Search

Many compelling dark matter (DM) scenarios feature Coulomb-like interactions between DM particles and baryons, in which the cross section for elastic scattering scales with relative particle velocity as $v^{-4}$. Previous studies have invoked such interactions to produce heat exchange between cold DM and baryons and alter the temperature evolution of hydrogen. In this study, we present a comprehensive study of the effects of Coulomb-like scattering on structure formation, in addition to the known effects on the thermal history of hydrogen. We find that interactions which significantly alter the temperature of hydrogen at Cosmic Dawn also dramatically suppress the formation of galaxies that source the Lyman-$\alpha$ background, further affecting the global 21-cm signal. In particular, an interaction cross section at the current observational upper limit leads to a decrease in the abundance of star-forming halos by a factor of $\sim 2$ at $z\sim 20$, relative to cold, collisionless DM. We also find that DM that is 100% millicharged cannot reproduce the depth and the timing of the reported EDGES anomaly in any part of the parameter space. These results critically inform modeling of the global 21-cm signal and structure formation in cosmologies with DM-baryon scattering, with repercussions for future and upcoming cosmological data analysis., Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PRD

We study dark matter-helium scattering in the early Universe and its impact on constraints from cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements. We describe possible theoretical frameworks for dark matter-nucleon interactions via a scalar, pseudoscalar, or vector mediator; such interactions give rise to hydrogen and helium scattering, with cross sections that have a power-law dependence on relative velocity. Within these frameworks, we consider three scenarios: dark matter coupling to only neutrons, to only protons, and to neutrons and protons with equal strength. For these various cases, we use \textit{Planck} 2018 temperature, polarization, and lensing anisotropy data to place constraints on dark matter scattering with hydrogen and/or helium for dark matter masses between 10 keV and 1 TeV. For any model that permits both helium and hydrogen scattering with a non-negative power-law velocity dependence, we find that helium scattering dominates the constraint for dark matter masses well above the proton mass. Furthermore, we place the first CMB constraints on dark matter that scatters dominantly/exclusively with helium in the early Universe., 11 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables; v2: matches published version

While astrophysical and cosmological probes provide a remarkably precise and consistent picture of the quantity and general properties of dark matter, its fundamental nature remains one of the most significant open questions in physics. Obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of dark matter within the next decade will require overcoming a number of theoretical challenges: the groundwork for these strides is being laid now, yet much remains to be done. Chief among the upcoming challenges is establishing the theoretical foundation needed to harness the full potential of new observables in the astrophysical and cosmological domains, spanning the early Universe to the inner portions of galaxies and the stars therein. Identifying the nature of dark matter will also entail repurposing and implementing a wide range of theoretical techniques from outside the typical toolkit of astrophysics, ranging from effective field theory to the dramatically evolving world of machine learning and artificial-intelligencebased statistical inference. Through this work, the theory frontier will be at the heart of dark matter discoveries in the upcoming decade. While astrophysical and cosmological probes provide a remarkably precise and consistent picture of the quantity and general properties of dark matter, its fundamental nature remains one of the most significant open questions in physics. Obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of dark matter within the next decade will require overcoming a number of theoretical challenges: the groundwork for these strides is being laid now, yet much remains to be done. Chief among the upcoming challenges is establishing the theoretical foundation needed to harness the full potential of new observables in the astrophysical and cosmological domains, spanning the early Universe to the inner portions of galaxies and the stars therein. Identifying the nature of dark matter will also entail repurposing and implementing a wide range of theoretical techniques from outside the typical toolkit of astrophysics, ranging from effective field theory to the dramatically evolving world of machine learning and artificial-intelligence-based statistical inference. Through this work, the theory frontier will be at the heart of dark matter discoveries in the upcoming decade. While astrophysical and cosmological probes provide a remarkably precise and consistent picture of the quantity and general properties of dark matter, its fundamental nature remains one of the most significant open questions in physics. Obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of dark matter within the next decade will require overcoming a number of theoretical challenges: the groundwork for these strides is being laid now, yet much remains to be done. Chief among the upcoming challenges is establishing the theoretical foundation needed to harness the full potential of new observables in the astrophysical and cosmological domains, spanning the early Universe to the inner portions of galaxies and the stars therein. Identifying the nature of dark matter will also entail repurposing and implementing a wide range of theoretical techniques from outside the typical toolkit of astrophysics, ranging from effective field theory to the dramatically evolving world of machine learning and artificial-intelligence-based statistical inference. Through this work, the theory frontier will be at the heart of dark matter discoveries in the upcoming decade.

