No Arabic abstract
Existence of new gauge U(1) symmetry possessed by dark matter (DM) particles implies the existence of a new Coulomb-like interaction, which leads to Sommerfeld-Gamow-Sakharov enhancement of dark matter annihilation at low relative velocities. We discuss a possibility to put constraints on the such dark forces of dark matter from the observational data on the gamma radiation in our Galaxy. Gamma-rays are supposed to originate from annihilation of DM particles in the small scale clumps, in which annihilation rate is supposed to be enhanced, besides higher density, due to smaller relative velocities $v$ of DM particles. For possible cross sections, mass of annihilating particles, masses of clumps and the contribution of annihilating particles in the total DM density we constrain the strength of new dark long range forces from comparison of predicted gamma ray signal with Fermi/LAT data on unidentified point-like gamma-ray sources (PGS) as well as on diffuse $gamma$-radiation.
Our paper reviews the planned space-based gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400 and evaluates in details its opportunities in the field of dark matter (DM) indirect searches. We estimated GAMMA-400 mean sensitivity to the diphoton DM annihilation cross section in the Galactic center for DM particle masses in the range of 1-500 GeV. We obtained the sensitivity gain at least by 1.2-1.5 times (depending on DM particle mass) with respect to the expected constraints from 12 years of observations by Fermi-LAT for the case of Einasto DM density profile. The joint analysis of the data from both telescopes may yield the gain up to 1.8-2.3 times. Thus the sensitivity reaches the level of annihilation cross section $langle sigma v rangle_{gammagamma}(m_chi=100~mbox{GeV})approx 10^{-28}$ cm$^3$/s. This will allow us to test the hypothesized narrow lines predicted by specific DM models, particularly the recently proposed pseudo-Goldstone boson DM model. We also considered the decaying DM - in this case the joint analysis may yield the sensitivity gain up to 1.1-2.0 times reaching the level of DM lifetime $tau_{gamma u}(m_chi=100~mbox{GeV}) approx 2cdot 10^{29}$ s. We estimated the GAMMA-400 sensitivity to axion-like particle (ALP) parameters by a potential observation of the supernova explosion in the Local Group. This is very sensitive probe of ALPs reaching the level of ALP-photon coupling constant $g_{agamma} sim 10^{-13}~mbox{GeV}^{-1}$ for ALP masses $m_a lesssim 1$ neV. We also calculated the sensitivity to ALPs by constraining the modulations in the spectra of the Galactic gamma-ray pulsars due to possible ALP-photon conversion. GAMMA-400 is expected to be more sensitive than the CAST helioscope for ALP masses $m_a approx (1-10)$ neV reaching $g_{agamma}^{min} approx 2cdot 10^{-11}~mbox{GeV}^{-1}$. Other potentially interesting targets and candidates are briefly considered too.
New bounds on decaying Dark Matter are derived from the gamma-ray measurements of (i) the isotropic residual (extragalactic) background by Fermi and (ii) the Fornax galaxy cluster by H.E.S.S. We find that those from (i) are among the most stringent constraints currently available, for a large range of dark matter masses and a variety of decay modes, excluding half-lives up to about 10^26 to few 10^27 seconds. In particular, they rule out the interpretation in terms of decaying dark matter of the e+/- spectral features in PAMELA, Fermi and H.E.S.S., unless very conservative choices are adopted. We also discuss future prospects for CTA bounds from Fornax which, contrary to the present H.E.S.S. constraints of (ii), may allow for an interesting improvement and may become better than those from the current or future extragalactic Fermi data.
GRAMS (Gamma-Ray and AntiMatter Survey) is a novel project that can simultaneously target both astrophysical observations with MeV gamma rays and an indirect dark matter search with antimatter. The GRAMS instrument is designed with a cost-effective, large-scale LArTPC (Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber) detector surrounded by plastic scintillators. The astrophysical observations at MeV energies have not yet been well-explored (the so-called MeV-gap) and GRAMS can improve the sensitivity by more than an order of magnitude compared to previous experiments. While primarily focusing on MeV gamma-ray observations, GRAMS is also optimized for cosmic ray antimatter surveys to indirectly search for dark matter. In particular, low-energy antideuterons will provide an essentially background-free dark matter signature. GRAMS will be a next generation experiment beyond the current GAPS (General AntiParticle Spectrometer) project for antimatter survey.
There is strong evidence about the existence of unknown dark matter in the Universe. Many different theories about this dark matter exist, but most probably it is made of a new kind of fundamental particle that has to be massive, stable, electrically neutral, and having only weak interaction with standard matter (weakly interacting massive particles). In principle, those particles could produce gamma rays by their annihilation or decay. Therefore, a Gamma-ray signal from a dark matter origin would provide one of the clearest and most concluding evidences for dark matter. High resolution cosmological N-body simulations have shown that dark matter subhalos in the Milky Way halo may developed in the Universe. Those subhalos could pop-up in gamma-ray surveys as unidentified sources. In this paper we present H.E.S.S. observations of unidentified sources selected from Fermi-LAT catalogs. These sources fulfill main features which would characterize a dark matter subhalo, namely, having no obvious counterpart at other wavelengths and being steady hard sources.
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma Ray Observatory (HAWC) is designed to perform a synoptic survey of the TeV sky. The high energy coverage of the experiment will enable studies of fundamental physics beyond the Standard Model, and the large field of view of the detector will enable detailed studies of cosmologically significant backgrounds and magnetic fields. We describe the sensitivity of the full HAWC array to these phenomena in five contributions shown at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July 2013).