Dark matter annihilation at the galactic center

Paolo Gondolo(1), & Joseph Silk(2)


(1) Max Planck Institut für Physik, Föhringer Ring 6, 80805 Munich, Germany, Email: gondolo@mppmu.mpg.de
(2) Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH, U.K., and,Department of Astronomy and Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, Email: silk@astro.ox.ac.uk

Paper: Physical Review Letters, 30 August


Abstract:

If cold dark matter is present at the galactic center, as in current models of the dark halo, it is accreted by the central black hole into a dense spike. Particle dark matter then annihilates strongly inside the spike, making it a compact source of photons, electrons, positrons, protons, antiprotons, and neutrinos. The spike luminosity depends on the density profile of the inner halo: halos with finite cores have unnoticeable spikes, while halos with inner cusps may have spikes so bright that the absence of a detected neutrino signal from the galactic center already places interesting upper limits on the density slope of the inner halo. Future neutrino telescopes observing the galactic center could probe the inner structure of the dark halo, or indirectly find the nature of dark matter.


Preprints available from the authors at gondolo@mppmu.mpg.de , or the raw TeX (no figures) if you click here.

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