We investigate the power spectrum of Non-Cold Dark Matter (NCDM) produced in a state out of thermal equilibrium. We consider dark matter production from the decay of scalar condensates (inflaton, moduli), the decay of thermalized and non-thermalized particles, and from thermal and non-thermal freeze-in. For each case, we compute the NCDM phase space distribution and the linear matter power spectrum, which features a cutoff analogous to that for Warm Dark Matter (WDM). This scale is solely determined by the equation of state of NCDM. We propose a mapping procedure that translates the WDM Lyman-$α$ mass bound to NCDM scenarios. This procedure does not require expensive ad hoc numerical computations of the non-linear matter power spectrum. By applying it, we obtain bounds on several NCDM possibilities, ranging from $m_{\rm DM}\gtrsim {\rm EeV}$ for DM production from inflaton decay with a low reheating temperature, to sub-keV values for non-thermal freeze-in. We discuss the phenomenological implications of these results for specific examples which include strongly-stabilized and non-stabilized supersymmetric moduli, gravitino production from inflaton decay, $Z'$ and spin-2 mediated freeze-in, and non-supersymmetric spin-3/2 DM.
We re-analyse high redshift and high resolution Lyman-$α$ forest spectra considered in (Viel et al 2013), seeking to constrain the properties of warm dark matter particles. Compared to this previous work, we consider a wider range of thermal histories of the intergalactic medium. We find that both warm and cold dark matter models can explain the cut-off observed in the flux power spectra of high-resolution observations equally well. This implies, however, very different thermal histories and underlying re-ionisation models. We discuss how to remove this degeneracy.
We investigate the thermal relics as hot, warm and cold dark matter in $\mathscr{L}=\varepsilon^{2-2β}R^β+{16π}m_{\text{Pl}}^{-2}\mathscr{L}_m$ gravity, where $\varepsilon$ is a constant balancing the dimension of the field equation, and $1<β<(4+\sqrt{6})/5$ for the positivity of energy density and temperature. If light neutrinos serve as hot/warm relics, the entropic number of statistical degrees of freedom $g_{*s}$ at freeze-out and thus the predicted fractional energy density $Ω_ψh^2$ are $β-$dependent, which relaxes the standard mass bound $Σm_ν$. For cold relics, by exactly solve the simp…
We consider the framework of quintessential inflation in the warm background which is caused by the dissipation of the scalar field energy density into relativistic degrees of freedom. The dissipation process has important consequences for the evolution both at the levels of background as well as perturbation and allows us to easily satisfy the observational constraints.~Our numerical analysis confirms that the model conforms to observational constraints even if the field-radiation coupling strength is weak. In the warm background, we investigate the post inflationary evolution of relic gravit…
The flux power spectrum of the high resolution Lyman-$α$ forest data exhibits suppression at small scales. The origin of this suppression can be due to long-sought warm dark matter (WDM) or to thermal effects, related to the largely unknown reionization history of the Universe. Previous works explored a specific class of reionization histories that exhibit sufficiently strong thermal supression and leave little room for warm dark matter interpretation. In this work we choose a different class of reionization histories, fully compatible with available data on evolution of reionization, but much…
We revisit Lyman-alpha bounds on the dark matter mass in Lambda Warm Dark Matter (Lambda-WDM) models, and derive new bounds in the case of mixed Cold plus Warm models (Lambda-CWDM), using a set up which is a good approximation for several theoretically well-motivated dark matter models. We combine WMAP5 results with two different Lyman-alpha data sets, including observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We pay a special attention to systematics, test various possible sources of error, and compare the results of different statistical approaches. Expressed in terms of the mass of a non-res…
Although Planck data supports the standard ΛCDM model, it still allows for the presence of Dark Radiation corresponding up to about half an extra standard neutrino species. We propose a scenario for obtaining a fractional "effective neutrino species" from a thermally produced particle which decays into a much lighter stable relic plus standard fermions. At lifetimes much longer than 1 sec, both the relic particles and the non-thermal neutrino component contribute to Dark Radiation. By increasing the stable-to-unstable particle mass ratio, the relic particle no longer acts as Dark Radiation but…
