Title:Indirect detection of higgsino dark matter in gamma-rays

Host: Maxim Perelstein

Abstract: Electroweakino dark matter is a natural manifestation of the WIMP dark matter paradigm, with the nearly pure higgsino and wino especially well motivated in the context of split supersymmetry constructions. I will review the theoretical motivations for these dark matter candidates, which have calculable masses under the assumptions they constitute the total dark matter abundance and standard cosmology. The wino, however, is ruled out by indirect detection searches in gamma-rays.  In fact, I will show that all minimal dark matter models but the higgsino are in tension with Fermi gamma-ray data at the Galactic Center, leaving the higgsino as the last remaining minimal dark matter model. I will present results of an analysis of Fermi data showing a possible hint of ~1 TeV thermal higgsino dark matter, and I will discuss how future searches with the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array or similar instruments should conclusively detect or rule out the existence of this scenario.