Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

Uncovering Dark Matter Subhalos with Fermi-LAT and VERITAS

D. Nieto
for the VERITAS Collaboration

Abstract:

We present a systematic search for potential dark matter subhalos in our Galaxy exploiting the high (100 MeV -- 100 GeV) and very-high-energy (>100 GeV) gamma-ray bands. Under the hypothesis of a self-annihilating dark matter particle, dark matter subhalos may emerge from the Fermi-LAT sky as unassociated sources. Assuming a dark matter particle mass above 100 GeV, the distinctive annihilation spectral cut-off may be below the LAT sensitivity at these very high energies, handing over to imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes like VERITAS the task of following up well motivated targets. We show the results of VERITAS observations on two intriguing 2FGL dark matter subhalo candidates and interpret them in light of Pass8 LAT data. In addition, we comment on new potential candidates from the 3FGL and 2FHL catalogs.