Unique probe of dark matter in the core of M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope

Thomas Lacroix, Mansour Karami, Avery E. Broderick, Joseph Silk, and Céline Bœhm
Phys. Rev. D 96, 063008 – Published 15 September 2017

Abstract

We demonstrate the unprecedented capabilities of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to image the innermost dark matter profile in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 radio galaxy. We present the first model of the synchrotron emission induced by dark matter annihilations from a spiky profile in the close vicinity of a supermassive black hole, accounting for strong gravitational lensing effects. Our results show that the EHT should readily resolve dark matter spikes if present. Moreover, the photon ring surrounding the silhouette of the black hole is clearly visible in the spike emission, which introduces observable small-scale structure into the signal. We find that the dark matter-induced emission provides an adequate fit to the existing EHT data, implying that in addition to the jet, a dark matter spike may account for a sizable portion of the millimeter emission from the innermost (subparsec) region of M87. Regardless, our results show that the EHT can probe very weakly annihilating dark matter. Current EHT observations already constrain very small cross sections, typically down to a few 1031cm3s1 for a 10 GeV candidate, close to characteristic values for p-wave-suppressed annihilation. Future EHT observations will further improve constraints on the DM scenario.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 6 November 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.063008

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Thomas Lacroix1,2,*, Mansour Karami3,4, Avery E. Broderick3,4, Joseph Silk2,5,6, and Céline Bœhm7,8

  • 1Laboratoire Univers & Particules de Montpellier (LUPM), CNRS & Université de Montpellier (UMR 5299), Place Eugène Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
  • 2Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, UPMC Université Paris 6, Sorbonne Universités, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
  • 3Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
  • 5The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  • 6Beecroft Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom
  • 7Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
  • 8LAPTH, Université de Savoie, CNRS, BP 110, 74941 Annecy-Le-Vieux, France

  • *thomas.lacroix@umontpellier.fr

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 6 — 15 September 2017

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review D

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×