Abstract
We detect a line at 3.539±0.011  keV in the deep exposure data set of the Galactic center region, observed with the x-ray multi-mirror mission Newton. The dark matter interpretation of the signal observed in the Perseus galaxy cluster, the Andromeda galaxy [A. Boyarsky et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 251301 (2014)], and in the stacked spectra of galaxy clusters [E. Bulbul et al., Astrophys. J. 789, 13 (2014)], together with nonobservation of the line in blank-sky data, put both lower and upper limits on the possible intensity of the line in the Galactic center data. Our result is consistent with these constraints for a class of Milky Way mass models, presented previously by observers, and would correspond to the radiative decay dark matter lifetime, τDM∼6−8×1027  sec. Although it is hard to exclude an astrophysical origin of this line based on the Galactic center data alone, this is an important consistency check of the hypothesis that encourages us to check it with more observational data that are expected by the end of 2015.
Funding Information
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (COPE IZ7370-152581)
  • National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
  • Universiteit Leiden
  • State Programme of Implementation of Grid Technology
  • President of Ukraine

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