We present a three-dimensional map of interstellar dust reddening, covering three-quarters of the sky out to a distance of several kiloparsecs, based on Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS photometry. The map reveals a wealth of detailed structure, from filaments
to large cloud complexes. The map has a hybrid angular resolution, with most of the map at an angular resolution of 3.4 to 13.7, and a maximum distance resolution of ~25%. The three-dimensional distribution of dust is determined in a fully probabilistic framework, yielding the uncertainty in the reddening distribution along each line of sight, as well as stellar distances, reddenings and classifications for 800 million stars detected by Pan-STARRS 1. We demonstrate the consistency of our reddening estimates with those of two-dimensional emission-based maps of dust reddening. In particular, we find agreement with the Planck 353 GHz optical depth-based reddening map to within 0.05 mag in E(B-V) to a depth of 0.5 mag, and explore systematics at reddenings less than E(B-V) ~ 0.08 mag. We validate our per-star reddening estimates by comparison with reddening estimates for stars with both SDSS photometry and SEGUE spectral classifications, finding per-star agreement to within 0.1 mag out to a stellar E(B-V) of 1 mag. We compare our map to two existing three-dimensional dust maps, by Marshall et al. (2006) and Lallement et al. (2013), demonstrating our finer angular resolution, and better distance resolution compared to the former within ~3 kpc. The map can be queried or downloaded at http://argonaut.skymaps.info. We expect the three-dimensional reddening map presented here to find a wide range of uses, among them correcting for reddening and extinction for objects embedded in the plane of the Galaxy, studies of Galactic structure, calibration of future emission-based dust maps and determining distances to objects of known reddening.
The eXciting Dark Matter (XDM) model was proposed as a mechanism to efficiently convert the kinetic energy (in sufficiently hot environments) of dark matter into e+e- pairs. The standard scenario invokes a doublet of nearly degenerate DM states, and
a dark force to mediate a large upscattering cross section between the two. For heavy ($sim TeV$) DM, the kinetic energy of WIMPs in large (galaxy-sized or larger) halos is capable of producing low-energy positrons. For lighter dark matter, this is kinematically impossible, and the unique observable signature becomes an X-ray line, arising from $chi chi rightarrow chi^* chi^*$, followed by $chi^* rightarrow chi gamma$. This variant of XDM is distinctive from other DM X-ray scenarios in that it tends to be most present in more massive, hotter environments, such as clusters, rather than nearby dwarfs, and has different dependencies from decaying models. We find that it is capable of explaining the recently reported X-ray line at 3.56 keV. For very long lifetimes of the excited state, primordial decays can explain the signal without the presence of upscattering. Thermal models freeze-out as in the normal XDM setup, via annihilations to the light boson $phi$. For suitable masses the annihilation $chi chi rightarrow phi phi$ followed by $phi rightarrow SM$ can explain the reported gamma-ray signature from the galactic center. Direct detection is discussed, including the possibility of explaining DAMA via the Luminous dark matter approach. Quite generally, the proximity of the 3.56 keV line to the energy scale of DAMA motivates a reexamination of electromagnetic explanations. Other signals, including lepton jets and the modification of cores of dwarf galaxies are also considered.
We present a method to infer reddenings and distances to stars, based only on their broad-band photometry, and show how this method can be used to produce a three-dimensional dust map of the Galaxy. Our method samples from the full probability densit
y function of distance, reddening and stellar type for individual stars, as well as the full uncertainty in reddening as a function of distance in the 3D dust map. We incorporate prior knowledge of the distribution of stars in the Galaxy and the detection limits of the survey. For stars in the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) 3 pi survey, we demonstrate that our reddening estimates are unbiased, and accurate to ~0.13 mag in E(B-V) for the typical star. Based on comparisons with mock catalogs, we expect distances for main-sequence stars to be constrained to within ~20% - 60%, although this range can vary, depending on the reddening of the star, the precise stellar type and its position on the sky. A further paper will present a 3D map of dust over the three quarters of the sky surveyed by PS1. Both the individual stellar inferences and the 3D dust map will enable a wealth of Galactic science in the plane. The method we present is not limited to the passbands of the PS1 survey, but may be extended to incorporate photometry from other surveys, such as 2MASS, SDSS (where available), and in the future, LSST and Gaia.
Multiple lines of evidence indicate an anomalous injection of high-energy e+- in the Galactic halo. The recent $e^+$ fraction spectrum from the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA) shows a sharp rise up to
100 GeV. The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has found a significant hardening of the e+e- cosmic ray spectrum above 100 GeV, with a break, confirmed by HESS at around 1 TeV. The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) has also detected detected a similar excess, falling back to the expected spectrum at 1 TeV and above. Excess microwaves towards the galactic center in the WMAP data are consistent with hard synchrotron radiation from a population of 10-100 GeV e+- (the WMAP ``Haze). We argue that dark matter annihilations can provide a consistent explanation of all of these data, focusing on dominantly leptonic modes, either directly or through a new light boson. Normalizing the signal to the highest energy evidence (Fermi and HESS), we find that similar cross sections provide good fits to PAMELA and the Haze, and that both the required cross section and annihilation modes are achievable in models with Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation. These models naturally predict significant production of gamma rays in the galactic center via a variety of mechanisms. Most notably, there is a robust inverse-Compton scattered (ICS) gamma-ray signal arising from the energetic electrons and positrons, detectable at Fermi/GLAST energies, which should provide smoking gun evidence for this production.
