Search for dark matter annihilation towards the inner Milky Way halo with the H.E.S.S. Inner Galaxy Survey

Discussion timeslot (ZOOM-Meeting): 16. July 2021 - 18:00
ZOOM-Meeting URL: https://icrc2021.desy.de/pf_access_abstracts
Corresponding Session: https://icrc2021-venue.desy.de/channel/Presenter-Forum-1-Evening-All-Categories/48
Abstract:
'The presence of dark matter (DM) is suggested by a wealth of astrophysical and cosmological measurements. However, its underlying nature is yet unknown. Among the most promising candidates are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs): particles with mass and coupling strength at the electroweak scale and thermally-produced in the early universe have a present relic density consistent with that observed today. WIMP self-annihilation would produce Standard Model particles including gamma-rays, which have been long-time recognized as a prime messenger to indirectly detect dark matter signals. The centre of the Milky Way is predicted as the brightest source of DM annihilations. The H.E.S.S. collaboration is currently performing a survey of the inner region of the Milky Way, the Inner Galaxy Survey (IGS), intended to achieve the best sensitivity to faint and diffuse emissions in a region of several degrees around the Galactic Centre. We analyzed 2014-2020 observations taken with the five-telescope array to search for a DM annihilation signal. With the current dataset of about 600 hours, we found no significant excess and therefore derived the strongest constraints on the velocity-weighted annihilation cross-section so far. TeV thermal WIMPs can be probed in different annihilation channels.'

Authors: Alessandro Montanari | Denys Malyshev | Emmanuel Moulin, for the H.E.S.S. collaboration
Collaboration: H.E.S.S.

Indico-ID: 279
Proceeding URL: https://pos.sissa.it/395/511