A Tale of Tails: Dark Matter Interpretations of the Fermi GeV Excess in Light of Background Model Systematics

Abstract

Several groups have identified an extended excess of gamma rays over the modeled foreground and background emissions towards the Galactic center (GC) based on observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. This excess emission is compatible in morphology and spectrum with a telltale sign from dark matter (DM) annihilation. Here, we present a critical reassessment of DM interpretations of the GC signal in light of the foreground and background uncertainties that some of us recently outlaid in Calore et al. 2014. We find that a much larger number of DM models fits the gamma-ray data than previously noted. In particular: (1) In the case of DM annihilation into $\bar{b}b$, we find that even large DM masses up to $m_{\chi }\simeq$ 74 GeV are allowed with a $p$-value $>0.05$. (2) Surprisingly, annihilation into non-relativistic hh gives a good fit to the data. (3) The inverse Compton emission from ${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ with $m_{\chi }\sim$ 60-70 GeV can also account for the excess at higher latitudes, $|b|>2^{\circ }$, both in its spectrum and morphology. We also present novel constraints on a large number of mixed annihilation channels, including cascade annihilation involving hidden sector mediators. Finally, we show that the current limits from dwarf spheroidal observations are not in tension with a DM interpretation when uncertainties on the DM halo profile are accounted for.

18 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. It matches the published version. Figure 1 corrected

References in corpus (56)

• PYTHIA 6.4 Physics and Manual
• A Theory of Dark Matter
• Gauge Singlet Scalars as Cold Dark Matter
• A Tentative Gamma-Ray Line from Dark Matter Annihilation at the Fermi Large Area Telescope
• Exciting Dark Matter and the INTEGRAL/SPI 511 keV signal
• Higgs-field Portal into Hidden Sectors
• Constraints on WIMP Dark Matter from the High Energy PAMELA $\bar{p}/p$ data
• Simplified Dark Matter Models for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• A Renormalizable Model for the Galactic Center Gamma Ray Excess from Dark Matter Annihilation
• Possible Evidence For Dark Matter Annihilation In The Inner Milky Way From The Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope
• Gamma Ray Signals from Dark Matter: Concepts, Status and Prospects
• Cosmic Ray Protons in the Inner Galaxy and the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• Hidden On-Shell Mediators for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• Dark Nuclei I: Cosmology and Indirect Detection
• A Comprehensive Search for Dark Matter Annihilation in Dwarf Galaxies
• WIMPs at the Galactic Center
• Fitting the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess with Cascade Annihilations
• Galactic Center gamma-ray "excess" from an active past of the Galactic Centre?
• Dark matter constraints from box-shaped gamma-ray features
• Millisecond pulsars and the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess: the importance of luminosity function and secondary emission
• Flavored Dark Matter and the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• Higgs portal vector dark matter for $\mathrm{GeV}$ scale $\gamma$-ray excess from galactic center
• The windows for kinetically mixed Z'-mediated dark matter and the galactic center gamma ray excess
• Not so Coy Dark Matter explains DAMA (and the Galactic Center excess)
• The Effective Hooperon
• A weighty interpretation of the Galactic Centre excess
• Hidden Sector Dark Matter Models for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• NMSSM Interpretation of the Galactic Center Excess
• Search for dark matter at colliders
• Updated cosmic-ray and radio constraints on light dark matter: Implications for the GeV gamma-ray excess at the Galactic center
• The Galactic Center Excess from the Bottom Up
• Fermionic dark matter with pseudo-scalar Yukawa interaction
• Light Neutralino Dark Matter: Direct/Indirect Detection and Collider Searches
• Galactic center $\gamma$-ray excess in hidden sector DM models with dark gauge symmetries: local $Z_3$ symmetry as an example
• What Does The PAMELA Antiproton Spectrum Tell Us About Dark Matter?
• Low-mass right-handed sneutrino dark matter: SuperCDMS and LUX constraints and the Galactic Centre gamma-ray excess
• A simplified 2HDM with a scalar dark matter and the galactic center gamma-ray excess
• Diffuse gamma-ray emission from galactic pulsars
• Extracting limits on Dark Matter annihilation from gamma-ray observations towards dwarf spheroidal galaxies
• Supersymmetric Sub-Electroweak Scale Dark Matter, the Galactic Center Gamma-ray Excess, and Exotic Decays of the 125 GeV Higgs Boson
• Towards a Supersymmetric Description of the Fermi Galactic Center Excess
• Class of Higgs-portal Dark Matter models in the light of gamma-ray excess from Galactic center
• Particle Physics Implications for CoGeNT, DAMA, and Fermi
• Galactic Centre GeV Photons from Dark Technicolor
• Annihilating Asymmetric Dark Matter
• Optimal angular window for observing Dark Matter annihilation from the Galactic Center region: the case of gamma-ray lines
• Galactic Center gamma-ray excess from two-Higgs-doublet-portal dark matter
• Dark matter annihilation through a lepton-specific Higgs boson
• Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess through a Dark Shower
• Simplified Dark Matter Models Confront the Gamma Ray Excess
• The Galactic Center Region Gamma Ray Excess from A Supersymmetric Leptophilic Higgs Model
• Lining up the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• A Minimal Model of Majoronic Dark Radiation and Dark Matter
• The Fermi gamma-ray spectrum of the inner galaxy: Implications for annihilating dark matter
• Indirect dark matter searches: towards a consistent top-bottom approach for studying the gamma-ray signals and associated backgrounds
• Search for Dark Matter at Colliders

