Constraints on Dark Matter Properties from Observations of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies

Journal Article · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.126.091101· OSTI ID:1657468

Nadler, E.  O. ; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Bechtol, K.; Mau, S.; Wechsler, R.  H.; Gluscevic, V.; Boddy, K.; Pace, A.  B.; Li, T.  S.; McNanna, M.; Riley, A.  H.; García-Bellido, J.; Mao, Y. -Y.; Green, G.; Burke, D.  L.; Peter, A.; Jain, B.; Abbott, T.  M. C.; Aguena, M.; Allam, S. ; Annis, J.; Avila, S.; Brooks, D.; Carrasco Kind, M.; Carretero, J.; Costanzi, M.; da Costa, L.  N.; De Vicente, J.; Desai, S.; Diehl, H.  T.; Doel, P.; Everett, S.; Evrard, A.  E.; Flaugher, B.; Frieman, J.; Gerdes, D.  W.; Gruen, D.; Gruendl, R.  A.; Gschwend, J.; Gutierrez, G.; Hinton, S.  R.; Honscheid, K.; Huterer, D.; James, D.  J.; Krause, E.; Kuehn, K.; Kuropatkin, N.; Lahav, O.; Maia, M.  A. G.; Marshall, J.  L.; Menanteau, F.; Miquel, R.; Palmese, A.; Paz-Chinchón, F.; Plazas, A.  A.; Romer, A.  K.; Sanchez, E.; Scarpine, V.; Serrano, S.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Smith, M.; Soares-Santos, M.; Suchyta, E.; Swanson, M.  E. C.; Tarle, G.; Tucker, D.  L.; Walker, A.  R.; Wester, W.

In this work, we perform a comprehensive study of Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxies to constrain the fundamental properties of dark matter (DM). This analysis fully incorporates inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution and detectability of MW satellites and marginalizes over uncertainties in the mapping between galaxies and DM halos, the properties of the MW system, and the disruption of subhalos by the MW disk. Our results are consistent with the cold, collisionless DM paradigm and yield the strongest cosmological constraints to date on particle models of warm, interacting, and fuzzy dark matter. At $$95\%$$ confidence, we report limits on (i) the mass of thermal relic warm DM, $$m_{\rm WDM} > 6.5\ \mathrm{keV}$$ (free-streaming length, $$\lambda_{\rm{fs}} \lesssim 10\,h^{-1}\ \mathrm{kpc}$$), (ii) the velocity-independent DM-proton scattering cross section, $$\sigma_{0} < 8.8\times 10^{-29}\ \mathrm{cm}^{2}$$ for a $$100\ \mathrm{MeV}$$ DM particle mass (DM-proton coupling, $$c_p \lesssim (0.3\ \mathrm{GeV})^{-2}$$), and (iii) the mass of fuzzy DM, $$m_{\phi}> 2.9 \times 10^{-21}\ \mathrm{eV}$$ (de Broglie wavelength, $$\lambda_{\rm{dB}} \lesssim 0.5\ \mathrm{kpc}$$). These constraints are complementary to other observational and laboratory constraints on DM properties.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
• Contributing Organization: DES Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515; AC02-07CH11359; FP7/2007-2013; 465376/2014-2; SEV-2016-0588; SEV-2016-0597; MDM-2015-0509; PGC2018-094773; PGC2018-102021; ESP2017-89838; NAS5-26555; HST-HF2-51441.001; PHY17-48958; DGE-1656518; AST-1536171; AST-1517422; AST-1138766; 291329; 240672; 306478; AC05-00OR22725; SC0019193
• OSTI ID: 1657468
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1776780; OSTI ID: 1807207; OSTI ID: 1872196
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-20-277-AE; SLAC-PUB-17554; DES-2020-546; arXiv:2008.00022; oai:inspirehep.net:1809848; TRN: US2203265
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 126, Issue 9; ISSN 0031-9007
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
Dark matter
particle dark matter
galactic halos