Prospects of future MeV telescopes in probingweak-scale dark matter
Marco Cirelli, Arpan Kar
SciPost Phys. 19, 080 (2025) · published 29 September 2025
- doi: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.19.3.080
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Abstract
Galactic weak-scale Dark Matter (DM) particles annihilating into lepton-rich channels not only produce gamma-rays via prompt radiation but also generate abundant energetic electrons and positrons, which subsequently emit through bremsstrahlung or inverse Compton scattering (collectively called "secondary-radiation photons"). While the prompt gamma-rays concentrate at high-energy, the secondary emission falls in the MeV range, which a number of upcoming experiments (AMEGO, E-ASTROGAM, MAST...) will probe. We investigate the sensitivity of these future telescopes for weak-scale DM, focusing for definiteness on observations of the galactic center. We find that they have the potential of probing a wide region of the DM parameter space which is currently unconstrained. Namely, in rather optimistic configurations, future MeV telescopes could probe thermally-produced DM with a mass up to the TeV range, or GeV DM with an annihilation cross section 2 to 3 orders of magnitude smaller than the current bounds, precisely thanks to the significant leverage provided by their sensitivity to secondary emissions. We comment on astrophysical and methodological uncertainties, and compare with the reach of high-energy gamma ray experiments.
Cited by 1
Authors / Affiliations: mappings to Contributors and Organizations
See all Organizations.- 1 2 3 Marco Cirelli,
- 1 2 3 Arpan Kar
- 1 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research [CNRS]
- 2 Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Hautes Energies / Laboratory of Theoretical and High Energy Physics [LPTHE]
- 3 Sorbonne Université / Sorbonne University
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche [ANR]
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique / French National Centre for Scientific Research [CNRS]
- Institut Henri Poincaré
- Københavns Universitet / University of Copenhagen [UCPH]
- Sorbonne Université / Sorbonne University
- Università degli Studi di Milano / University of Milan [UNIMI]
- Universität Heidelberg
- Université de Genève / University of Geneva [UNIGE]
- Univerzita Karlova v Praze (through Organization: Charles University)
- Uniwersytet Warszawski / University of Warsaw [UW]
