A Combined Analysis of Clusters of Galaxies - Gamma Ray Emission from Cosmic Rays and Dark Matter

Stephan Zimmer, Jan Conrad, for the Fermi-LAT Collaboration, Anders Pinzke

Published 2011-10-31Version 1

Multiwavelength observations suggest that clusters are reservoirs of vast amounts relativistic electrons and positrons that are either injected into and accelerated directly in the intra-cluster medium, or produced as secondary pairs by cosmic ray ions scattering on ambient protons. In these possible scenarios gamma rays are produced either through electrons upscattering low-energy photons or by decay of neutral pions produced by hadronic interactions. In addition, the high mass-to-light ratios in clusters in combination with considerable Dark Matter (DM) overdensities makes them interesting targets for indirect DM searches with gamma rays. The resulting signals are different from known point sources or from diffuse emission and could possibly be detected with the Fermi-LAT. Both WIMP annihilation/decay spectra and cosmic ray induced emission are determined by universal parameters, which make a combined statistical likelihood analysis feasible. We present initial results of this analysis leading to limits on the DM annihilation cross section or decay time and on the hadron injection efficiency.