Dark Matter Programme
Abstract
The existence of dark matter as the dominant gravitational mass in the universe is by now well established, but the detailed nature of dark matter is still unknown. Multiple hypotheses endure as to the character of dark matter, and for the most popular models discussed the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) has a unique chance of discovery. In the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), dark matter particles can self-annihilate, converting their large rest masses into other Standard Model particles, including gamma rays. Indirect detection from such annihilations provides a unique test of the particle nature of dark matter, in situ in the Cosmos. Observations of the gamma rays provide the probe for the "indirect" detection of dark matter employed by CTA. In the standard thermal history of the early universe, the annihilation cross-section has a natural value, the "thermal cross-section", which provides the scale for the sensitivity needed to discover dark matter in this way. Particular models for WIMPs such as supersymmetry (SUSY) and theories with extra dimensions give predictions for gamma-ray energy spectra from the annihilations which are essential ingredients towards the predictions of the sensitivity of the indirect searches. Another vital ingredient in the CTA sensitivity predictions is the distribution of dark matter in the targets observed for the search…
- Publication:
-
Science with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
- Pub Date:
- 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1142/9789813270091_0004
- Bibcode:
- 2019scta.book...45M