Browsing by Subject "dark matter"

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    Search for Ultraheavy Dark Matter from Observations of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with VERITAS
    (IOP, 2023-03) Acharyya, A.; Archer, A.; Bangale, P.; Bartkoske, J. T.; Batista, P.; Baumgart, M.; Benbow, W.; Buckley, J. H.; Falcone, A.; Feng, Q.; Finley, J. P.; Foote, G. M.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Gallagher, G.; Hanlon, W. F.; Hervet, O.; Hoang, J.; Holder, J.; Humensky, T. B.; Jin, W.; Kaaret, P.; Kertzman, M.; Kherlakian, M.; Kieda, D.; O'Brien, S.; Ong, R. A.; Pfrang, K.; Pohl, M.; Pueschel, E.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Reynolds, P. T.; Roache, E.; Rodd, N. L.; Ryan, J. L.; Sadeh, I.; Saha, L.; Santander, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Shang, R.; Splettstoesser, M.; Tak, D.; Tucci, J. V.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Williams, D. A.; Physics, School of Science
    Dark matter is a key piece of the current cosmological scenario, with weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) a leading dark matter candidate. WIMPs have not been detected in their conventional parameter space (100 GeV ≲Mχ ≲ 100 TeV), a mass range accessible with current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. As ultraheavy dark matter (UHDM; Mχ ≳ 100 TeV) has been suggested as an underexplored alternative to the WIMP paradigm, we search for an indirect dark matter annihilation signal in a higher mass range (up to 30 PeV) with the VERITAS γ-ray observatory. With 216 hr of observations of four dwarf spheroidal galaxies, we perform an unbinned likelihood analysis. We find no evidence of a γ-ray signal from UHDM annihilation above the background fluctuation for any individual dwarf galaxy nor for a joint-fit analysis, and consequently constrain the velocity-weighted annihilation cross section of UHDM for dark matter particle masses between 1 TeV and 30 PeV. We additionally set constraints on the allowed radius of a composite UHDM particle.