WIMP searches with gamma rays in the Fermi era: challenges, methods and results

The launch of the gamma-ray telescope Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) started a pivotal period in indirect detection of dark matter. By outperforming expectations, for the first time a robust and stringent test of the paradigm of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is within reach. In this paper, we discuss astrophysical targets for WIMP detection and the challenges they present, review the analysis tools which have been employed to tackle these challenges, and summarize the status of constraints on and the claimed detections in the WIMP parameter space. Methods and results will be discussed in comparison to Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes. We also provide an outlook on short term and longer term developments.

Using Likelihood for Combined Data Set Analysis

The joint likelihood is a simple extension of the standard likelihood formalism that enables the estimation of common parameters across disjoint datasets. Joining the likelihood, rather than the data itself, means nuisance parameters can be dealt with independently. Application of this technique, particularly to Fermi-LAT dwarf spheroidal analyses, has already been met with great success. We present a description of the methods general implementation along with a toy Monte-Carlo study of its properties and limitations.

DIRAC framework evaluation for the $boldsymbol{Fermi}$-LAT and CTA experiments

DIRAC (Distributed Infrastructure with Remote Agent Control) is a general framework for the management of tasks over distributed heterogeneous computing environments. It has been originally developed to support the production activities of the LHCb (Large Hadron Collider Beauty) experiment and today is extensively used by several particle physics and biology communities. Current ($Fermi$ Large Area Telescope -- LAT) and planned (Cherenkov Telescope Array -- CTA) new generation astrophysical/cosmological experiments, with very large processing and storage needs, are currently investigating the usability of DIRAC in this context. Each of these use cases has some peculiarities: $Fermi$-LAT will interface DIRAC to its own workflow system to allow the access to the grid resources, while CTA is using DIRAC as workflow management system for Monte Carlo production and analysis on the grid. We describe the prototype effort that we lead toward deploying a DIRAC solution for some aspects of $Fermi$-LAT and CTA needs.

Studies of EGRET sources with a novel image restoration technique

We have developed an image restoration technique based on the Richardson-Lucy algorithm optimized for GLAST-LAT image analysis. Our algorithm is original since it utilizes the PSF (point spread function) that is calculated for each event. This is critical for EGRET and GLAST-LAT image analysis since the PSF depends on the energy and angle of incident gamma-rays and varies by more than one order of magnitude. EGRET and GLAST-LAT image analysis also faces Poisson noise due to low photon statistics. Our technique incorporates wavelet filtering to minimize noise effects. We present studies of EGRET sources using this novel image restoration technique for possible identification of extended gamma-ray sources.