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Joint constraints on thermal relic dark matter from strong gravitational lensing, the Ly α forest, and Milky Way satellites

Enzi, Wolfgang; Murgia, Riccardo; Newton, Oliver; Vegetti, Simona; Frenk, Carlos; Viel, Matteo; Cautun, Marius; Fassnacht, Christopher D; Auger, Matt; Despali, Giulia; McKean, John; Koopmans, Léon VE; Lovell, Mark

Joint constraints on thermal relic dark matter from strong gravitational lensing, the Ly α forest, and Milky Way satellites Thumbnail


Authors

Wolfgang Enzi

Riccardo Murgia

Oliver Newton

Simona Vegetti

Matteo Viel

Marius Cautun

Christopher D Fassnacht

Matt Auger

Giulia Despali

John McKean

Léon VE Koopmans

Mark Lovell



Abstract

We derive joint constraints on the warm dark matter (WDM) half-mode scale by combining the analyses of a selection of astrophysical probes: strong gravitational lensing with extended sources, the Ly α forest, and the number of luminous satellites in the Milky Way. We derive an upper limit of λhm = 0.089 Mpc h−1 at the 95 per cent confidence level, which we show to be stable for a broad range of prior choices. Assuming a Planck cosmology and that WDM particles are thermal relics, this corresponds to an upper limit on the half-mode mass of Mhm < 3 × 107 M⊙ h−1, and a lower limit on the particle mass of mth > 6.048 keV, both at the 95 per cent confidence level. We find that models with λhm > 0.223 Mpc h−1 (corresponding to mth > 2.552 keV and Mhm < 4.8 × 108 M⊙ h−1) are ruled out with respect to the maximum likelihood model by a factor ≤1/20. For lepton asymmetries L6 > 10, we rule out the 7.1 keV sterile neutrino dark matter model, which presents a possible explanation to the unidentified 3.55 keV line in the Milky Way and clusters of galaxies. The inferred 95 percentiles suggest that we further rule out the ETHOS-4 model of self-interacting DM. Our results highlight the importance of extending the current constraints to lower half-mode scales. We address important sources of systematic errors and provide prospects for how the constraints of these probes can be improved upon in the future.

Citation

Enzi, W., Murgia, R., Newton, O., Vegetti, S., Frenk, C., Viel, M., …Lovell, M. (2021). Joint constraints on thermal relic dark matter from strong gravitational lensing, the Ly α forest, and Milky Way satellites. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 506(4), 5848-5862. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1960

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 29, 2021
Online Publication Date Jul 10, 2021
Publication Date 2021
Deposit Date Nov 15, 2021
Publicly Available Date Nov 15, 2021
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 506
Issue 4
Pages 5848-5862
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1960

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ©: 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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