Milena Crnogorčević: γ-ray Window into the Dark Matters of the Universe Establishing Fermi's Legacy

Sydney CPPC Seminar 6 February 2025
A Gamma-ray Window into the Dark Matters of the Universe: Establishing Fermi-LAT’s Legacy
Now in its 17th year of operation, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has provided some of the most stringent constraints on the nature of dark matter. Searches for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) have been particularly fruitful, leveraging the LAT’s extensive sky coverage and broad energy range. In this talk, I will present an overview of LAT results in the search for WIMPs, highlighting some of the key astrophysical targets such as dwarf spheroidal galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the Galactic Center. I will also briefly discuss alternative dark matter candidates beyond the WIMP paradigm, underscoring the variety of models that have been probed with LAT data. Finally, I will address the challenges and uncertainties facing space-based gamma-ray astronomy going forward-yet also argue why not all is lost (and why you should join the FIG-SAG efforts: pcos.gsfc.nasa....