Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation in M87

Abstract

Clusters of galaxies, such as the Virgo cluster, host enormous quantities of dark matter, making them prime targets for efforts in indirect dark matter detection via potential radiative signatures from annihilation of dark matter particles and subsequent radiative losses of annihilation products. However, a careful study of ubiquitous astrophysical backgrounds is mandatory to single out potential evidence for dark matter annihilation. Here, we construct a multiwavelength spectral energy distribution for the central radio galaxy in the Virgo cluster, M87, using a state-of-the-art numerical Synchrotron Self Compton approach. Fitting recent Chandra, Fermi-LAT and Cherenkov observations, we probe different dark matter annihilation scenarios including a full treatment of the inverse Compton losses from electrons and positrons produced in the annihilation. It is shown that such a template can substantially improve upon existing dark matter detection limits.