Distinguishing between dark matter and pulsar origins of the ATIC electron spectrum with atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes

Recent results from the Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) balloon experiment have identified the presence of a spectral feature between approximately 300 and 800 GeV in the cosmic ray electron spectrum. This spectral feature appears to imply the existence of a local (≲1 kpc) source of high energy electrons. Emission from a local pulsar and dark matter annihilations have each been put forth as possible origins of this signal. In this Letter, we consider the sensitivity of ground based atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to electrons and show that observatories such as HESS and VERITAS should be able to resolve this feature with sufficient precision to discriminate between the dark matter and pulsar hypotheses with considerably greater than 5σ significance, even for conservative assumptions regarding their performance. In addition, this feature provides an opportunity to perform an absolute calibration of the energy scale of ground based, gamma ray telescopes.