Gamma-ray triangles: A possible signature of asymmetric dark matter in indirect searches

We introduce a new type of gamma-ray spectral feature, which we denominate gamma-ray triangle. This spectral feature arises in scenarios where dark matter self-annihilates via a chiral interaction into two Dirac fermions, which subsequently decay in flight into another fermion and a photon. The resu...

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Veröffentlicht in:Physical review. D 2016, Vol.94 (10), Article 103003
Hauptverfasser: Ibarra, Alejandro, Lopez-Gehler, Sergio, Molinaro, Emiliano, Pato, Miguel
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We introduce a new type of gamma-ray spectral feature, which we denominate gamma-ray triangle. This spectral feature arises in scenarios where dark matter self-annihilates via a chiral interaction into two Dirac fermions, which subsequently decay in flight into another fermion and a photon. The resulting photon spectrum resembles a sharp triangle and can be readily searched for in the gamma-ray sky. Using data from the Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. instruments, we find no evidence for such a spectral feature and, therefore, set strong upper bounds on the corresponding annihilation cross section. A concrete realization of a scenario yielding gamma-ray triangles consists of an asymmetric dark matter model where the dark matter particle carries lepton number. We show explicitly that this class of models can lead to intense gamma-ray spectral features, potentially at the reach of upcoming gamma-ray telescopes, opening a new window to explore asymmetric dark matter through indirect searches.
ISSN:2470-0010
2470-0029
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.94.103003