1106.1874 (Torsten Bringmann et al.)

On the Relevance of Sharp Gamma-Ray Features for Indirect Dark Matter Searches    [PDF]

Torsten Bringmann, Francesca Calore, Gilles Vertongen, Christoph Weniger

Gamma rays from the annihilation of dark matter particles in the Galactic halo provide a particularly promising means of indirectly detecting dark matter. Here, we demonstrate that pronounced spectral features at energies near the dark matter particles' mass, which are a generic prediction for most models, can significantly improve the sensitivity of gamma-ray telescopes to dark matter signals. We derive projected limits on such features (including the traditionally looked-for line signals) and show that they can be much more efficient in constraining the nature of dark matter than the model-independent broad spectral features expected at lower energies.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.1874