https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-011-1815-y
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Constraints on dark matter annihilation from M87
Signatures of prompt and inverse-Compton gamma rays
Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, University of Würzburg, Campus Hubland Nord, Emil-Fischer-Str. 31, 97074, Würzburg, Germany
* e-mail: saxena@astro.uni-wuerzburg.de
Received:
14
November
2011
Published online:
30
November
2011
As the largest mass concentrations in the local Universe, nearby clusters of galaxies and their central galaxies are prime targets in searching for indirect signatures of dark matter annihilation (DMA). We seek to constrain the dark matter annihilation emission component from multi-frequency observations of the central galaxy of the Virgo cluster. The annihilation emission component is modeled by the prompt and inverse-Compton gamma rays from the hadronization of annihilation products from generic weakly interacting dark matter particles. This component is fitted to the excess of the observed data above the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the jet in M87, described with a best-fit synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) spectrum. While this result is not sufficiently significant to claim a detection, we emphasize that a dark matter “double hump signature” can be used to unambiguously discriminate the dark matter emission component from the variable jet-related emission of M87 in future, more extended observation campaigns.
© Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica, 2011
