Indirect dark matter searches with gamma-ray observatories

• Grant number: 24/23644-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Vitor de Souza Filho
• Grantee: João Vitor Brentigani Torezan
• 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

It is generally accepted nowadays that the matter density of the Universemainly consists of an unknown component, called Dark Matter (DM). It isalso believed that DM is formed of a new neutral, stable and non-baryonicelementary particle. In high density environments of the Universe DM mayself-annihilate and produce a strong gamma-ray signal. Among all possibletargets, dwarf galaxies of the Local Group are among the most promising fordiscoveries due to their large DM content, with up to O(10 3 ) times more massin DM than in visible matter, and the lack of astrophysical background noise.No dark matter signal has ever been detected and the data has been used toshrink the allowed parameter space for dark matter particles. In this projectwe will study particle physics models beyond the standard model includingsecluded models and new dublets of scalars. At the same time, new gamma-ray observatories are becoming operational. The Cherenkov Telescope ArrayObservatory (CTAO) is going to improve the sensitivity of ground telescopesby a factor of 10 allowing the study of fainter sources. The internationalcommunity is also proposing the construction of a wide field of view gamma-ray observatory complementary to CTAO in South America. Finally theFERMI satellite is going to continue to take data of the full sky for the next5-10 years. This project aims at using models and simulatios to improvethe detection sensitivity to a dark matter signal that will be achieved by thefuture gamma-ray observatories.