Abstract
We present a general, model-independent formalism for determining bounds on the production of photons in dwarf spheroidal galaxies via dark matter annihilation, applicable to any set of assumptions about dark matter particle physics or astrophysics. As an illustration, we analyze gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to constrain a variety of nonstandard dark matter models, several of which have not previously been studied in the context of dwarf galaxy searches.
Highlights
Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are the cleanest environment within which to search for photons arising from dark matter (DM) annihilation
We have described a formalism for deriving modelindependent constraints on the number of photons produced by DM annihilation in a set of dwarf spheroidal galaxies
Our approach differs from previous attempts in that our constraints are independent of both the DM particle physics model and the DM astrophysics
Summary
Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are the cleanest environment within which to search for photons arising from dark matter (DM) annihilation. Our goal in this work is to provide the most general, model-independent analysis of the latest gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) for dwarf spheroidal galaxies, which can be applied to any choice of particle physics model and to any choice of astrophysical parameters. The Fermi-LAT Collaboration uses a likelihood analysis to fit the spatial and spectral features of dSphs to obtain upper limits on the annihilation cross section as a function of DM mass [1,2,3,4,5] They model the Galactic and isotropic diffuse emission, account for pointlike sources from the latest LAT source catalog, and incorporate uncertainties in the determination of astrophysical J-factors. Instead of relying on background/foreground modeling, others have determined the diffuse emission
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