APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 88 » Issue 19

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 191301 (2002) [4 pages]

Dark Matter Spikes and Annihilation Radiation from the Galactic Center
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David Merritt1 *, Milos Milosavljević1 †, Licia Verde1,2 ‡, and Raul Jimenez1 §
1Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903
2Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

Received 29 January 2002; published 30 April 2002

The annihilation rate of weakly interacting cold dark matter particles at the galactic center could be greatly enhanced by the growth of a density spike around the central supermassive black hole (SBH). Here we discuss the effects of hierarchical mergers on the central spike. Mergers between halos containing SBHs lead to the formation of SBH binaries which transfer energy to the dark matter particles, lowering their density. The predicted flux of annihilation photons from the galactic center is several orders of magnitude smaller than in models that ignore the effects of SBHs and mergers. Measurement of the annihilation radiation could in principle be used to constrain the merger history of the galaxy.


©2002 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v88/e191301
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.191301
PACS: 95.35.+d, 97.60.Lf, 98.35.Gi

* Electronic address: merritt@physics.rutgers.edu
† Electronic address: milos@physics.rutgers.edu
‡ Electronic address: lverde@astro.princeton.edu
§ Electronic address: raulj@physics.rutgers.edu

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