Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Higgsino dark matter (DM) is a well-motivated candidate in supersymmetric theories, with a 1.1 TeV thermal higgsino naturally accounting for the observed DM abundance. Despite its strong theoretical foundation, detecting the higgsino remains challenging. The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), with CTAO-North in La Palma, Spain, and CTAO-South in Atacama, Chile, offers a promising indirect detection approach by probing gamma rays from potential DM annihilation, particularly in the Galactic Center. CTAO-North has achieved the first light with its first Large-Sized Telescope (LST), while CTAO-South, expected to be fully operational in the 2030s, will observe the Galactic Center under optimal conditions. Alternatively, CTAO-North can observe the Galactic Center at so-called large zenith angles —tracking the Galactic Center along the horizon— enhancing sensitivity at TeV energies at the cost of a higher energy threshold. With this observation mode, we regard that CTAO-North is capable of complementing the CTAO-South view. Using CTAO simulations of instrument responses, this study projects sensitivity of higgsino searches with CTAO-North and CTAO-South under a realistic observational timeline. In particular, considering the phased construction, we assume a two-stage telescope configuration for CTAO-North: the LST sub-array and the planned full array. Notably, our projections indicate that CTAO-North could achive the required sensitivity within the next decade, reinforcing gamma-ray observations as a viable method for higgsino DM detection. The findings and their implications are presented in this contribution.
DOI: 10.22323/1.501.0493
Authors: Tomohiro Inada, Shotaro Abe, Emmanuel Moulin, Nicholas Rodd, Benjamin Safdi, Weishuang Linda Xu
Institutions: Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, CEA Paris-Saclay - Etablissement de Saclay, CEA Paris-Saclay, Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G1197084701, G1286236842, Unveiling the Galactic Center: Probing WIMP Dark Matter with CTA-LST-1 Gamma-Ray Observations, Research of transient objects and dark matter with large-sized Cherenkov telescopes, G2371548206, G303061748, G3083819904, G3752857035, G4264918310, G42916606, G5004724115, G5570207115, G759921648, G969889393, G97770923
OpenAlex ID: W4414480466
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