Dark Matter Spikes and Indirect Detection

Abstract

Annihilation radiation from supersymmetric particles at the Galactic center could be greatly enhanced if the dark matter density is peaked around the supermassive black hole. Arguments for and against the existence of density spikes are reviewed. Spikes are destroyed during mergers, and there is strong evidence for this effect in stellar density profiles. The dark matter spike at the Galactic center probably suffered this fate.

Comments: 6 pages, 2 figures. To appear in "IDM 2002: The 4th International Workshop on the Identification of Dark Matter", eds. N. Spooner and V. Kudryavtsev