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    VERITAS limits on dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center halo

    A. Archer1, P. Bangale2, J. T. Bartkoske3, W. Benbow4, N. R. Bond5, J. H. Buckley6, Y. Chen7, J. L. Christiansen8, A. J. Chromey4 et al. (VERITAS Collaboration)

    A. J. Chromey4, A. Duerr3, M. Errando6, M. Escobar Godoy9, J. Escudero Pedrosa4, S. Feldman7, Q. Feng3, S. Filbert3, L. Fortson10, A. Furniss9, W. Hanlon4, O. Hervet9, C. E. Hinrichs11, J. Holder12, D. Huang12, T. B. Humensky13, M. Iskakova6, W. Jin7, E. Joshi14, M. Kertzman1, M. Kherlakian15, D. Kieda3, T. K. Kleiner14, N. Korzoun12, S. Kundu16, M. J. Lang17, M. Lundy18, G. Maier14, M. R. Martin3, P. Moriarty17, R. Mukherjee19, W. Ning7, M. Ohishi20, R. A. Ong7,*, A. Pandey3, M. Pohl21, J. Quinn5, P. L. Rabinowitz6, K. Ragan22, P. T. Reynolds23, E. Roache4, J. L. Ryan24,†, I. Sadeh14, L. Saha4, H. Salzmann9, M. Santander16, G. H. Sembroski25, D. Tak26, J. V. Tucci27, V. V. Vassiliev7, D. A. Williams9, S. L. Wong22, and T. Yoshikoshi20 (VERITAS Collaboration)

    • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana 46135-0037, USA
    • 2Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA
    • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA
    • 4Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
    • 5School of Physics, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
    • 6Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
    • 7Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
    • 8Physics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California 94307, USA
    • 9Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics and Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA
    • 10School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
    • 11Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 USA
    • 12Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA
    • 13Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA and NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
    • 14DESY, Platanenallee 6, 15738 Zeuthen, Germany
    • 15Fakultät für Physik & Astronomie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
    • 16Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA
    • 17School of Natural Sciences, University of Galway, University Road, Galway, H91 TK33, Ireland
    • 18Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
    • 19Department of Physics and Astronomy, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York 10027, USA
    • 20Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5, Kashiwa-no-ha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8582, Japan
    • 21Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany and DESY, Platanenallee 6, 15738 Zeuthen, Germany
    • 22Physics Department, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec City H3A 2T8, Canada
    • 23Department of Physical Sciences, Munster Technological University, Bishopstown, Cork, T12 P928, Ireland
    • 24SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
    • 25Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
    • 26Department of Physics, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea
    • 27Department of Physics, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA

    • *Contact author: rene@astro.ucla.edu
    • †Contact author: jlryan@slac.stanford.edu

    Phys. Rev. D 114, 083044 – Published 26 October, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dr62-483r

    Abstract

    Well-motivated models of particle dark matter predict its self-annihilation into Standard Model end states, which may be detected by particle detectors or telescopes. We conduct an indirect dark matter search using gamma rays detected by the VERITAS telescope from within 2° of the Galactic Center. A template-based approach is used for background estimation, increasing our sensitivity to sources of gamma-ray emission with spatial extents comparable to the 3.5° VERITAS field of view. The analysis benefits from data taken exclusively at large zenith angles, which results in an increased effective area at energies above ∼1  TeV, compared to small zenith angle observations. No significant gamma-ray signal is observed in the search region, resulting in upper limits on the end-state-dependent dark matter annihilation cross sections. Cross sections as low as ⟨σannv⟩=1.77×10−25  cm3  s−1 are excluded at 95% confidence assuming complete annihilation into τ+τ−, an Einasto profile, and a dark matter mass of 1 TeV.

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