2005/12/31 by Lars Bergstrom, Lars Bergström, Dan Hooper · 79 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Baryonic dark matter #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Dark matter halo #Galaxy #Physics #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.73.063510
published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 73(6) (American Physical Society) · 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables
arxiv created 2006/01/03 · openalex publication_date 2006/03/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco has long been considered likely to be one of the brightest point sources of gamma rays generated through dark matter annihilations. Recent studies of this object have found that it remains largely intact from tidal striping, and may be more massive than previously thought. In this article, we revisit Draco as a source of dark matter annihilation radiation, with these new observational constraints in mind. We discuss the prospects for the experiments MAGIC and GLAST to detect dark matter in Draco, as well as constraints from the observations of EGRET. We also discuss the possibility that the CACTUS experiment has already detected gamma rays from Draco. We find that it is difficult to generate the flux reported by CACTUS without resorting to nonthermally produced WIMPs and/or a density spike in Draco's dark matter distribution due to the presence of an intermediate mass black hole. We also find that for most annihilation modes, a positive detection of Draco by CACTUS would be inconsistent with the lack of events seen by EGRET.