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Gamma-ray triangles: A possible signature of asymmetric dark matter in indirect searches

Alejandro Ibarra1, Sergio Lopez-Gehler1,2, Emiliano Molinaro3, and Miguel Pato4

  • 1Physik-Department T30d, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Straße, D-85748 Garching, Germany
  • 2Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstraße 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
  • 3CP3-Origins, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark
  • 4The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

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Phys. Rev. D 94, 103003 – Published 10 November, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.94.103003

Abstract

We introduce a new type of gamma-ray spectral feature, which we denominate gamma-ray triangle. This spectral feature arises in scenarios where dark matter self-annihilates via a chiral interaction into two Dirac fermions, which subsequently decay in flight into another fermion and a photon. The resulting photon spectrum resembles a sharp triangle and can be readily searched for in the gamma-ray sky. Using data from the Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. instruments, we find no evidence for such a spectral feature and, therefore, set strong upper bounds on the corresponding annihilation cross section. A concrete realization of a scenario yielding gamma-ray triangles consists of an asymmetric dark matter model where the dark matter particle carries lepton number. We show explicitly that this class of models can lead to intense gamma-ray spectral features, potentially at the reach of upcoming gamma-ray telescopes, opening a new window to explore asymmetric dark matter through indirect searches.

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Phys. Rev. D 94, 103003– Published 10 November, 2016
  • Received 2 May 2016

© 2016 American Physical Society

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