Capturing low-energy electron antineutrinos on radioactive Ho-163 nuclei, which decay into Dy-163 via electron capture (EC), is a noteworthy opportunity to detect relic sterile antineutrinos. Such hypothetical particles are more or less implied by current experimental and cosmological data, and they might be a part of hot dark matter or a candidate for warm dark matter in the Universe. Using the isotope Ho-163 as a target and assuming reasonable active-sterile antineutrino mixing angles, we calculate the capture rate of relic electron antineutrinos against the corresponding EC-decay background…
With updated experiment result, we study Ma's radiative seesaw model. We try to use fewer assumptions to study the feasibility of this model. Both CDM and WDM scenario are taken into consideration. In CDM scenario, the fitting of relic abundance shows that a mass spectrum M_1 < m_0 < M_2 is preferred if theory remains perturbability. By studying the flavour violation process μ\rightarrow e γand relic density abundance, we get very strong constraint for the model. In addition, we try to explain muon anomaly a_μ \equiv (g-2)/2 within the model, but the contribution induced by new particles is to…
We study the scenario of dark matter in the minimal left-right symmetric theory at the TeV scale. The only viable candidate is found to be the lightest right-handed neutrino with a mass of keV. To satisfy the dark matter relic abundance, the relic yield is diluted by late decays of the two heavier neutrinos. We point out that the QCD phase transition temperature coincidences with the typical freeze-out temperature governed by right-handed interactions, which helps to alleviate the problem of overproduction. A careful numerical study reveals a narrow window for the mass of the right-handed gaug…
We show that a baryon asymmetry can be generated by dissipative effects during warm inflation via a supersymmetric two-stage mechanism, where the inflaton is coupled to heavy mediator fields that then decay into light species through B- and CP-violating interactions. In contrast with thermal GUT baryogenesis models, the temperature during inflation is always below the heavy mass threshold, simultaneously suppressing thermal and quantum corrections to the inflaton potential and the production of dangerous GUT relics. This naturally gives a small baryon asymmetry close to the observed value, alt…
Warm fermionic dark matter from freeze-in at stronger coupling
Departamento de Física da Universidade de Aveiro（阿威罗大学物理系）；Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP), Universidade do Minho（米尼奥大学粒子物理实验仪器实验室）
In light of recent findings which seem to disfavor a scenario with (warm) dark matter entirely constituted of sterile neutrinos produced via the Dodelson-Widrow (DW) mechanism, we investigate the constraints attainable for this mechanism by relaxing the usual hypothesis that the relic neutrino abundance must necessarily account for all of the dark matter. We first study how to reinterpret the limits attainable from X-ray non-detection and Lyman-alpha forest measurements in the case that sterile neutrinos constitute only a fraction fs of the total amount of dark matter. Then, assuming that ster…
In this paper we present an efficient method for constraining both thermal and non-thermal Dark Matter (DM) scenarios with the Lyman-$α$ forest, based on a simple and flexible parametrisation capable to reproduce the small scale clustering signal of a large set of non-cold DM (nCDM) models. We extract new limits on the fundamental DM properties, through an extensive analysis of the high resolution, high redshift data obtained by the MIKE/HIRES spectrographs. By using a large suite of hydrodynamical simulations, we determine constraints on both astrophysical, cosmological, and nCDM parameters b…
With the advent of precision data, cosmology has become an extremely powerful tool for probing particle physics. The prime example of this is the cosmological bound on light neutrino masses. Here I review the current status of cosmological neutrino mass bounds as well as the various uncertainties involved in deriving them. From WMAP, SDSS, and Lyman-alpha forest data an upper bound on the sum of neutrino masses of 0.65 eV (95% C.L.) can be derived with any assumptions about bias. I also present new limits on other light, thermally produced particles. For example, a hypothetical new Majorana fe…
