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A gamma-ray constraint on the nature of dark matterIf even a small component of the Galactic spheroid consists of the weakly interacting majorana fermions that are cold-dark-matter candidate particles for the Galactic halo, there should be a substantial flux of annihilation gamma rays from a source of about 1-deg extent at the Galactic center. COS B observations already constrain the halo cold-dark-matter (CDM) content entrained in the inner spheroid to be less than about 10 percent. A somewhat weaker constraint applies to the CDM believed to be present in the Galactic disk, but still only about 15 percent can be in such particles. Monochromatic line photons of energy 3-10 GeV are also predicted, and future experiments may be capable of improving these limits. Since both theoretical models of galaxy formation in a CDM-dominated universe and mass models for the rotation curve in the inner Galaxy suggest that a substantial fraction of the spheroid component should be nonluminous and incorporate entrained halo CDM, the hypothesis that the halo CDM consists predominantly of weakly interacting fermions such as photinos or heavy majorana mass neutrinos or higgsinos may already be subject to observational test.
Document ID
19870046573
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Silk, Joseph
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Bloemen, Hans
(California, University Berkeley, United States)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
February 15, 1987
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters to the Editor
Volume: 313
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
87A33847
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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