Precise constraints on the dark matter content of Milky Way dwarf galaxies for gamma-ray experiments

Abstract

We examine the prospects for detecting gamma-rays from dark matter annihilation in the six most promising dwarf spheroidal (dSph) satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. We use recently-measured velocity dispersion profiles to provide a systematic investigation of the dark matter mass distribution of each galaxy, and show that the uncertainty in the gamma-ray flux from mass modeling is less than a factor of ~ 5 for each dSph if we assume a smooth NFW profile. We show that Ursa Minor and Draco are the most promising dSphs for gamma-ray detection with GLAST and other planned observatories. For each dSph, we investigate the flux enhancement resulting from halo substructure, and show that the enhancement factor relative to a smooth halo flux cannot be greater than about 100. This enhancement depends very weakly on the lower mass cut-off scale of the substructure mass function. While the amplitude of the expected flux from each dSph depends sensitively on the dark matter model, we show that the flux ratios between the six Sphs are known to within a factor of about 10. The flux ratios are also relatively insensitive to the current theoretical range of cold dark matter halo central slopes and substructure fractions.