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The Status of the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
by Dan Hooper
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Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Dan Hooper |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.14370v1 (pdf) |
| Date accepted: | 2022-12-01 |
| Date submitted: | 2022-10-04 17:13 |
| Submitted by: | Hooper, Dan |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics Proceedings |
| Proceedings issue: | 14th International Conference on Identification of Dark Matter (IDM2022) |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approaches: | Theoretical, Phenomenological |
Abstract
The Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess has a spectrum, angular distribution, and overall intensity that agree remarkably well with that expected from annihilating dark matter particles in the form of a $m_X \sim 50 \, {\rm GeV}$ thermal relic. Previous claims that these photons are clustered on small angular scales or trace the distribution of known stellar populations once appeared to favor interpretations in which this signal originates from a large population of unresolved millisecond pulsars. More recent work, however, has overturned these conclusions, finding that the observed gamma-ray excess does {\it not} contain discernible small scale power, and is distributed with approximate spherical symmetry, not tracing any known stellar populations. In light of these results, it now appears significantly more likely that the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess is produced by annihilating dark matter.
Published as SciPost Phys. Proc. 12, 006 (2023)
Reports on this Submission
Report #1 by Anonymous (Referee 1) on 2022-10-21 (Invited Report)
- Cite as: Anonymous, Report on arXiv:2209.14370v1, delivered 2022-10-21, doi: 10.21468/SciPost.Report.5952
Strengths
1. This manuscript gives a very nice, and up-to-date summary of the status of the Galactic centre Gamma-ray excess.
2. It discusses the latest studies that disfavour interpretations with conventional pulsars, while all the observations are well consistent with annihilating dark matter around 50 GeV.
Weaknesses
None.
Report
The submission is clearly written, well-organised, including most of the latest studies on this important issue. It meets the criteria of SciPost Physics Proceedings, and should be published here.