Description

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is the future ground-based observatory for very-high-energy astrophysics (20 GeV–300 TeV), born from a global collaboration and currently under construction at two sites: La Palma in Spain for the Northern Hemisphere, and the Atacama Desert in Chile for the Southern Hemisphere.

The PhD thesis will focus on the development of tools for indirect dark matter searches using Gammapy, the scientific software chosen by CTAO for future data analysis. Building on the existing Gammapy framework for gamma-ray source analysis, these tools must also be capable of processing data from multiple gamma-ray observatories—such as H.E.S.S., VERITAS, MAGIC, LST-1, ASTRI, HAWC, SWGO, and Fermi-LAT—for dark matter research. From a phenomenological and theoretical perspective, special attention will be given to particle physics aspects, particularly regarding the predicted flux expectations for high-mass dark matter and the distribution of dark matter in observed astrophysical objects, as modeled by astrophysical simulations.

The LPNHE group is also involved in the construction of NectarCAM, the cameras that will equip the medium-sized telescopes of CTAO at the Northern site. The thesis will additionally cover the validation testing of these cameras and their analysis, as well as the on-site commissioning of the first cameras starting in 2026.

Skills required

The candidate should have a Master 2 diploma in high energy physics or equivalent. Previous experience in gamma-ray astronomy is desirable although not mandatory. A solid experience in Python programming will be an asset.

Bibliography

[1] M.Cirelli, A.Strumia, J.Zupan, Dark Matter, SciPost Phys. Rev. 1, 2026, scipost.org/SciPostPhysRev.1
[2] S. Schuldt et al., Inner dark matter distribution of the Cosmic Horseshoe (J1148+1930) with gravitational lensing and dynamics, A&A, 631, A40, 2019, https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.02896
[3] Planck Collaboration, Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters, A&A, 594, A13, 2016, https://arxiv.org/abs/1502.01589
[4] L. Gréaux et al., The Cosmological Optical Convergence: Extragalactic Background Light from TeV Gamma Rays, ApJL, 975, L18, 2024, https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.07011
[5] Fermi-LAT Collaboration, Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation from Milky Way Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with Six Years of Fermi Large Area Telescope Data, PRL, 115, 231301, 2015, https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.02641
[6] H.E.S.S. Collaboration, Search for dark matter annihilation signatures in H.E.S.S. observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, PRD, 90, 112012, 2014, https://arxiv.org/abs/1410.2589
[7] MAGIC Collaboration, Combined searches for dark matter in dwarf spheroidal galaxies observed with the MAGIC telescopes, including new data from Coma Berenices and Draco, Physics of the Dark Universe, 35, 100912, 2022, https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.15009
[8] VERITAS Collaboration, Dark matter constraints from a joint analysis of dwarf Spheroidal galaxy observations with VERITAS, Physical Review D, 95, 082001, 2017, https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.04937
[9] HAWC Collaboration, Dark Matter Limits from Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies with the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory, ApJ, 853, 154, 2018, https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.01277
[10] The Fermi-LAT, HAWC, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS Collaborations, Combined dark matter search towards dwarf spheroidal galaxies with Fermi-LAT, HAWC, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS, accepted for publication in JCAP, https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.20229​
[11] M. Cirelli et al., PPPC 4 DM ID: a poor particle physicist cookbook for dark matter indirect detection, JCAP, (2011) 051, 2011, https://arxiv.org/abs/1012.4515
[12] IceCube Collaboration, Search for GeV-scale Dark Matter Annihilation in the Sun with IceCube DeepCore, PRD, 105, 062004, 2022, https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.09970
[13] ANTARES Collaboration, Search for Dark Matter Annihilation in the Earth using the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope, Physics of the Dark Universe, 16, 41-48, 2017, https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.06792
[14] X. Guo et al., Searching for dark-matter induced neutrino signals in dwarf spheroidal galaxies using 10 years of IceCube public data, PRD, 108, 043001, 2023, https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.02675
[15] ANTARES and IceCube Collaborations, Combined search for neutrinos from dark matter self-annihilation in the Galactic Centre with ANTARES and IceCube, PRD, 102, 082002, 2020, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.06614
[16] MAGIC Collaboration, Search for Gamma-ray Spectral Lines from Dark Matter Annihilation up to 100 TeV towards the Galactic Center with MAGIC, PRL, 130, 061002, 2023, https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.10527
[17] A. Donath et al., Gammapy: A Python package for gamma-ray astronomy, A&A, 678, A157, 2023, https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.13584
[18] C. Galelli et al., Gammapy: a python package for (not only) gamma-ray astronomy, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 3053 012032, 2025, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/3053/1/012032

Keywords

Indirect dark matter search, High energy astronomy, Multi-messenger astronomy, Astroparticles