Both active and sterile sub-eV neutrinos can serve for hot dark matter (DM). On the other hand, keV sterile neutrinos could be a good candidate for warm DM. The beta-decaying (e.g., H-3 and Ru-106) and EC-decaying (e.g., Ho-163) nuclei are considered as the most promising targets to capture those extremely low energy neutrinos and antineutrinos, respectively. We calculate the capture rates of relic electron neutrinos and antineutrinos against the corresponding beta-decay or EC-decay backgrounds in different flavor mixing schemes. We stress that such direct laboratory measurements of hot or war…
Post-inflationary axion constraints from the Lyman-$α$ forest
University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；KICC - Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge（卡弗里宇宙学剑桥研究所）；University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学）；SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies（国际高等研究院）；IFPU, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（宇宙基础物理研究所）；INFN, Sezione di Trieste（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste（意大利国家天体物理研究所的里雅斯特天文台）；University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）
Recent cosmological tensions have rekindled the search for models beyond $Λ$CDM that cause a suppression of the matter power spectrum. Due to the small scales accessible to Lyman-$α$ data they are an excellent additional tool to probe such models. In this work we extend a recently-developed approach for using Lyman-$α$ data to constrain the power spectrum suppression caused by almost any mixture of cold and non-standard dark matter. We highlight the steps involved in the development of a corresponding likelihood that will be publicly released upon publication of this work. We study three examp…
We show that a neutral scalar field, σ, of two Higgs doublet extensions of the Standard Model incorporating the seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses can be identified as a consistent {\it warm} dark matter candidate with a mass of order keV. The relic density of $σ$ is correctly reproduced by virtue of the late decay of a right-handed neutrino N participating in the seesaw mechanism. Constraints from cosmology determine the mass and lifetime of N to be M_N = 25 GeV - 20 TeV and τ_N = (10^{-4} - 1) sec. These models can also explain the 3.5 keV X-ray anomaly in the extra-galactic spectrum that …
Resonantly produced sterile neutrinos are considered an attractive dark matter (DM) candidate only requiring a minimal, well motivated extension to the standard model of particle physics. With a particle mass restricted to the keV range, sterile neutrinos are furthermore a prime candidate for warm DM, characterised by suppressed matter perturbations at the smallest observable scales. In this paper we take a critical look at the validity of the resonant scenario in the context of constraints from structure formation. We compare predicted and observed number of Milky-Way satellites and we introd…
Warm Dark Matter (WDM) research is progressing fast, the subject is new and WDM essentially works, naturally reproducing the astronomical observations over all scales: small (galactic) and large (cosmological) scales (LambdaWDM). Evidence that Cold Dark Matter (LambdaCDM) and its proposed tailored cures do not work at small scales is staggering. Fedor Bezrukov, Pier-Stefano Corasaniti, Hector J. de Vega, Stefano Ettori, Frederic Hessmann, Ayuki Kamada, Marco Lombardi, Alexander Merle, Christian Moni Bidin, Angelo Nucciotti on behalf of the MARE collaboration, Sinziana Paduroiu, Henri Plana, No…
Lyman-$α$ Forest Constraint on Dark Matter from Dark Sector Decay
School of Physics, East China University of Science and Technology（华东理工大学物理学院）；School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-sen University (Zhuhai Campus)（中山大学珠海校区物理与天文学院）
We provide a simple analysis of the big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) sensitivity to the light dark matter (DM) generated by the thermal freeze-in mechanism. It is shown that the ratio of the effective neutrino number shift $ΔN_ν$ over the DM relic density $ω\equiv Ωh^2$, denoted by $R_χ\equivΔN_ν/ω$, cancels the decaying particle mass and the feeble coupling, rendering therefore a simple visualization of $ΔN_ν$ at the BBN epoch in terms of the DM mass. This property drives one to conclude that the shift with a sensitivity of $ΔN_ν\simeq \mathcal{O}(0.1)$ cannot originate from a single warm DM un…
