Search for Dark Matter Satellites using the FERMI-LAT

Numerical simulations based on the Lambda-CDM model of cosmology predict a large number of as yet unobserved Galactic dark matter satellites. We report the results of a Large Area Telescope (LAT) search for these satellites via the gamma-ray emission expected from the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. Some dark matter satellites are expected to have hard gamma-ray spectra, finite angular extents, and a lack of counterparts at other wavelengths. We sought to identify LAT sources with these characteristics, focusing on gamma-ray spectra consistent with WIMP annihilation through the $b \bar b$ channel. We found no viable dark matter satellite candidates using one year of data, and we present a framework for interpreting this result in the context of numerical simulations to constrain the velocity-averaged annihilation cross section for a conventional 100 GeV WIMP annihilating through the $b \bar b$ channel.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source ISSN: 0004-637X
Author Ackermann, M., Albert, A., Baldini, L., Ballet, Jean, Barbiellini, G., Bastieri, D., Bechtol, K., Bellazzini, R., Blandford, R. D., Bloom, E. D., Bonamente, E., Borgland, A. W., Bottacini, E., Brandt, T. J., Bregeon, J., Brigida, M., Bruel, Pascal, Buehler, R., Burnett, T. H., Caliandro, G. A., Cameron, R. A., Caraveo, P. A., Casandjian, J. M., Cecchi, C., Charles, E., Chiang, J., Ciprini, S., Claus, R., Cohen-Tanugi, J., Conrad, J., Cutini, S., de Palma, F., Dermer, C. D., Digel, S. W., Do Couto e Silva, E., Drell, P. S., Drlica-Wagner, A., Essig, R., Falletti, L., Favuzzi, C., Fegan, S. J., Focke, W. B., Fukazawa, Y., Funk, S., Fusco, P., Gargano, F., Germani, S., Giglietto, N., Giordano, F., Giroletti, M., Glanzman, T., Godfrey, G., Grenier, I. A., Guiriec, S., Gustafsson, M., Hadasch, D., Hayashida, M., Hou, X., Hughes, R. E., Johnson, R. P., Johnson, A. S., Kamae, T., Katagiri, H., Kataoka, J., Knödlseder, Jürgen, Kuss, M., Lande, J., Latronico, L., Lee, S.-H., Lionetto, A. M., Llena Garde, M., Longo, F., Loparco, F., Lovellette, M. N., Lubrano, P., Mazziotta, M. N., Mcenery, J. E., Michelson, P. F., Mitthumsiri, W., Mizuno, T., Moiseev, A. A., Monte, C., Monzani, M. E., Morselli, A., Moskalenko, I. V., Murgia, S., Naumann-Godo, M., Norris, J. P., Nuss, E., Ohsugi, T., Okumura, A., Orlando, E., Ormes, J. F., Ozaki, M., Paneque, D., Pelassa, V., Pierbattista, M., Piron, F., Pivato, G., Porter, T. A., Rainò, S., Rando, R., Razzano, M., Reimer, A., Reimer, O., Ritz, S., Sadrozinski, H. F.-W., Sehgal, N., Sgrò, C., Siskind, E. J., Spinelli, P., Strigari, L., Suson, D. J., Tajima, H., Takahashi, H., Tanaka, T., Thayer, J. G., Thayer, J. B., Tibaldo, L., Tinivella, M., Torres, D. F., Troja, E., Uchiyama, Y., Usher, T. L., Vandenbroucke, J., Vasileiou, V., Vianello, G., Vitale, V., Waite, A. P., Wang, P., Winer, B. L., Wood, K. S., Yang, Z., Zalewski, S., Zimmer, S.
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 18, 2026, 19:08 (UTC)
Created May 18, 2026, 19:08 (UTC)
Identifier in2p3-00697553
Language en
contributor Groupe de Recherche en Physique des Hautes Energies (GRPHE) ; Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut Universitaire de Technologie - Colmar (IUT Colmar) ; Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))
creator Ackermann, M.
date 2012-05-18T00:00:00
harvest_object_id 467387f7-349c-4e51-9cf4-0ad30f10daed
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2026-02-04T00:00:00
relation info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/arxiv/1201.2691
set_spec type:ART