Speaker
Description
The nature of dark matter (DM) remains elusive despite decades of efforts through indirect detection, direct detection, and collider experiments. Indirect detection aims to identify gamma rays produced by DM decay or annihilation. For certain DM scenarios like weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), these gamma rays may fall within the very-high-energy range (>100 GeV). The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array, is well-suited for such searches, as it can detect gamma rays in the 100 GeV to >30 TeV range. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are popular targets due to their high inferred DM content. I will present our recent results from a DM search utilizing 638 hours of VERITAS observations across 17 dSph targets. Additionally, I will discuss ongoing DM programs, including searches for wino DM and potential DM signals from Ursa Major III.
