Indirect Searches of Dark Matter with CTA

• Grant number: 23/05909-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Vitor de Souza Filho
• Grantee: Marcos Vinicius Tomás Olegario
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/01089-1 - Cherenkov Telescope Array: construction and first discoveries, AP.ESP

Abstract

Within the currently accepted paradigm about the content of the Universe, the bulk of matter is made of an unknown substance, whose existence is inferred through astrophysical and cosmological probes of diverse nature. Known as Dark Matter (DM), it is most probably a particle not belonging to the Standard Model of Particle Physics and constitutes about 85\% of the total matter in the Universe. It is also believed that DM is formed of a new neutral, stable and non-baryonic elementary particle. In high density environments of the Universe, such as dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph), satellite galaxies of the Milky Way like the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), galaxy clusters and the Galactic Center (GC), DM may self-annihilate and produce a strong gamma-ray signal. We propose to investigate the potentialities of gamma-ray telescopes, in particular of CTA, to detect a dark matter signal. This project is focused on the astrophysical modeling of the signal and the background with the aim to search for the best sources candidates and the best analysis methods. The main objective of the proposed activity is to introduce the student to the context of research, by means of the study of one of the leading topics in high energy physics: the indirect search for dark matter.