E. Abdalla, G. F. Abellán, A. Aboubrahim et al., The standard Λ Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM) cosmological model provides a good description of a wide range of astrophysical and cosmological data. However, there are a few big open questions that make the standard model look like an approximation to a more realistic scenario yet to be found. In this paper, we list a few important goals that need to be addressed in the next decade, taking into account the current discordances between the different cosmological probes, such as the disagreement in the value of the Hubble constant H0, the σ8–S8 tension, and other less statistically significant anomalies. While these discordances can still be in part the result of systematic errors, their persistence after several years of accurate analysis strongly hints at cracks in the standard cosmological scenario and the necessity for new physics or generalisations beyond the standard model. In this paper, we focus on the 5.0σ tension between the Planck CMB estimate of the Hubble constant H0 and the SH0ES collaboration measurements. After showing the H0 evaluations made from different teams using different methods and geometric calibrations, we list a few interesting new physics models that could alleviate this tension and discuss how the next decade's experiments will be crucial. Moreover, we focus on the tension of the Planck CMB data with weak lensing measurements and redshift surveys, about the value of the matter energy density Ωm, and the amplitude or rate of the growth of structure (σ8, fσ8). We list a few interesting models proposed for alleviating this tension, and we discuss the importance of trying to fit a full array of data with a single model and not just one parameter at a time. Additionally, we present a wide range of other less discussed anomalies at a statistical significance level lower than the H0–S8 tensions which may also constitute hints towards new physics, and we discuss possible generic theoretical approaches that can collectively explain the non-standard nature of these signals. Finally, we give an overview of upgraded experiments and next-generation space missions and facilities on Earth that will be of crucial importance to address all these open questions., Amin Aboubrahim is supported by the BMBF under contract 05P21PMCAA and by the DFG through the Research Training Network 2149 “Strong and Weak Interactions - from Hadrons to Dark Matter”. Adriano Agnello is supported by a Villum Experiment Grant, project number 36225. Özgür Akarsu acknowledges the support by the Turkish Academy of Sciences in the scheme of the Outstanding Young Scientist Award (TÜBA-GEBİP). Yashar Akrami is supported by Richard S. Morrison Fellowship and LabEx ENS-ICFP: ANR-10-LABX-0010/ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL*. George Alestas is supported by the project “Dioni: Computing Infrastructure for Big-Data Processing and Analysis” (MIS No. 5047222) co-funded by European Union (ERDF) and Greece through Operational Program “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, NSRF 2014-2020. Luca Amendola acknowledges support from DFG project 456622116 and from the CAPES-DAAD bilateral project “Data Analysis and Model Testing in the Era of Precision Cosmology”. Luis A. Anchordoqui and Jorge F. Soriano are supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF Grant PHY-2112527). Mario Ballardini acknowledges financial support from the contract ASI/INAF for the Euclid mission n.2018-23-HH.0. Micol Benetti acknowledges the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), sezione di Napoli, iniziativa specifica QGSKY. David Benisty acknowledges the support the supports of the Blavatnik and the Rothschild fellowships. John Blakeslee is supported by NOIRLab, which is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the US National Science Foundation. Thomas Buchert has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement ERC advanced grant 740021–ARTHUS, PI: Thomas Buchert). Erminia Calabrese acknowledges support from the STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship ST/M004856/2, STFC Consolidated Grant ST/S00033X/1 and from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 849169). Salvatore Capozziello acknowledges the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), sezione di Napoli, iniziative specifiche QGSKY and MOONLIGHT2. Javier de Cruz Pérez is supported by a FPI fellowship associated to the project FPA2016-76005-C2-1-P. Peter Denton acknowledges support from the US Department of Energy under Grant Contract DE-SC0012704. Eleonora Di Valentino is supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship. Keith R. Dienes was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DE-FG02-13ER41976 / DE-SC0009913, and also by the U.S. National Science Foundation through its employee IR/D program. Celia Escamilla-Rivera is supported by DGAPA-PAPIIT UNAM Project TA100122 and acknowledges the Royal Astronomical Society as FRAS 10147 and the Cosmostatistics National Group (CosmoNag) project. Noemi Frusciante is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the research grants UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, PTDC/FIS-OUT/29048/2017, CERN/FIS-PAR/0037/2019 and the personal FCT grant “CosmoTests – Cosmological tests of gravity theories beyond General Relativity” with ref. number CEECIND/00017/2018 and the FCT project “BEYLA–BEYond LAmbda” with ref. number PTDC/FIS-AST/0054/2021. Adrià Gómez-Valent is funded by the Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) through the project “Dark Energy and Modified Gravity Models in the light of Low-Redshift Observations” (n. 22425/2020). Asta Heinesen has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement ERC advanced grant 740021–ARTHUS, PI: Thomas Buchert). J. Colin Hill acknowledges support from NSF grant AST-2108536. The Flatiron Institute is supported by the Simons Foundation. Mustapha Ishak acknowledges that this material is based upon work supported in part by the Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Award Number DE-SC0022184. Michael Klasen is supported by the BMBF under contract 05P21PMCAA and by the DFG through the Research Training Network 2149 “Strong and Weak Interactions - from Hadrons to Dark Matter”. Suresh Kumar gratefully acknowledges support from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Govt. of India (File No. CRG/2021/004658). Ruth Lazkoz is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through research projects FIS2017-85076-P (comprising FEDER funds), and also by the Basque Government and Generalitat Valenciana through research projects GIC17/116-IT956-16 and PROMETEO/2020/079 respectively. Benjamin L'Huillier would like to acknowledge the support of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2019R1I1A1A01063740) and the support of the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) grant funded by the government of Korea. Jackson Levi Said would like to acknowledge support from Cosmology@MALTA which is supported by the University of Malta. Roy Maartens is supported by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory and the National Research Foundation (Grant No. 75415). Valerio Marra thanks CNPq (Brazil) and FAPES (Brazil) for partial financial support. The work of Yuto Minami was supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI, Grants No. JP20K14497. The work of Carlos Martins was financed by FEDER—Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020—Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), and by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028987 and PTDC/FIS-AST/28987/2017. Olga Mena is supported by the Spanish grants PID2020-113644GB-I00, PROMETEO/2019/083 and by the European ITN project HIDDeN (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019//860881-HIDDeN). Cristian Moreno-Pulido is funded by PID2019-105614GB-C21 and FPA2016-76005-C2-1-P (MINECO, Spain), 2017-SGR-929 (Generalitat de Catalunya) and CEX2019-000918-M (ICCUB) and partially supported by the fellowship 2019 FI_B 00351. Michele Moresco acknowledges support from MIUR, PRIN 2017 (grant 20179ZF5KS) and grants ASI n.I/023/12/0 and ASI n.2018-23-HH.0. Suvodip Mukherjee is supported by the Simons Foundation. Research at Perimeter Institute is supported in part by the Government of Canada through the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and by the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. Pran Nath is supported in part by the NSF Grant PHY-1913328. Savvas Nesseris acknowledges support from the Research Project No. PGC2018-094773-B-C32 and the Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa Program No. CEX2020-001007-S. Rafael Nunes acknowledges support from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, São Paulo Research Foundation) under the project No. 2018/18036-5. Eoin Ó Colgáin was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1A2C1102899). Supriya Pan acknowledges the financial supports from the Science and Engineering Research Board, Govt. of India, under Mathematical Research Impact-Centric Support Scheme (File No. MTR/2018/000940) and The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, under the Scheme “Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (FIST)” [File No. SR/FST/MS-I/2019/41]. Santiago E. Perez Bergliaffa acknowledges partial support from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)- Código de Financiamento 001, and Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Leandros Perivolaropoulos acknowledges support by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.), under the “First call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Faculty members and Researchers and the procurement of high-cost research equipment Grant” (Project Number: 789). Fabrizio Renzi is supported by the NWO and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), and from the D-ITP consortium, a program of the NWO that is funded by the OCW. Nils Schöneberg acknowledges the support of the following Maria de Maetzu fellowship grant: Esta publicación es parte de la ayuda CEX2019-000918-M, financiado por MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Anjan A Sen acknowledges the funding from SERB, Govt of India under the research grants no: CRG/2020/004347 and MTR/20l9/000599. Arman Shafieloo would like to acknowledge the support by National Research Foundation of Korea NRF-2021M3F7A1082053, and the support of the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) grant funded by the government of Korea. M.M. Sheikh-Jabbari acknowledges the support by SarAmadan grant No. ISEF/M/400122. Joan Solà Peracaula is funded by PID2019-105614GB-C21 and FPA2016-76005-C2-1-P (MINECO, Spain), 2017-SGR-929 (Generalitat de Catalunya), CEX2019-000918-M (ICCUB) and also partially supported by the COST Association Action CA18108 “Quantum Gravity Phenomenology in the Multimessenger Approach (QG-MM)”. Denitsa Staicova is supported by Bulgarian NSF grant KP-06-N 38/11. Glenn Starkman is partly supported by a Department of Energy grant DESC0009946 to the particle astrophysics theory group at CWRU. Brooks Thomas is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant PHY-2014104. Luca Visinelli has received support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement “TALeNT” No. 754496 (H2020-MSCA-COFUND-2016 FELLINI). Shao-Jiang Wang is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China Grant No. 2021YFC2203004, No. 2021YFA0718304, the National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant No. 12105344, and the China Manned Space Project with NO.CMS-CSST-2021-B01. Weiqiang Yang has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants No. 12175096 and No. 11705079, and Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program under Grant no. XLYC1907098. Gong-Bo Zhao is supported by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFA0404503), NSFC Grants 11925303, 11720101004, and a grant of CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team.