In this paper, we present a systematic investigation on simple inverse seesaw models for neutrino masses and flavor mixing based on the modular $S^{}_4$ symmetry. Two right-handed neutrinos and three extra fermion singlets are introduced to account for light neutrino masses through the inverse seesaw mechanism, and to provide a keV-mass sterile neutrino as the candidate for warm dark matter in our Universe. Considering all possible modular forms with weights no larger than four, we obtain twelve models, among which we find one is in excellent agreement with the observed lepton mass spectra and…
We show that a standard model gauge singlet fermion field, with mass of order keV or larger, and involved in the inverse seesaw mechanism of light neutrino mass generation, can be a good warm dark matter candidate. Our framework is based on B-L extension of the Standard Model. The construction ensures the absence of any mixing between active neutrinos and the aforementioned dark matter field. This circumvents the usual constraints on the mass of warm dark matter imposed by X-ray observations. We show that over-abundance of thermally produced warm dark matter (which nevertheless do not reach ch…
Gravitinos with a mass in the keV range are an interesting candidate for warm dark matter. Recent measurements of the matter density of the universe and of cosmic structures at the dwarf galaxy scale rule out the simplest gravitino models with thermal freeze-out. We construct a model where the decay of the messenger particles that transmit the supersymmetry breaking to the observable sector generates the required entropy to dilute the gravitino relic density by the required factor of a few to come in line with observations. The model is natural, and requires only that the coupling of the messe…
Warm dark matter from freeze-in at stronger coupling
Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2a, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland（赫尔辛基大学物理系与赫尔辛基物理研究所）；Departamento de Física da Universidade de Aveiro and Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications (CIDMA), Campus de Santiago, 3810-183 Aveiro, Portugal（阿威罗大学物理系与应用数学研发中心）；Department of Physics, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden（隆德大学物理系）；Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP), Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal（米尼奥大学粒子物理实验仪器实验室）
In this paper, we consider a scenario of spontaneous baryogenesis in a framework of warm quintessential inflation where the residual inflaton field, left out after warm inflation, plays the role of quintessence field at late times and is coupled to a non-conserved baryonic current. Assuming a four fermion $(B-L)$ violating effective interaction, we have demonstrated that the required baryon asymmetry can be produced successfully in this case. We show that the post-inflationary evolution, with the underlying scalar field potential, $V(ϕ)=V^4_0 \exp{(-αϕ^n/M_{\rm Pl}^4 ) }$, $n>1$ well suited to…
High resolution Lyman-α forest constraints on dark matter-neutrino scattering
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)（卡尔斯鲁厄理工学院）；RWTH Aachen University（亚琛工业大学）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）；KICC - Kavli Institute for Cosmology Cambridge（卡弗里宇宙学剑桥研究所）；University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学）；SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies（国际高等研究院）；IFPU, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（宇宙基础物理研究所）；INFN, Sezione di Trieste（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste（意大利国家天体物理研究所的里雅斯特天文台）
We show that the recently measured UV luminosity functions of ultra-faint lensed galaxies at z= 6 in the Hubble Frontier Fields provide an unprecedented probe for the mass m_X of the Warm Dark Matter candidates independent of baryonic physics. Comparing the measured abundance of the faintest galaxies with the maximum number density of dark matter halos in WDM cosmologies sets a robust limit m_X> 2.9 keV for the mass of thermal relic WDM particles at a 1-sigma confidence level, m_X> 2.4 keV at 2-sigma, and m_X> 2.1 keV at 3-sigma. These constitute the tightest constraints on WDM particle mass d…
We present constraints on the mass of warm dark matter (WDM) particles from a combined analysis of the matter power spectrum inferred from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey \lya flux power spectrum at 2.2<z<4.2, cosmic microwave background data, and the galaxy power spectrum. We obtain a lower limit of m~10 keV (2 sigma) if the WDM consists of sterile neutrinos and m~2 keV (2 sigma) for early decoupled thermal relics. If we combine this bound with the constraint derived from x-ray flux observations in the Coma cluster, we find that the allowed sterile neutrino mass is ~10 keV (in the standard produ…
