Search for extended gamma-ray emission from the Virgo galaxy cluster with Fermi-LAT

M. Ackermann; M. Ajello; A. Albert; W.B. Atwood; L. Baldini; G. Barbiellini; D. Bastieri; K. Bechtol; R. Bellazzini; E. Bissaldi; E.D. Bloom; R. Bonino; E. Bottacini; T.J. Brandt; J. Bregeon; P. Bruel; R. Buehler; S. Buson; G.A. Caliandro; R.A. Cameron; R. Caputo; M. Caragiulo; P.A. Caraveo; J.M. Casandjian; E. Cavazzuti; C. Cecchi; E. Charles; A. Chekhtman; G. Chiaro; S. Ciprini; Johann Cohen-Tanugi; J. Conrad; S. Cutini; F. d'Ammando; A. de Angelis; F. de Palma; R. Desiante; S.W. Digel; L. Di Venere; P.S. Drell; C. Favuzzi; S.J. Fegan; W.B. Focke; A. Franckowiak; Y. Fukazawa; S. Funk; P. Fusco; F. Gargano; D. Gasparrini; N. Giglietto; F. Giordano; M. Giroletti; T. Glanzman; G. Godfrey; G.A. Gomez-Vargas; I.A. Grenier; S. Guiriec; M. Gustafsson; J.W. Hewitt; A.B. Hill; D. Horan; T.E. Jeltema; T. Jogler; A.S. Johnson; M. Kuss; S. Larsson; L. Latronico; J. Li; L. Li; F. Longo; F. Loparco; M.N. Lovellette; P. Lubrano; S. Maldera; D. Malyshev; A. Manfreda; M. Mayer; M.N. Mazziotta; P.F. Michelson; T. Mizuno; M.E. Monzani; A. Morselli; I.V. Moskalenko; S. Murgia; E. Nuss; T. Ohsugi; M. Orienti; E. Orlando; J.F. Ormes; D. Paneque; J.S. Perkins; M. Pesce-Rollins; V. Petrosian; F. Piron; G. Pivato; T.A. Porter; S. Raino; R. Rando; M. Razzano; A. Reimer; O. Reimer; M. Sanchez-Conde; A. Schulz; C. Sgró; E.J. Siskind; F. Spada; G. Spandre; P. Spinelli; E. Storm; H. Tajima; H. Takahashi; J.B. Thayer; D.F. Torres; G. Tosti; E. Troja; G. Vianello; K.S. Wood; M. Wood; G. Zaharijas; S. Zimmer; A. Pinzke

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/812/2/159

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Search for extended gamma-ray emission from the Virgo galaxy cluster with Fermi-LAT

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Search for extended gamma-ray emission from the Virgo galaxy cluster with Fermi-LAT

M. Ackermann, M. Ajello, A. Albert, W.B. Atwood, L. Baldini, G. Barbiellini, D. Bastieri, K. Bechtol, R. Bellazzini, E. Bissaldi, …

The Astrophysical Journal, Vol.812(2)

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/812/2/159

Abstract

galaxies: clusters: individual

gamma-rays: galaxies: clusters

gamma-rays: general

galaxy: cluster

dark matter: annihilation

dark matter: halo

emission: model

cross section: annihilation

gamma ray: emission

galaxy: halo

cosmic radiation: interaction

flux: enhancement

VIRGO

background: model

star: model

pressure

dark matter: angular distribution

GLAST

Galaxy clusters are one of the prime sites to search for dark matter (DM) annihilation signals. Depending on the substructure of the DM halo of a galaxy cluster and the cross sections for DM annihilation channels, these signals might be detectable by the latest generation of γ-ray telescopes. Here we use three years of Fermi-Large Area Telescope data, which are the most suitable for searching for very extended emission in the vicinity of the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. Our analysis reveals statistically significant extended emission which can be well characterized by a uniformly emitting disk profile with a radius of 3° that moreover is offset from the cluster center. We demonstrate that the significance of this extended emission strongly depends on the adopted interstellar emission model (IEM) and is most likely an artifact of our incomplete description of the IEM in this region. We also search for and find new point source candidates in the region. We then derive conservative upper limits on the velocity-averaged DM pair annihilation cross section from Virgo. We take into account the potential γ-ray flux enhancement due to DM sub-halos and its complex morphology as a merging cluster. For DM annihilating into $b\bar{b},$ assuming a conservative sub-halo model setup, we find limits that are between 1 and 1.5 orders of magnitude above the expectation from the thermal cross section for m(DM) ≲ 100 GeV. In a more optimistic scenario, we exclude $\langle \sigma v\rangle \sim 3\times {10}^{-26}\,{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}\,{{\rm{s}}}^{-1}$ for m(DM) ≲ 40 GeV for the same channel. Finally, we derive upper limits on the γ-ray-flux produced by hadronic cosmic-ray interactions in the inter cluster medium. We find that the volume-averaged cosmic-ray-to-thermal pressure ratio is less than ∼6%.

