Constraints on Dark Matter and Supersymmetry from LAT Observations of Dwarf Galaxies

Alex Drlica-Wagner, for the Fermi LAT Collaboration

Published 2012-10-19Version 1

Due to a large mass-to-light ratio and low astrophysical backgrounds, dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are considered to be one of the most promising targets for dark matter searches via gamma rays. The Fermi LAT Collaboration has recently reported robust constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross section from a combined analysis of 10 dSphs. These constraints have been applied to experimentally valid, super-symmetric particle models derived from a phenomenological scan of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (the pMSSM). Additionally, the LAT Collaboration has searched for spatially extended, hard-spectrum gamma-ray sources lacking counterparts in other wavelengths, since they may be associated with dark matter substructures predicted from simulations.