We investigate the so-called superWIMP scenario with gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in the context of non-standard cosmology, in particular, brane world cosmology. As a candidate of the next-to-LSP (NLSP), we examine slepton and sneutrino. Brane world cosmological effects dramatically enhance the relic density of the slepton or sneutrino NLSP, so that the NLSP with mass of order 100 GeV can provide the correct abundance of gravitino dark matter through its decay. We find that with an appropriate five dimensional Planck mass, this scenario can be realized consistently w…
Stable particle dark matter may well originate during the decay of long-lived relic particles, as recently extensively examined in the cases of the axino, gravitino, and higher-dimensional Kaluza-Klein (KK) graviton. It is shown that in much of the viable parameter space such dark matter emerges naturally warm/hot or mixed. In particular, decay produced gravitinos (KK-gravitons) may only be considered cold for the mass of the decaying particle in the several TeV range, unless the decaying particle and the dark matter particle are almost degenerate. Such dark matter candidates are thus subject …
Recently it has been claimed that the warm dark matter (WDM) model cannot at the same time reproduce the observed Lyman-α forests in distant quasar spectra and solve the small-scale issues in the cold dark matter (CDM) model. As an alternative candidate, it was shown that the mixed dark matter (MDM) model that consists of WDM and CDM can satisfy the constraint from Lyman-α forests and account for the "missing satellite problem" as well as the reported 3.5 keV anomalous X-ray line. We investigate observational constraints on the MDM model using strong gravitational lenses. We first develop a fi…
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) serve as a unique probe to the physics of the early Universe, particularly inflation. In light of this, we study the formation of PBHs by the collapse of overdense perturbations generated during a model of warm inflation. For our model, we find that the primordial curvature power spectrum is red-tilted (spectral index $n_s<1$) at the large scale (small $k$) and is consistent with the $n_s-r$ values allowed from the CMB observations. Along with that, it has a blue-tilt ($n_s>1$) for the small PBH scales (large $k$), with a sufficiently large amplitude of the primor…
Various particle physics models suggest that, besides the (nearly) cold dark matter that accounts for current observations, additional but sub-dominant dark relics might exist. These could be warm, hot, or even contribute as dark radiation. We present here a comprehensive study of two-component dark matter scenarios, where the first component is assumed to be cold, and the second is a non-cold thermal relic. Considering the cases where the non-cold dark matter species could be either a fermion or a boson, we derive consistent upper limits on the non-cold dark relic energy density for a very la…
We investigate the weak lensing effect by line-of-sight structures with a surface mass density of <~10^8 solar mass/arcsec^2 in QSO-galaxy quadruple lens systems. Using high-resolution N-body simulations in warm dark matter (WDM) models and observed four quadruple lenses that show anomalies in the flux ratios, we obtain constraints on the mass of thermal WDM, m_WDM>= 1.3keV(95%CL) assuming that the density of the primary lens is described by a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE). The obtained constraint is consistent with those from Lyman-$α$ forests and the number counts of high-redshift gala…
If dark matter has even been in sufficient thermal contact with the visible sector and sufficiently light ($m_χ\lesssim\mathcal{O}(10)~\text{keV}$), the thermal motion inherited from the visible sector will cause significant free streaming effect which is subject to the structure formation constraint, similar to the benchmark thermal warm dark matter model. Here we identify the interaction responsible for such thermal contact to be the interaction probed by the deep underground dark matter direct detection experiments. With the kinetic decoupling technique on the $m_χ$ vs. $σ$ plot we determin…
