; G A Caliandro; R A Cameron; R Caputo; M Caragiulo; P A Caraveo; C Cecchi; E Charles; A Chekhtman; J Chiang; G Chiaro; S Ciprini; R Claus; J Cohen-Tanugi; J Conrad; A Cuoco; S Cutini; F D'Ammando; A de Angelis; F de Palma; R Desiante; S W Digel; L Di Venere; P S Drell; A Drlica-Wagner; R Essig; C Favuzzi; S J Fegan; E C Ferrara; W B Focke; A Franckowiak; Y Fukazawa; S Funk; P Fusco; F Gargano; D Gasparrini; N Giglietto; F Giordano; M Giroletti; T Glanzman; G Godfrey; G A Gomez-Vargas; I A Grenier; S Guiriec; M Gustafsson; E Hays; J W Hewitt; D Horan; T Jogler; G Jóhannesson; M Kuss; S Larsson; L Latronico; J Li; L Li; M Llena Garde; F Longo; F Loparco; P Lubrano; D Malyshev; M Mayer; M N Mazziotta; J E McEnery; M Meyer; P F Michelson; T Mizuno; A A Moiseev; M E Monzani; A Morselli; S Murgia; E Nuss; T Ohsugi; M Orienti; E Orlando; J F Ormes; D Paneque; J S Perkins; M Pesce-Rollins; F Piron; G Pivato; T A Porter; S Rainò; R Rando; M Razzano; A Reimer; O Reimer; S Ritz; M Sánchez-Conde; A Schulz; N Sehgal; C Sgrò; E J Siskind; F Spada; G Spandre; P Spinelli; L Strigari; H Tajima; H Takahashi; J B Thayer; L Tibaldo; D F Torres; E Troja; G Vianello; M Werner; B L Winer; K S Wood; M Wood; G Zaharijas; S Zimmer; Fermi-LAT Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.231301

Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation from Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with Six Years of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Dec 4;115(23):231301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.231301. Epub 2015 Nov 30.

Authors

M Ackermann¹, A Albert², B Anderson^{3

4}, W B Atwood⁵, L Baldini^{2

6}, G Barbiellini^{7

8}, D Bastieri^{9

10}, K Bechtol¹¹, R Bellazzini¹², E Bissaldi¹³, R D Blandford², E D Bloom², R Bonino^{14

15}, E Bottacini², T J Brandt¹⁶, J Bregeon¹⁷, P Bruel¹⁸, R Buehler¹, G A Caliandro^{2

19}, R A Cameron², R Caputo⁵, M Caragiulo¹³, P A Caraveo²⁰, C Cecchi^{21

22}, E Charles², A Chekhtman²³, J Chiang², G Chiaro¹⁰, S Ciprini^{21

24

25}, R Claus², J Cohen-Tanugi¹⁷, J Conrad^{3

4

26}, A Cuoco^{14

15}, S Cutini^{21

24

25}, F D'Ammando^{27

28}, A de Angelis²⁹, F de Palma^{13

30}, R Desiante^{14

31}, S W Digel², L Di Venere³², P S Drell², A Drlica-Wagner³³, R Essig³⁴, C Favuzzi^{13

32}, S J Fegan¹⁸, E C Ferrara¹⁶, W B Focke², A Franckowiak², Y Fukazawa³⁵, S Funk³⁶, P Fusco^{13

32}, F Gargano¹³, D Gasparrini^{21

24

25}, N Giglietto^{13

32}, F Giordano^{13

32}, M Giroletti²⁷, T Glanzman², G Godfrey², G A Gomez-Vargas^{37

38}, I A Grenier³⁹, S Guiriec^{16

40}, M Gustafsson⁴¹, E Hays¹⁶, J W Hewitt⁴², D Horan¹⁸, T Jogler², G Jóhannesson⁴³, M Kuss¹², S Larsson^{4

44}, L Latronico¹⁴, J Li⁴⁵, L Li^{4

44}, M Llena Garde^{3

4}, F Longo^{7

8}, F Loparco^{13

32}, P Lubrano^{21

22}, D Malyshev², M Mayer¹, M N Mazziotta¹³, J E McEnery^{16

46}, M Meyer^{3

4}, P F Michelson², T Mizuno⁴⁷, A A Moiseev^{46

48}, M E Monzani², A Morselli³⁷, S Murgia⁴⁹, E Nuss¹⁷, T Ohsugi⁴⁷, M Orienti²⁷, E Orlando², J F Ormes⁵⁰, D Paneque^{2

