The VERITAS Dark Matter Program

Abstract: In the cosmological paradigm, cold dark matter (DM) dominates the mass content of the Universe and is present at every scale. Candidates for DM include many extensions of the Standard Model with weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the mass range from ~10 GeV to greater than 10 TeV. The self-annihilation or decay of WIMPs in astrophysical regions of high DM density can produce secondary particles including very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma rays. VERITAS, an array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, sensitive to VHE gamma rays in the 85 GeV-30 TeV energy range, has been utilized for indirect DM searches. Astrophysical candidates for indirect DM detection by VERITAS are dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) of the Local Group and the Galactic Center, among others. This is a report on the current status of VERITAS observations of dark matter targets and the results of a combined search of four dSphs.