Dark Matter in Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies and Indirect Detection: A Review

Understand

Indirect dark matter searches targeting dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) have matured rapidly during the past decade.

• This has been because of the substantial increase in kinematic data sets from the dSphs, the new dSphs that have been discovered, and the operation of the Fermi-LAT and many ground-based gamma-ray experiments.
• Here we review the analysis methods that have been used to determine the dSph dark matter distributions, in particular the "J-factors," comparing and contrasting them, and detailing the underlying systematics that still affect the analysis.
• We discuss prospects for improving measurements of dark matter distributions, and how these interplay with future indirect dark matter searches.