Unveiling Dark Matter: Insights from the Galactic Center and Dwarf Irregular Galaxies with the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory

by Jaume Zuriaga Puig (CSIC, Madrid, Spain)

Thursday 5 Jun 2025, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Rome

1/3-13 - Sala 313 (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia - Edificio Paolotti)

Many observations lead to the conclusion that non-baryonic Dark Matter (DM) constitutes about 84% of the total mass content of the universe, yet its nature is still unknown. Weakly Interacting Particles (WIMPs) are one of the most widespread theories in the community, since they can naturally explain the total DM relic density. From a gamma-ray standpoint, the forthcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will prove to be the best tool for DM indirect searches in the TeV regime thanks to both its expected flux and angular sensitivity. Due to its proximity and high DM content, the Galactic Center (GC) is one of the preferred targets in the search of DM. Even in the absence of clear signals, GC observations can be used to set the best DM constraints. Unfortunately, the GC is also a crowded region, rich in very diverse gamma-ray astrophysical emissions. Adopting a state-of-the-art modeling of the GC astrophysical emission, I will show the expected sensitivity of CTAO to a DM signal in the GC as well as an in-depth study of the inner Galactic DM density profile and related spatial DM emission. Beyond the GC, and in case one prefers to focus on targets in which the expected astrophysical emission is almost negligible, a potentially interesting DM target is the sample of local dwarf irregular galaxies (dIrrs). DIrrs are rotationally supported, thus their DM content can be derived via rotation curves. I will present the best four dIrrs targets for CTAO, for which we computed expected sensitivities and detection prospects for both a DM signal and astrophysical emitters in these objects.

In presence and also Zoom Meeting: https://unipd.zoom.us/j/83567909534?pwd=tQrT6126RfObhi3RBa9ioFTVU3M9dn.1