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Title: An optimized search for dark matter in the galactic halo with HAWC
Abstract The Galactic Halo is a key target for indirect dark matter detection. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a high-energy (∼300 GeV to >100 TeV) gamma-ray detector located in central Mexico. HAWC operates via the water Cherenkov technique and has both a wide field of view of ∼ 2 sr and a >95% duty cycle, making it ideal for analyses of highly extended sources. We made use of these properties of HAWC and a new background-estimation technique optimized for extended sources to probe a large region of the Galactic Halo for dark matter signals. With this approach, we set improved constraints on dark matter annihilation and decay between masses of 10 and 100 TeV. Due to the large spatial extent of the HAWC field of view, these constraints are robust against uncertainties in the Galactic dark matter spatial profile.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2209103 2310104 2110809 2111531 2209533 2209419 1914549
PAR ID:
10518430
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more » ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; « less
Publisher / Repository:
IOP Publishing Ltd
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Volume:
2023
Issue:
12
ISSN:
1475-7516
Page Range / eLocation ID:
038
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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