Diverse astrophysical observations suggest the existence of cold dark matter that interacts only gravitationally with radiation and ordinary baryonic matter. Any nonzero coupling between dark matter and baryons would provide a significant step towards understanding the particle nature of dark matter. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provide constraints on such a coupling that complement laboratory searches. In this work we place upper limits on a variety of models for dark matter elastic scattering with protons and electrons by combining large-scale CMB data from the Planck satellite with small-scale information from Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR4 data. In the case of velocity-independent scattering, we obtain bounds on the interaction cross section for protons that are 40\% tighter than previous constraints from the CMB anisotropy. For some models with velocity-dependent scattering we find best-fitting cross sections with a 2$\sigma$ deviation from zero, but these scattering models are not statistically preferred over $\Lambda$CDM in terms of model selection., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

We present new observational constraints on the elastic scattering of dark matter with electrons for dark matter masses between 10 keV and 1 TeV. We consider scenarios in which the momentum-transfer cross section has a power-law dependence on the relative particle velocity, with a power-law index $n \in \{-4,-2,0,2,4,6\}$. We search for evidence of dark matter scattering through its suppression of structure formation. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature, polarization, and lensing anisotropy from \textit{Planck} 2018 data and of the Milky Way satellite abundance measurements from the Dark Energy Survey and Pan-STARRS1 show no evidence of interactions. We use these data sets to obtain upper limits on the scattering cross section, comparing them with exclusion bounds from electronic recoil data in direct detection experiments. Our results provide the strongest bounds available for dark matter--electron scattering derived from the distribution of matter in the Universe, extending down to sub-MeV dark matter masses, where current direct detection experiments lose sensitivity., Comment: modified CLASS code available at https://github.com/kboddy/class_public/tree/dmeff

We revisit the impact of early dark energy (EDE) on galaxy clustering using BOSS galaxy power spectra, analyzed using the effective field theory (EFT) of large-scale structure (LSS), and anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from Planck. Recent studies found that these data place stringent constraints on the maximum abundance of EDE allowed in the Universe. We argue here that their conclusions are a consequence of their choice of priors on the EDE parameter space, rather than any disagreement between the data and the model. For example, when considering EFT-LSS, CMB, and high-redshift supernovae data we find the EDE and $\Lambda$CDM models can provide statistically indistinguishable fits ($\Delta \chi^2 = 0.12$) with a relatively large value for the maximum fraction of energy density in the EDE ($f_{\rm ede} = 0.09$) and Hubble constant ($H_0 = 71$ km/s/Mpc) in the EDE model. Moreover, we demonstrate that the constraining power added from the inclusion of EFT-LSS traces to the potential tension between the power-spectrum amplitudes $A_s$ derived from BOSS and from Planck that arises even within the context of $\Lambda$CDM. Until this is better understood, caution should be used when interpreting EFT-BOSS+Planck constraints to models beyond $\Lambda$CDM. These findings suggest that EDE still provides a potential resolution to the Hubble tension and that it is worthwhile to test the predictions of EDE with future data-sets and further study its theoretical possibilities., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, comments welcome

