A novel approach in the WIMP quest: Cross-Correlation of Gamma-Ray
  Anisotropies and Cosmic Shear
  Both cosmic shear and cosmological gamma-ray emission stem from the presence
of Dark Matter (DM) in the Universe: DM structures are responsible for the
bending of light in the weak lensing regime and those same objects can emit
gamma-rays, either because they host astrophysical sources (active galactic
nuclei or star-forming galaxies) or directly by DM annihilations (or decays,
depending on the properties of the DM particle). Such gamma-rays should
therefore exhibit strong correlation with the cosmic shear signal. In this
Letter, we compute the cross-correlation angular power spectrum of cosmic shear
and gamma-rays produced by the annihilation/decay of Weakly Interacting Massive
Particle (WIMP) DM, as well as from astrophysical sources. We show that this
observable provides novel information on the composition of the Extra-galactic
Gamma-ray Background (EGB), since the amplitude and shape of the
cross-correlation signal strongly depends on which class of source is
responsible for the gamma-ray emission. If the DM contribution to the EGB is
significant (at least in a definite energy range), although compatible with
current observational bounds, its strong correlation with the cosmic shear
makes such signal potentially detectable by combining Fermi-LAT data with
forthcoming galaxy surveys, like Dark Energy Survey and Euclid. At the same
time, the same signal would demonstrate that the weak lensing observables are
indeed due to particle DM matter and not to possible modifications of General
Relativity.
