|
Abstract:
|
One of the unresolved questions of modern physics is the nature of Dark Matter. Strong experimental evidences
suggest that the presence of this elusive component in the energy budget of the Universe is quite significant, without,
however, being able to provide conclusive information about its nature. The most plausible scenario is that of weakly
interacting massive particles (WIMPs), that includes a large class of non-baryonic Dark Matter candidates with a mass typically between few tens of GeV and few TeVs, and a cross section of the order of weak interactions.
Search for Dark Matter particles using very high energy gamma-ray Cherenkov telescopes is based on the model that
WIMPs can self-annihilate, leading to production of detectable species, like photons. These photons are very
energetic, and since unreflected by the Universe's magnetic fields, they can be traced straight to the source of their
creation. The downside of the approach is a great amount of background radiation, coming from the conventional
astrophysical objects, that usually hides clear signals of the Dark Matter particle interactions. That is why good choice
of the observational candidates is the crucial factor in search for Dark Matter. With MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes), a two-telescope ground-based system located in La Palma, Canary Islands, we choose objects like dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and galaxy clusters for our search. Our idea is to increase chances for WIMPs detection by pointing to objects that are relatively close, with great amount of Dark Matter and with as-little-as-possible pollution from the stars. At the moment, several observation projects are ongoing and analyses are being performed. |