Nadler, Ethan O, et al. DES Collaboration, 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, mWDM>6.5 keV (free-streaming length, λfs≲10h-1 kpc), (ii) the velocity-independent DM-proton scattering cross section, σ02.9×10-21 eV (de Broglie wavelength, λdB≲0.5 kpc). These constraints are complementary to other observational and laboratory constraints on DM properties., The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MICINN under Grants No. ESP2017-89838, No. PGC2018-094773, No. PGC2018-102021, No. SEV-2016-0588, No. SEV-2016-0597, and No. MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. I. F. A. E. is partially funded by the CERCA program of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) including ERC Grant Agreements No. 240672, No. 291329, and No. 306478. We acknowledge support from the Brazilian Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT) e-Universe (CNPq Grant No. 465376/2014-2). This manuscript has been authored by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics.

Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) provide a robust standard ruler and can be used to constrain the expansion history of the Universe at low redshift. Standard BAO analyses return a model-independent measurement of the expansion rate and the comoving angular diameter distance as a function of redshift, normalized by the sound horizon at radiation drag. However, this methodology relies on anisotropic distance distortions of a fixed, precomputed template (obtained in a given fiducial cosmology) in order to fit the observations. Therefore, it may be possible that extensions to the consensus $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{CDM}$ add contributions to the BAO feature that cannot be captured by the template fitting. We perform mock BAO fits to power spectra computed assuming cosmological models that modify the growth of perturbations prior to recombination in order to test the robustness of the standard BAO analysis. We find no significant bias in the BAO analysis for the models under study ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{CDM}$ with a free effective number of relativistic species, early dark energy, and a model with interactions between neutrinos and a fraction of the dark matter), even for cases that do not provide a good fit to Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background power spectra. This result supports the use of the standard BAO analysis and its measurements to perform cosmological parameter inference and to constrain exotic models. In addition, we provide a methodology to reproduce our study for different models and surveys, as well as discuss different options to handle eventual biases in the BAO measurements.

The detection of a stochastic background of low-frequency gravitational waves by pulsar-timing and astrometric surveys will enable tests of gravitational theories beyond general relativity. These theories generally permit gravitational waves with non-Einsteinian polarization modes, which may propagate slower than the speed of light. We use the total-angular-momentum wave formalism to derive the angular correlation patterns of observables relevant for pulsar timing arrays and astrometry that arise from a background of subluminal gravitational waves with scalar, vector, or tensor polarizations. We find that the pulsar timing observables for the scalar longitudinal mode, which diverge with source distance in the luminal limit, are finite in the subluminal case. Furthermore, we apply our results to $f(R)$ gravity, which contains a massive scalar degree of freedom in addition to the standard transverse-traceless modes. The scalar mode in this $f(R)$ theory is a linear combination of the scalar-longitudinal and scalar-transverse modes, exciting only the monopole and dipole for pulsar timing arrays and only the dipole for astrometric surveys., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; v2: matches published version

We use the latest measurements of the Milky Way satellite population from the Dark Energy Survey and Pan-STARRS1 to infer the most stringent astrophysical bound to date on velocity-dependent interactions between dark matter particles and protons. We model the momentum-transfer cross section as a power law of the relative particle velocity $v$ with a free normalizing amplitude, $\sigma_\text{MT}=\sigma_0 v^n$, to broadly capture the interactions arising within the non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter-proton scattering. The scattering leads to a momentum and heat transfer between the baryon and dark matter fluids in the early Universe, ultimately erasing structure on small physical scales and reducing the abundance of low-mass halos that host dwarf galaxies today. From the consistency of observations with the cold collisionless dark matter paradigm, using a new method that relies on the most robust predictions of the linear perturbation theory, we infer an upper limit on $\sigma_0$ of $1.4\times10^{-23}$, $2.1\times10^{-19}$, and $1.0\times10^{-12}\ \mathrm{cm}^2$, for interaction models with $n=2,4,6$, respectively, for a dark matter particle mass of $10\ \mathrm{MeV}$. These results improve observational limits on dark matter--proton scattering by orders of magnitude and thus provide an important guide for viable sub-GeV dark matter candidates., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Updated to correct typo in Table 1. Associated code available at https://github.com/maamari/VelocityDependentLimits

We provide an overview of the science case, instrument configuration and project plan for the next-generation ground-based cosmic microwave background experiment CMB-S4, for consideration by the 2020 Decadal Survey.