Cited by in corpus (82)

• The Dawn of FIMP Dark Matter: A Review of Models and Constraints
• A taste of dark matter: Flavour constraints on pseudoscalar mediators
• Scrutinizing the evidence for dark matter in cosmic-ray antiprotons
• Dark matter spikes in the vicinity of Kerr black holes
• Multimessenger constraints on the dark matter interpretation of the Fermi-LAT Galactic center excess
• Indirect dark matter searches in Gamma- and Cosmic Rays
• Status, Challenges and Directions in Indirect Dark Matter Searches
• Anatomy of Coannihilation with a Scalar Top Partner
• Foreground Mismodeling and the Point Source Explanation of the Fermi Galactic Center Excess
• The Return of the Templates: Revisiting the Galactic Center Excess with Multi-Messenger Observations
• Galactic Center Excess in Gamma Rays from Annihilation of Self-Interacting Dark Matter
• Nonthermal Two Component Dark Matter Model for Fermi-LAT $\gamma$-ray excess and 3.55 keV X-ray Line
• Dirac dark matter with a charged mediator: a comprehensive one-loop analysis of the direct detection phenomenology
• Structure Formation Models Weaken Limits on WIMP Dark Matter from Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• Distinguishing Dark Matter from Unresolved Point Sources in the Inner Galaxy with Photon Statistics
• Characterizing the Nature of the Unresolved Point Sources in the Galactic Center
• A common origin of muon g-2 anomaly, Galaxy Center GeV excess and AMS-02 anti-proton excess in the NMSSM
• Millisecond Pulsars from Accretion Induced Collapse as the Origin of the Galactic Centre Gamma-ray Excess Signal
• A neural simulation-based inference approach for characterizing the Galactic Center $\gamma$-ray excess
• Dark matter in galaxies
• SUSY Implications from WIMP Annihilation into Scalars at the Galactic Centre
• Dissecting the inner Galaxy with $\gamma$-ray pixel count statistics
• The Semi-Hooperon: Gamma-ray and anti-proton excesses in the Galactic Center
• NMSSM explanations of the Galactic center gamma ray excess and promising LHC searches
• Two dark matter candidates: the case of inert doublet and singlet scalars
• The interpretation for Galactic Center Excess and Electroweak Phase Transition in the NMSSM
• Two-portal Dark Matter
• Complementing the ground-based CMB Stage-4 experiment on large scales with the PIXIE satellite
• Cosmological constraints on dark matter annihilation and decay: Cross-correlation analysis of the extragalactic $\gamma$-ray background and cosmic shear
• Ruling out $\sim 100-300$ GeV thermal relic annihilating dark matter by radio observation of the Andromeda galaxy
• Constraining the dark matter contribution of $\gamma$ rays in Cluster of galaxies using Fermi-LAT data
• Investigating the effect of Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxies extension on dark matter searches with Fermi-LAT data
• Luminosity functions consistent with a pulsar-dominated Galactic Center Excess
• Dark Matter Density Profiles in Dwarf Galaxies: Linking Jeans Modeling Systematics and Observation
• Gravitational wave probes of particle dark matter: a review
• A 3.55 keV Line from Exciting Dark Matter without a Hidden Sector
• Revisiting the constraints on annihilating dark matter by radio observational data of M31
• Analysis of the Very Inner Milky Way Dark Matter Distribution and Gamma-Ray Signals
• Molecular Clouds as the Origin of the Fermi Gamma-Ray GeV-Excess
• Cosmic-ray antiprotons in the AMS-02 era: A sensitive probe of dark matter
• The Galactic bulge millisecond pulsars shining in X rays: A gamma-ray perspective
• Testing Type II Radiative Seesaw Model: from Dark Matter Detection to LHC Signatures
