Can prompt cusps of WIMP dark matter be detected as individual gamma-ray sources?

Prompt $\rho \propto r^{-1.5}$ density cusps are the densest and most abundant dark matter systems. If the dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), recent studies have shown that prompt cusps dominate the aggregate dark matter annihilation rate. This article explores whether individual prompt cusps could be detected as gamma-ray sources. At the Fermi telescope’s point-source sensitivity, WIMPs with the canonical annihilation cross section could form detectable prompt cusps if the particle mass is of order 10 GeV. These objects could be 10-100 pc away and weigh under a solar mass; they would subtend around 0.1 degrees on the sky. For GeV-scale dark matter particles with below-canonical cross sections, searches for individual prompt cusps can be more sensitive than searches for the annihilation signals from galactic dark matter halos.