Alternatives to the cold, collisionless dark matter (DM) paradigm in which DM behaves as a collisional fluid generically suppress small-scale structure. Herein we use the observed population of Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxies to constrain the collisional nature of DM, focusing on DM-baryon scattering. We first derive analytic upper limits on the velocity-independent DM-baryon scattering cross section by translating the upper bound on the lowest mass of halos inferred to host satellites into a characteristic cutoff scale in the linear matter power spectrum. We then confirm and improve these results through a detailed probabilistic inference of the MW satellite population that marginalizes over relevant astrophysical uncertainties. This yields $95\%$ confidence upper limits on the DM-baryon scattering cross section of $2\times10^{-29}\ \rm{cm}^2$ ($6\times 10^{-27}\ \rm{cm}^2$) for DM particle masses $m_\chi$ of~$10\ \rm{keV}$ ($10\ \rm{GeV}$); these limits scale as $m_\chi^{1/4}$ for $m_\chi \ll 1\ \rm{GeV}$ and $m_\chi$ for~$m_\chi \gg 1\ \rm{GeV}$. This analysis improves upon cosmological bounds derived from cosmic-microwave-background anisotropy measurements by multiple orders of magnitude over a wide range of DM masses, excluding regions of parameter space previously unexplored by other methods, including direct-detection experiments. Our work reveals a mapping between DM-baryon scattering and other alternative DM models, and we discuss the implications of our results for warm and fuzzy DM scenarios., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Updated to reflect erratum due to an erroneous prefactor in our modified CLASS code that enhanced our cross section constraints by a factor of ~4 at all dark matter masses. Code available at http://github.com/eonadler/DMBaryonScattering

Cosmological observations offer unique and robust avenues for probing the fundamental nature of dark matter particles-they broadly test a range of compelling theoretical scenarios, often surpassing or complementing the reach of terrestrial and other experiments. We discuss observational and theoretical advancements that will play a pivotal role in realizing a strong program of cosmological searches for the identity of dark matter in the coming decade. Specifically, we focus on measurements of the cosmic-microwave-background anisotropy and spectral distortions, and tracers of structure (such as the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest, galaxies, and the cosmological 21-cm signal).

We calculate the effective $J$-factors, which determine the strength of indirect detection signals from dark matter annihilation, for 25 dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs). We consider several well-motivated assumptions for the relative velocity dependence of the dark matter annihilation cross section: $\sigma_A v$: $s$-wave (velocity independent), $p$-wave ($\sigma_A v \propto v^2$), $d$-wave ($\sigma_A v \propto v^4$), and Sommerfeld-enhancement in the Coulomb limit ($\sigma_A v \propto 1/v$). As a result we provide the largest and most updated sample of J-factors for velocity-dependent annihilation models. For each scenario, we use Fermi-LAT gamma-ray data to constrain the annihilation cross section. Due to the assumptions made in our gamma-ray data analysis, our bounds are comparable to previous bounds on both the $p$-wave and Sommerfeld-enhanced cross sections using dSphs. Our bounds on the $d$-wave cross section are the first such bounds using indirect detection data., Comment: v3: Fix minor formatting issues. v2: Accepted to PRD with minor changes. 13 pages, 6 figures, 1 table

We use a semianalytic approach that is calibrated to N-body simulations to study the evolution of self-interacting dark matter cores in galaxies. We demarcate the regime where the temporal evolution of the core density follows a well-defined track set by the initial halo parameters and the cross section. Along this track, the central density reaches a minimum value set by the initial halo density. Further evolution leads to an outward heat transfer, inducing gravothermal core collapse such that the core shrinks as its density increases. We show that the time scale for the core collapse is highly sensitive to the outer radial density profile. Satellite galaxies with significant mass loss due to tidal stripping should have larger central densities and significantly faster core collapse compared to isolated halos. Such a scenario could explain the dense and compact cores of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group like Tucana (isolated from the Milky Way), the classical Milky Way satellite Draco, and some of the ultrafaint satellites. If the ultimate fate of core collapse is black hole formation, then the accelerated time scale provides a new mechanism for creating intermediate mass black holes., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 1 table; v2: published version

