The Indirect Search for Dark Matter from the centre of the Galaxy with the Fermi LAT

Dark matter (DM) constitutes around a 25% of the Universe, while baryons only a 4%. DM can be reasonably assumed to be made of particles, and many theories (Super-symmetry, Universal Extra Dimensions, etc.) predict Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as natural DM candidates at the weak scale. Self-annihilation (or decay) of WIMPs might produce secondary gamma-rays, via hadronization or as final state radiation. Since its launch in the 2008, the Large Area Telescope on-board of the Fermi gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected the largest amount of gamma-rays to date, in the 20MeV 300GeV energy range, allowing to perform a very sensitive indirect experimental search for DM (by means of high-energy gamma-rays). DM forms large gravitationally bounded structures, the halos, which can host entire galaxies, such as the Milky Way. The DM distribution in the central part of the halos is not experimentally know, despite a very large density enhancement might be present. As secondary gamma rays production is very sensitive to WIMP density, a very effective search can be performed from the regions where the largest density is expected. Therefore the information provided by the DM halo N-body simulations are crucial. The largest gamma-ray signal from DM annihilation is expected from the centre of the Galaxy. In the same region a large gamma-ray background is produced by bright discrete sources and the cosmic-rays interacting with the interstellar gas and the photons fields. Here we report an update of the indirect search for DM from the Galactic Center (GC).Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Invited talk presented at the Workshop "SciNeGHE 2010", September 8-10, 2010, Trieste, Italy. To appear in Il Nuovo Cimento C - Colloquia on physic

Bulges and disks in the local Universe. Linking the galaxy structure to star formation activity

We use a sample built on the SDSS DR7 catalogue and the bulge-disc decomposition of Simard et al. (2011) to study how the bulge and disc components contribute to the parent galaxy's star formation activity, by determining its position in the star formation rate (SFR) - stellar mass (M$_{\star}$) plane at 0.02$<z<$0.1. We use the bulge and disc colours as proxy for their SFRs. We study the mean galaxy bulge-total mass ratio (B/T) as a function of the residual from the MS ($\Delta_{MS}$) and find that the B/T-$\Delta_{MS}$ relation exhibits a parabola-like shape with the peak of the MS corresponding to the lowest B/Ts at any stellar mass. The lower and upper envelop of the MS are populated by galaxies with similar B/T, velocity dispersion and concentration ($R_{90}/R_{50}$) values. Bulges above the MS are characterised by blue colours or, when red, by a high level of dust obscuration, thus indicating that in both cases they are actively star forming. When on the MS or below it, bulges are mostly red and dead. At stellar masses above $10^{10.5}$M$_{\odot}$, bulges on the MS or in the green valley tend to be significantly redder than their counterparts in the quiescence region, despite similar levels of dust obscuration. The disc color anti-correlates at any mass with the distance from the MS, getting redder when approaching the MS lower envelope and the quiescence region. We conclude that the position of a galaxy in the LogSFR-LogM$_{\star}$ plane depends on the star formation activity of its components: above the MS both bulge and disk are actively star forming. The nuclear activity is the first to be suppressed, moving the galaxies on the MS. Once the disk stops forming stars as well, the galaxy moves below the MS and eventually to the quiescence region. This is confirmed by a large fraction ($\sim45\%$) of passive galaxies with a secure two component morphology.Comment: Version modified after referee comment

The quest for dark matter with the Fermi experiment

The Fermi Large Area Telescope is providing the measurement of the high energy (20 GeV to 1TeV) cosmic-ray electrons and positrons spectrum with unprecedented accuracy. This measurement represents a unique probe for studying the origin and diffusive propagation of cosmic rays as well as for looking for possible evidences of dark matter. In this framework, we discuss possible interpretations of Fermi results in relation with other recent experimental data on energetic electrons and positrons and in the searches of gamma-ray fluxes coming from WIMP pair annihilations in the sky

Search for dark matter in the sky with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

Can we learn about New Physics with astronomical and astroparticle data? Since its launch in 2008, the Large Area Telescope, onboard of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has detected the largest amount of gamma rays in the 20MeV–300 GeV energy range and electrons + positrons in the 7GeV–1TeV range. These impressive statistics allow one to perform a very sensitive indirect experimental search for dark matter. We will present the latest results on these searches and the comparison with LHC searches

Recent results from the FERMI gamma-ray telescope

Can we learn about New Physics with astronomical and astroparticle data? Since its launch in 2008, the Large Area Telescope, onboard of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has detected the largest amount of gamma rays in the 20 MeV–300 GeV energy range and electrons and positrons in the 7GeV–1TeV range. These impressive statistics allow one to perform a very sensitive indirect experimental search for dark matter

The GLAST Tracker

Abstract The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is an international and multi-agency space mission that will study the cosmos in the energy range 20 MeV – 1 TeV . GLAST is an imaging gamma-ray telescope more much capable than instruments flown previously. The main instrument on board of the spacecraft is the Large Area Telescope (LAT), a high energy pair conversion telescope consisting of three major subsystems: a precision silicon tracker/converter, a CsI electromagnetic calorimeter and a segmented anti-coincidence system. In this article, we present the status of the silicon tracker and the improvement on the physics that the silicon can bring in respect to the previous detectors