Evidence for Unresolved Gamma-Ray Point Sources in the Inner Galaxy
  We present a new method to characterize unresolved point sources (PSs),
generalizing traditional template fits to account for non-Poissonian photon
statistics. We apply this method to Fermi Large Area Telescope gamma-ray data
to characterize PS populations at high latitudes and in the Inner Galaxy. We
find that PSs (resolved and unresolved) account for ~50% of the total
extragalactic gamma-ray background in the energy range ~1.9 to 11.9 GeV. Within
10$^\circ$ of the Galactic Center with $|b| \geq 2^\circ$, we find that ~5-10%
of the flux can be accounted for by a population of unresolved PSs, distributed
consistently with the observed ~GeV gamma-ray excess in this region. The excess
is fully absorbed by such a population, in preference to dark-matter
annihilation. The inferred source population is dominated by near-threshold
sources, which may be detectable in future searches.