51}, J S Perkins¹⁶, M Pesce-Rollins^{2

12}, F Piron¹⁷, G Pivato¹², T A Porter², S Rainò^{13

32}, R Rando^{9

10}, M Razzano¹², A Reimer^{2

52}, O Reimer^{2

52}, S Ritz⁵, M Sánchez-Conde^{3

4}, A Schulz¹, N Sehgal⁵³, C Sgrò¹², E J Siskind⁵⁴, F Spada¹², G Spandre¹², P Spinelli^{13

32}, L Strigari⁵⁵, H Tajima^{2

56}, H Takahashi³⁵, J B Thayer², L Tibaldo², D F Torres^{45

57}, E Troja^{16

46}, G Vianello², M Werner⁵², B L Winer⁵⁸, K S Wood⁵⁹, M Wood², G Zaharijas^{60

61}, S Zimmer^{3

4}; Fermi-LAT Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY, D-15738 Zeuthen, Germany.
² W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
³ Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, Department of Physics and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
⁶ Università di Pisa and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, I-34127 Trieste, Italy.
⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trieste, I-34127 Trieste, Italy.
⁹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
¹⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia "G. Galilei", Università di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy.
¹¹ Dept. of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
¹² Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, I-56127 Pisa, Italy.
¹³ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari, Italy.
¹⁴ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
¹⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica Generale "Amadeo Avogadro", Università degli Studi di Torino, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
¹⁶ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
¹⁷ Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier, Université Montpellier, CNRS/IN2P3, Montpellier, France.
¹⁸ Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, École polytechnique, CNRS/IN2P3, Palaiseau, France.
¹⁹ Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Fisica Spaziale (CIFS), I-10133 Torino, Italy.
²⁰ INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, I-20133 Milano, Italy.
²¹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia, Italy.
²² Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Perugia, I-06123 Perugia, Italy.
²³ College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, USA.
²⁴ Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) Science Data Center, I-00133 Roma, Italy.
²⁵ INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, I-00040 Monte Porzio Catone (Roma), Italy.
²⁶ Wallenberg Academy Fellow.
²⁷ INAF Istituto di Radioastronomia, I-40129 Bologna, Italy.
²⁸ Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Bologna, I-40127 Bologna, Italy.
²⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Udine and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Gruppo Collegato di Udine, I-33100 Udine.
³⁰ Università Telematica Pegaso, Piazza Trieste e Trento, 48, I-80132 Napoli, Italy.
³¹ Università di Udine, I-33100 Udine, Italy.
³² Dipartimento di Fisica "M. Merlin" dell'Università e del Politecnico di Bari, I-70126 Bari, Italy.
³³ Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
³⁴ C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3840, USA.
³⁵ Department of Physical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan.
³⁶ Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany.
³⁷ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma "Tor Vergata", I-00133 Roma, Italy.
³⁸ Departamento de Fisíca, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
³⁹ Laboratoire AIM, CEA-IRFU/CNRS/Université Paris Diderot, Service d'Astrophysique, CEA Saclay, F-91191 Gif sur Yvette, France.
⁴⁰ NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, USA.
⁴¹ Georg-August University Göttingen, Institute for theoretical Physics-Faculty of Physics, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
⁴² University of North Florida, Department of Physics, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, Florida 32224, USA.
⁴³ Science Institute, University of Iceland, IS-107 Reykjavik, Iceland.
⁴⁴ Department of Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴⁵ Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC), Campus UAB, E-08193 Barcelona, Spain.
⁴⁶ Department of Physics and Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
⁴⁷ Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan.
⁴⁸ Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
⁴⁹ Center for Cosmology, Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-2575, USA.
⁵⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA.
⁵¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, D-80805 München, Germany.
⁵² Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik and Institut für Theoretische Physik, Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
⁵³ Physics and Astronomy Department, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA.
⁵⁴ NYCB Real-Time Computing Inc., Lattingtown, New York 11560-1025, USA.
⁵⁵ Texas A&M University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College Station, Texas 77843-4242, USA.
⁵⁶ Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
⁵⁷ Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain.
⁵⁸ Department of Physics, Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
⁵⁹ Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5352, USA.
⁶⁰ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, and Università di Trieste, I-34127 Trieste, Italy.
⁶¹ Laboratory for Astroparticle Physics, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, SI-5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia.

PMID: 26684107
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.231301

Abstract

The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) of the Milky Way are some of the most dark matter (DM) dominated objects known. We report on γ-ray observations of Milky Way dSphs based on six years of Fermi Large Area Telescope data processed with the new Pass8 event-level analysis. None of the dSphs are significantly detected in γ rays, and we present upper limits on the DM annihilation cross section from a combined analysis of 15 dSphs. These constraints are among the strongest and most robust to date and lie below the canonical thermal relic cross section for DM of mass ≲100 GeV annihilating via quark and τ-lepton channels.