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Title: Search for extended gamma-ray emission from the Virgo galaxy cluster with Fermi-LAT
Creators - without role: M. Ackermann - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
M. Ajello - Clemson University
A. Albert - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
W.B. Atwood - University of California, Santa Cruz
L. Baldini - University of Pisa
G. Barbiellini - University of Trieste
D. Bastieri - University of Padua
K. Bechtol - University of Chicago
R. Bellazzini - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
E. Bissaldi - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
E.D. Bloom - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
R. Bonino - University of Turin
E. Bottacini - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
T.J. Brandt - Goddard Space Flight Center
J. Bregeon - Université de Montpellier, Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier - LUPM
P. Bruel - Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
R. Buehler - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
S. Buson - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova
G.A. Caliandro - Consorzio Interuniversitario Fisica Spaziale
R.A. Cameron - Stanford University
R. Caputo - University of California, Santa Cruz
M. Caragiulo - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
P.A. Caraveo - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano
J.M. Casandjian - Université Paris Cité
E. Cavazzuti - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
C. Cecchi - University of Perugia
E. Charles - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
A. Chekhtman - George Mason University
G. Chiaro - University of Padua
S. Ciprini - Astronomical Observatory of Rome
Johann Cohen-Tanugi - Université de Montpellier, Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier - LUPM
J. Conrad - Fraunhofer Chalmers Research Centre for Industrial Mathematics
S. Cutini - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia
F. d'Ammando
A. de Angelis - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste
F. de Palma - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
R. Desiante - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino
S.W. Digel - Stanford University
L. Di Venere - Polytechnic University of Bari
P.S. Drell - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
C. Favuzzi - Polytechnic University of Bari
S.J. Fegan - Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
W.B. Focke - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
A. Franckowiak - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Y. Fukazawa - Hiroshima University
S. Funk - Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
P. Fusco - Polytechnic University of Bari
F. Gargano - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
D. Gasparrini - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
N. Giglietto - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
F. Giordano - Polytechnic University of Bari
M. Giroletti - Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna
T. Glanzman - Stanford University
G. Godfrey - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
G.A. Gomez-Vargas - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
I.A. Grenier - CEA Paris-Saclay
S. Guiriec - Goddard Space Flight Center
M. Gustafsson - University of Göttingen
J.W. Hewitt - Goddard Space Flight Center
A.B. Hill - University of Southampton
D. Horan - Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
T.E. Jeltema - University of California, Santa Cruz
T. Jogler - University of Chicago
A.S. Johnson - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
M. Kuss - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
S. Larsson - AlbaNova
L. Latronico - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino
J. Li - Institute of Space Sciences
L. Li - AlbaNova
F. Longo - University of Trieste
F. Loparco - Polytechnic University of Bari
M.N. Lovellette - United States Naval Research Laboratory
P. Lubrano - University of Perugia
S. Maldera - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino
D. Malyshev - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
A. Manfreda - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
M. Mayer - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
M.N. Mazziotta - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari
P.F. Michelson - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
T. Mizuno - Hiroshima University
M.E. Monzani - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
A. Morselli - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Roma Tor Vergata
I.V. Moskalenko - Stanford University
S. Murgia - University of California, Irvine
E. Nuss - Université de Montpellier, Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier - LUPM
T. Ohsugi - Hiroshima University
M. Orienti - Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna
E. Orlando - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
J.F. Ormes - University of Denver
D. Paneque - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
J.S. Perkins - Goddard Space Flight Center
M. Pesce-Rollins - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
V. Petrosian - Stanford University
F. Piron - Université de Montpellier, Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier - LUPM
G. Pivato - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
T.A. Porter - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
S. Raino - Polytechnic University of Bari
R. Rando - University of Padua
M. Razzano - Ministry of Education, Universities and Research
A. Reimer - Universität Innsbruck
O. Reimer - Universität Innsbruck
M. Sanchez-Conde - AlbaNova
A. Schulz - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY
C. Sgró - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
E.J. Siskind - Real Time Tomography
F. Spada - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
G. Spandre - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa
P. Spinelli - Polytechnic University of Bari
E. Storm - University of California, Santa Cruz
H. Tajima - Nagoya University
H. Takahashi - Hiroshima University
J.B. Thayer - Stanford University
D.F. Torres - Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats
G. Tosti - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia
E. Troja - University of Maryland, College Park
G. Vianello - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
K.S. Wood - United States Naval Research Laboratory
M. Wood - Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
G. Zaharijas - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste
S. Zimmer - Stockholm University
A. Pinzke
Publication Details: The Astrophysical Journal, Vol.812(2)
Identifiers: 9942452109311
Academic Unit: Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier - LUPM
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Local Fields: hal-02017410