Published January 29, 2024 | Version v1
Journal article

Can prompt cusps of WIMP dark matter be detected as individual gamma-ray sources?

  • 1. The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, California 91101, USA

Description

Prompt ρr1.5 density cusps are the densest and most abundant dark matter systems. If the dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), recent studies have shown that prompt cusps dominate the aggregate dark matter annihilation rate. This article explores whether individual prompt cusps could be detected as gamma-ray sources. At the Fermi Telescope's point-source sensitivity, WIMPs with the canonical annihilation cross section could form detectable prompt cusps if the particle mass is of order 10 GeV. These objects could be 10–100 pc away and weigh under a solar mass; they would subtend around 0.1 degrees on the sky. For GeV-scale dark matter particles with below-canonical cross sections, searches for individual prompt cusps can be more sensitive than searches for the annihilation signals from galactic dark matter halos.

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/PhysRevD.109.023532;
arXiv
arXiv:2310.15214;
Crossref Funder ID
10.13039/501100021745; 10.13039/501100000023; 10.13039/100011332; 10.13039/501100003400;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review D
Journal Volume
109
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
8 pgs.
ISSN
1089-4918

Optional Information

Copyright
© 2024 American Physical Society
Notes
Contact Email: mdelos@carnegiescience.edu; Record automatically processed
Funding organization
Institut Périmètre de physique théorique; Government of Canada; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science; Province of Ontario