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

Alejandro Ibarra, Sergio Lopez-Gehler, Emiliano Molinaro, Miguel Pato

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103003
JournalPhysical Review D
Volume94
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

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