Is The Gamma-Ray Source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 A Dark Matter Subhalo?

Understand

In a previous paper, we pointed out that the gamma-ray source 3FGL J2212.5+0703 shows evidence of being spatially extended.

• If a gamma-ray source without detectable emission at other wavelengths were unambiguously determined to be spatially extended, it could not be explained by known astrophysics, and would constitute a smoking gun for dark matter particles annihilating in a nearby subhalo.
• With this prospect in mind, we scrutinize the gamma-ray emission from this source, finding that it prefers a spatially extended profile over that of a single point-like source with 5.1 sigma statistical significance.
• We also use a large sample of active galactic nuclei and other known gamma-rays sources as a control group, confirming, as expected, that statistically significant extension is rare among such objects.