• Robustness of dark matter constraints and interplay with collider searches for New Physics
• Constraining annihilating dark matter by radio data of M33
• Constraining annihilating dark matter mass by the radio continuum spectral data of NGC4214 galaxy
• The role of Dark Matter sub-halos in the non-thermal emission of galaxy clusters
• Robustness of the Galactic Center Excess Morphology Against Masking
• Enlightening the dark ages with dark matter
• Constraining the spin-independent elastic scattering cross section of dark matter using the Moon as a detection target and the background neutrino data
• Probing the Fermi-LAT GeV excess with gravitational waves
• Degeneracies between baryons and dark matter: the challenge of constraining the nature of dark matter with JWST
• Probing the pulsar explanation of the Galactic-Center GeV excess using continuous gravitational-wave searches
• Multi-TeV dark matter density in the inner Milky Way halo: spectral and dynamical constraints
• Mind the gap: The discrepancy between simulation and reality drives interpretations of the Galactic Center Excess
• A new target object for constraining annihilating dark matter
• The Andromeda Gamma-Ray Excess: Background Systematics of the Millisecond Pulsars and Dark Matter Interpretations
• A Multi-frequency analysis of possible Dark Matter Contributions to M31 Gamma-Ray Emissions
• Revisiting GeV-scale annihilating dark matter with the AMS-02 positron fraction
• On Dark Matter Explanations of the Gamma-Ray Excesses from the Galactic Center and M31
• Analysing the radio flux density profile of the M31 galaxy: a possible dark matter interpretation
• Exotic Lepton-Flavor Violating Higgs Decays
• TeV gamma-ray sensitivity to velocity-dependent dark matter models in the Galactic Center
• Snowmass 2021 Letter of Interest: The GRAMS Project: MeV Gamma-Ray Observations and Antimatter-Based Dark Matter Searches
• Constraining annihilating dark matter by x-ray data
• The Cherenkov Telescope Array Will Test Whether Pulsars Generate the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
• Investigating the Fermi Large Area Telescope sensitivity of detecting the characteristics of the Galactic center excess
• Indirect Signals of Dark Matter Can Change Depending on Where You Look
• A Potentially Detectable Gamma-Ray Line in the Fermi Galactic Center Excess -- In Light of One-Step Cascade Annihilations of Secluded (Vector) Dark Matter via the Higgs Portal
• Indirect evidence of GeV Dark Matter
• Quiescent black hole X-ray binaries as multi-messenger sources
• The decaying and scattering properties of the $d^{\ast }$(2380) hexaquark Bose Einstein Condensate dark matter
• DarkFlux: A new tool to analyze indirect-detection spectra of next-generation dark matter models
• Interpretation of the Galactic gamma-ray excess with the dark matter indicated by ${}^8$Be and ${}^4$He anomalous transitions
• Observations of the Fermi bubbles and the Galactic center excess with the DArk Matter Particle Explorer
• Spin-one dark matter and gamma ray signals from the galactic center
• Dark matter properties implied by gamma ray interstellar emission models
• Implications of the Fermi-LAT Pass 8 Galactic Center Excess on Supersymmetric Dark Matter
• Does the gamma-ray signal from the central Milky Way indicate Sommerfeld enhancement of dark matter annihilation?
• Exploring the Potential of the Dark Matter Candidate from the Madala Hypothesis with Multi-frequency Indirect Detection
• 4-8 GHz Fourier-domain Searches for Galactic Center Pulsars
• Dark Matter Energy Deposition and Production from the Table-Top to the Cosmos
• On the possible enhancement of the dark matter density distribution at the galactic center