Search for Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation in the Galactic Center with HAWC
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-11-2026
Department
Department of Physics
Abstract
We conduct an indirect dark matter (DM) search in the vicinity of the Galactic Center, focusing on a square region within ±9° in Galactic longitude and latutide, using 2865 days of data (∼8 yr) from the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory. We explore DM particles within the weakly interacting massive particles framework with masses from 1 TeV to 10 PeV. Analyzing three annihilation channels (bb¯, τ+τ-, W+W-) and three density profiles (Navarro-Frenk-White, Einasto, Burkert), we find no significant excess and set 95% CL upper limits on the velocity-weighted annihilation cross section. Our results provide the first constraints on DM particles well above 100 TeV using gamma-ray data from the vicinity of the Galactic Center, with the strongest limits O(10-24) cm3/s, from the τ+τ- channel and the Einasto profile.
Publication Title
Physical Review Letters
Recommended Citation
Alfaro, R.,
Alvarez, C.,
Andrés, A.,
Anita-Rangel, E.,
Araya, M.,
Arteaga-Velázquez, J.,
Ghosh, N.,
Groetsch, S.,
Huntemeyer, P.,
Leavitt, K.,
Najafi, M.,
Turner, R.,
&
et al.
(2026).
Search for Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation in the Galactic Center with HAWC.
Physical Review Letters,
136(19).
http://doi.org/10.1103/k7wc-d5kn
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p2/2634