Comments on: Fermi Waffles on Dark Matter

By: Dark Matter Damping « The e-Astronomer

Dark Matter Damping « The e-Astronomer — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:01:39 +0000

[...] this result has already caused a splash in the popular press and astroblogs (here is Sean Carrol’s take), but I had it in mind because I just attended a SLAC seminar explaining the result, given by Luca [...]

By: Populär Astronomi - » Mörk materia eller okända pulsarer? Fermiteleskopets heta nya resultat

Wed, 06 May 2009 15:48:21 +0000

[...] Men rymdteleskopet Fermi, som skulle i princip göra om ATIC:s mätningar, fast bättre. Och nu har det gjort det. Fermi, uppe sedan sommaren 2008, är egentligen byggt för att detektera gammastrålning, men teleskopets kamera LAT visar vara en hejare på att istället samla in kosmiska elektroner och positroner. Resultaten släpptes på ArXiv.org häromdagen (pressmeddelande hos NASA, kommentar hos Cosmic Variance). [...]

By: Nog even over Fermi’s waarnemingenbijAstroblogs

Nog even over Fermi’s waarnemingenbijAstroblogs — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:16:07 +0000

[...] Hierin zien we de hoeveelheid electronen en positronen die Fermi gemeten heeft. De blauwe lijn is wat je zou verwachten in een donkere materieloos heelal. De rode punten, inclusief de foutenmarges, zijn de metingen van Fermi. De grijze vierkantjes zijn van ATIC en zoals je ziet zitten die in het gbeied van 400-700 GeV veel hoger dan de Fermi-punten. Grote vraag blijft waar het waargenomen exces aan electronen en positronen vandaan komt: een nabije pulsar of annihilatie van donkere materie. We blijven Fermi, H.E.S.S., Pamela, ATIC en al die andere experimenten op de voet volgen. Bron: Cosmic Variance. [...]

By: CoffeeCupContrails

CoffeeCupContrails — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:01:23 +0000

Man, I love this blog.

By: David

David — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:09:18 +0000

You can see the PRL paper free by clicking through to a PDF from the Physics story here: http://physics.aps.org/articles/v2/37

Symmetry magazine’s story on this is here:
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2009/05/02/pulsars-or-dark-matter-might-be-the-source-of-high-energy-cosmic-electrons/

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:45:54 +0000

It doesn’t necessarily presuppose supersymmetry, no. It is possible to get attractive dark matter candidates in supersymmetric models, but you certainly don’t need supersymmetry to get dark matter. Experiments like this are too crude to ever determine whether some new particle they might hypothetically discover would be supersymmetric or not — for that, you’d need much more precise data, presumably from a collider.

By: Pat

Pat — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:41:14 +0000

Does this explanation necessarily presuppose supersymmetry? Corroborating both supersymmetry and an explanation for dark matter would be quite a coup.

This paper
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0904/0904.2789v1.pdf
offers superpartners as explanations for the data, but it is beyond my pedestrian noodle.

If the data holds up, would it be evidence for sypersymmetry?

By: Daniel de França MTd2

Daniel de França MTd2 — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:02:51 +0000

Both HESS and FERMI results were publised yesterday. See this blog for the links:

http://resonaances.blogspot.com/2009/05/all-eyes-on-denver.html