Swift observation of Segue 1: constraints on sterile neutrino parameters in the darkest galaxy

dc.contributor.authorMirabal, Nestor
dc.date.accessioned2020-09-03T17:33:52Z
dc.date.available2020-09-03T17:33:52Z
dc.date.issued2010-11-01
dc.description.abstractSome extensions of standard particle physics postulate that dark matter may be partially composed of weakly interacting sterile neutrino particles that have so far eluded detection. We use a short (∼5 ks) archival X-ray observation of Segue 1 obtained with the X-ray Telescope (XRT) onboard the Swift satellite to exclude the presence of sterile neutrinos in the 1.6–14 keV mass range down to a flux limit of 6 × 10⁻¹² erg cm⁻² s⁻¹ within 67 pc of its centre. With an estimated mass-to-light ratio of ∼3400 M⊙/L⊙, Segue 1 is the darkest ultrafaint dwarf galaxy currently measured. Spectral analysis of the Swift XRT data fails to find any non-instrumental spectral feature possibly connected with the radiative decay of a dark matter particle. Accordingly, we establish upper bounds on the sterile neutrino parameter space based on the non-detection of emission lines in the spectrum. The present work provides the most sensitive X-ray search for sterile neutrinos in a region with the highest dark matter density yet measured.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipN.M. gratefully acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through a Ram´on y Cajal fellowship. Support from the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme under grant MULTIDARK CSD2009-00064 is also acknowledged. We thank the referee for comments. Finally, we acknowledge the use of public data from the Swift data archive.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/409/1/L128/1003391en_US
dc.format.extent5 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articles preprintsen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2c9hk-axla
dc.identifier.citationN. Mirabal, Swift observation of Segue 1: constraints on sterile neutrino parameters in the darkest galaxy, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Volume 409, Issue 1, November 2010, Pages L128–L131, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00963.xen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00963.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/19584
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherOxford University Pressen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Physics Department Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Center for Space Sciences and Technology (CSST) / Center for Research and Exploration in Space Sciences & Technology II (CRSST II)
dc.rightsThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
dc.rightsThis article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
dc.titleSwift observation of Segue 1: constraints on sterile neutrino parameters in the darkest galaxyen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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