Free access article

A&A 444, 51-67 (2005)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053726

EGRET excess of diffuse galactic gamma rays as tracer of dark matter

W. de Boer¹, C. Sander¹, V. Zhukov¹, A. V. Gladyshev^{2, 3} and D. I. Kazakov<sup>2, 3

1</sup>  Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), PO Box 6980, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
    e-mail: Wim.de.Boer@cern.ch; [deboer;sander;zhukov]@ekp.uni-karlsruhe.de
²  Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia
    e-mail: [gladysh;kazakovd]@theor.jinr.ru
³  Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, 117218, 25 B. Cheremushkinskaya, Moscow, Russia

(Received 29 June 2005 / Accepted 17 August 2005 )

Abstract
The public data from the EGRET space telescope on diffuse Galactic gamma rays in the energy range from 0.1 to 10 GeV are reanalyzed with the purpose of searching for signals of Dark Matter annihilation (DMA). The analysis confirms the previously observed excess for energies above 1 GeV in comparison with the expectations from conventional Galactic models. In addition, the excess was found to show all the key features of a signal from Dark Matter Annihilation (DMA): a) the excess is observable in all sky directions and has the same shape everywhere, thus pointing to a common source; b) the shape corresponds to the expected spectrum of the annihilation of non-relativistic massive particles into - among others - neutral mesons, which decay into photons. From the energy spectrum of the excess we deduce a WIMP mass between 50 and 100 GeV, while from the intensity of the excess in all sky directions the shape of the halo could be reconstructed. The DM halo is consistent with an almost spherical isothermal profile with substructure in the Galactic plane in the form of toroidal rings at 4 and 14 kpc from the center. These rings lead to a peculiar shape of the rotation curve, in agreement with the data, which proves that the EGRET excess traces the Dark Matter.

Key words: gamma rays: observations -- gamma rays: theory -- cosmology: diffuse radiation -- Galaxy: structure -- Galaxy: halo -- cosmology: dark matter

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