Dark Matter Limits From Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with The HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory (1706.01277v1)

Abstract: The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is a wide field of view observatory sensitive to 500 GeV - 100 TeV gamma rays and cosmic rays. It can also perform diverse indirect searches for dark matter (DM) annihilation and decay. Among the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter are dwarf spheroidal galaxies. These objects are expected to have few astrophysical sources of gamma rays but high dark matter content, making them ideal candidates for an indirect dark matter detection with gamma rays. Here we present individual limits on the annihilation cross section and decay lifetime for 15 dwarf spheroidal galaxies within the HAWC field-of-view, as well as their combined limit. These are the first limits on the annihilation cross section and decay lifetime using data collected with HAWC.