Dark matter and galaxy cross-correlations with the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory
Phys. Rev. D 112, 123010 – Published 4 December, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1xtk-hf1s
Abstract
The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will be a ground-based Cherenkov telescope performing wide-sky surveys, ideal for anisotropy studies such as cross-correlations with tracers of the cosmic large-scale structure. Cross-correlations can shed light on high-energy -ray sources and potentially reveal exotic signals from particle dark matter. In this work, we investigate CTAO sensitivity to cross-correlation signals between -ray emission and galaxy distributions. We find that by using dense, low-redshift catalogs like 2 MASS, and for integration times around 50 hours, this technique achieves sensitivities to both annihilating and decaying dark matter signals that are competitive with those from dwarf galaxy and cluster analyses.