Speaker
Jason Kumar
Description
Indirect searches for dark matter using dwarf spheroidal galaxies are limited by systematic uncertainties in modeling diffuse gamma-ray backgrounds. We present a likelihood-based comparison of locally constructed empirical background models and theoretically-motivated models which incorporate the Fermi-LAT diffuse background. The empirical models include both an independent-binning approach and a covariance-based model that captures cross-energy correlations. Using ensembles of blank-sky regions and information criteria to account for model complexity, we find that empirical background descriptions provide a statistically competitive fit to gamma-ray data on degree scales in high-latitude regions.