Warm dark matter (WDM) with mass m_WDM = O(1) keV has long been discussed as a promising solution for discrepancies between cosmic structures observed at small scales and predications of the concordance CDM model. Though several cosmological observations such as the Lyman-alpha forest have already begun to constrain the range of m_WDM, WDM is yet to be fully excluded as a solution for these so-called small-scale problems. In this paper, we study 21 cm line fluctuations from minihalos in a WDM model and evaluate constraints on m_WDM for future cosmological 21 cm surveys, such as SKA and FFTT. W…
We propose a resonant leptogenesis scenario in a U(1)_{B-L} gauge extension of the standard model to generate large lepton asymmetries for cosmological baryon asymmetry and dark matter. After B-L number is spontaneously broken, inflaton can pick up a small vacuum expectation value for the mass splits of three pairs of quasi-degenerately heavy Majorana neutrinos and the masses of three sterile neutrinos. With thermal mass effects of sphalerons, the observed small baryon asymmetry can be converted from large lepton asymmetries of individual flavors although total lepton asymmetry is assumed zero…
A keV-scale gravitino arsing from a minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) Standard Model (MSSM) is an interesting possibility since the small scale problems that $Λ$CDM model encounters in the modern cosmology could be alleviated with the keV-scale gravitino serving as the warm dark matter (WDM). Such a light gravitino asks for a low scale supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking for which the gauge mediation (GM) is required as a consistent SUSY-breaking mediation mechanism. In this paper, we show upperbounds of the masses of the second CP-even Higgs boson $H$ and the CP-odd Higgs boson $A$, assuming the keV-sc…
The freeze-in mechanism of dark matter production provides a simple and intriguing alternative to the WIMP paradigm. In this paper, we analyze whether freeze-in can be used to account for the dark matter in the so-called singlet fermionic model. In it, the SM is extended with only two additional fields, a singlet scalar that mixes with the Higgs boson, and the dark matter particle, a fermion assumed to be odd under a Z_2 symmetry. After numerically studying the generation of dark matter, we analyze the dependence of the relic density with respect to all the free parameters of the model. These …
We investigate the viability of having dark matter in the minimal left-right symmetric theory. We find the lightest right-handed neutrino with a mass around keV as the only viable candidate consistent with a TeV scale of left-right symmetry. In order to account for the correct relic density with such low scales, the thermal overproduction of the dark matter in the early universe is compensated by a sufficient late entropy production due to late decay of heavier right-handed neutrinos. We point out that the presence of the right-handed charge-current interactions, operative around the QCD phase…
We study phenomenological aspects of the bino-wino co-annihilation scenario in high-scale supersymmetry breaking models. High-scale SUSY breaking scenarios are considered to be promising possibility after the discovery of the Higgs boson with a mass around 126 GeV. In this paper, we discuss the bino lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) accompanied by the at most around 30 GeV heavier wino. With the suitable mass splitting between the bino and the wino, the bino LSP has the correct relic abundance of dark matter. For the smaller mass splitting, the late-time decay of the gravitino can provide…
A concise summary of out-of-equilibrium dark matter production during post-inflationary reheating is presented. We show that the dark matter relic abundance is in general sensitive to the thermalization rate of the inflaton decay products, and the evolution of the temperature of the subsequently thermalized radiation. We discuss how smoking-gun signals, such as monochromatic neutrinos or gamma-ray lines, or Lyman-$α$ data, can help constrain out-of-equilibrium DM models.
In the supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model, the lightest neutralino may be the lightest SUSY particle (LSP), and it is is a candidate of the dark matter in the universe. The LSP dark matter might be produced by the non-thermal process such as heavy particle decay after decoupling of the thermal relic LSP. If the produced LSP is relativistic, and does not scatter enough in the thermal bath, the neutralino LSP may contribute as the warm dark matter (WDM) to wash out the small scale structure of O(0.1) Mpc. In this letter we calculate the energy reduction of the neutralino LSP in the thermal bat…
