Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess from a Generic Triaxial Halo

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Hu, Leo Qiyuan, Cholis, Ilias, Zhong, Yi-Ming
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Hu, Leo Qiyuan
Cholis, Ilias
Zhong, Yi-Ming
author_facet Hu, Leo Qiyuan
Cholis, Ilias
Zhong, Yi-Ming
contents Recent studies of Galactic surveys, such as Gaia, have revealed that the Milky Way's gravitational potential comes from a matter distribution that is triaxial and rotated with respect to the Galactic center-Sun axis. This, in turn, could mean that the dark matter halo also shares these properties. In this work, by fitting to the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations, we test the compatibility of the morphology of the Galactic Center Excess (GCE) from dark matter annihilation with a triaxial dark matter halo. In particular, we consider both untilted triaxial halos and halos whose principal axes are tilted with respect to the Galactic disk. In our fits of the Fermi-LAT data, by testing over a large library of galactic diffuse emission models, we quantify how the halo triaxiality and tilt affect the line-of-sight-integrated annihilation signal and, consequently, the preferred GCE spatial templates. We find that the GCE spectrum and inner cuspiness are robust against variations in the triaxiality and tilt of the dark matter halo. However, in terms of its overall morphology, the GCE in the gamma-ray data can discriminate between choices for the dark matter halo's triaxiality and tilt. Finally, we find that the GCE is more compatible with originating from a triaxial and tilted halo of dark matter than originating from a triaxial and tilted halo of stars, a result important for understanding the GCE's origin.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_20252
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess from a Generic Triaxial Halo
Hu, Leo Qiyuan
Cholis, Ilias
Zhong, Yi-Ming
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Recent studies of Galactic surveys, such as Gaia, have revealed that the Milky Way's gravitational potential comes from a matter distribution that is triaxial and rotated with respect to the Galactic center-Sun axis. This, in turn, could mean that the dark matter halo also shares these properties. In this work, by fitting to the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray observations, we test the compatibility of the morphology of the Galactic Center Excess (GCE) from dark matter annihilation with a triaxial dark matter halo. In particular, we consider both untilted triaxial halos and halos whose principal axes are tilted with respect to the Galactic disk. In our fits of the Fermi-LAT data, by testing over a large library of galactic diffuse emission models, we quantify how the halo triaxiality and tilt affect the line-of-sight-integrated annihilation signal and, consequently, the preferred GCE spatial templates. We find that the GCE spectrum and inner cuspiness are robust against variations in the triaxiality and tilt of the dark matter halo. However, in terms of its overall morphology, the GCE in the gamma-ray data can discriminate between choices for the dark matter halo's triaxiality and tilt. Finally, we find that the GCE is more compatible with originating from a triaxial and tilted halo of dark matter than originating from a triaxial and tilted halo of stars, a result important for understanding the GCE's origin.
title Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess from a Generic Triaxial Halo
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.20252