We present the Model-Agnostic Dark Halo Analysis Tool (MADHAT), a numerical tool which implements a Fermi-LAT data-driven, model-independent analysis of gamma-ray emission from dwarf satellite galaxies and dwarf galaxy candidates due to dark matter annihilation, dark matter decay, or other nonstandard or unknown astrophysics. This tool efficiently provides statistical upper bounds on the number of observed photons in excess of the number expected, based on empirical determinations of foregrounds and backgrounds, using a stacked analysis of any selected set of dwarf targets. It also calculates the resulting bounds on the properties of dark matter under any assumptions the user makes regarding dark sector particle physics or astrophysics. As an application, we determine new bounds on Sommerfeld-enhanced dark matter annihilation in a set of eight dwarfs. MADHAT v1.0 includes 58 dwarfs and dwarf candidate targets, and we discuss future planned developments. MADHAT is available and will be maintained at https://github.com/MADHATdm, Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, Code available at https://github.com/MADHATdm

We consider the effect of velocity-dependent dark matter annihilation on the angular distribution of gamma rays produced in dark matter subhalos. We assume that the dark matter potential is spherically symmetric, characterized by a scale radius and scale density, and the velocity distribution is isotropic. We find that the effect of velocity-dependent dark matter annihilation is largely determined by dimensional analysis; the angular size of gamma-ray emission from an individual subhalo is rescaled by a factor which depends on the form of the dark matter distribution, but not on the halo parameters, while the relative normalization of the gamma-ray flux from different mass subhalos is rescaled by a factor which depends on the halo parameters, but not on the form of the dark matter distribution. We apply our results to a Navarro-Frenk-White profile for the case of an individual subhalo and comment on the application of these results to a distribution of subhalos., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; fixed typos, corrected table

We forecast constraints on dark matter (DM) scattering with baryons in the early Universe with upcoming and future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments, for DM particle masses down to 15 keV. In terms of the upper limit on the interaction cross section for a velocity-independent spin-independent elastic scattering, compared to current Planck results, we find a factor of $\sim$6 improvement with CMB-Stage 3, a factor of $\sim$26 with CMB-Stage 4, and a factor of $\sim$200 with a cosmic-variance limited experiment. Once the instrumental noise reaches the proximity of 1 $\mu$K-arcmin, the constraints are entirely driven by the lensing measurements. The constraints benefit from a wide survey, and show gradual improvement for instrumental noise levels from 10 $\mu$K-arcmin to 1 $\mu$K-arcmin and resolution from 5 arcmin to 1 arcmin. We further study degeneracies between DM interactions and various other signatures of new physics targeted by the CMB experiments. In the primary temperature and polarization only, we find moderate degeneracy between the effects of DM scattering, signals from massive neutrinos, and from the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom. The degeneracy is almost entirely broken once the lensing convergence spectrum is included into the analyses. We discuss the implications of our findings in context of planned and upcoming CMB measurements and other cosmological probes of dark-sector and neutrino physics., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables; key results in figures 3 and 9; comments welcome

We present a general, model-independent formalism for determining bounds on the production of photons in dwarf spheroidal galaxies via dark matter annihilation, applicable to any set of assumptions about dark matter particle physics or astrophysics. As an illustration, we analyze gamma-ray data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to constrain a variety of nonstandard dark matter models, several of which have not previously been studied in the context of dwarf galaxy searches., 14 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Typos corrected. The unnormalized background distribution for each dwarf is available in an ancillary file

We present the effective $J$-factors for the Milky Way for scenarios in which dark matter annihilation is p-wave or d-wave suppressed. We find that the velocity suppression of dark matter annihilation can have a sizable effect on the morphology of a potential dark matter annihilation signal in the Galactic Center. The gamma-ray flux from the innermost region of the Galactic Center is in particular suppressed. We find that for dark matter density profiles with steep inner slopes, the morphology of the Inner Galaxy gamma-ray emission in p-wave models can be made similar to the morphology in standard s-wave models. This similarity may suggest that model discrimination between s-wave and p-wave is challenging, for example, when fitting the Galactic Center excess. However, we show that it is difficult to simultaneously match s- and p-wave morphologies at both large and small angular scales. The $J$-factors we calculate may be implemented with astrophysical foreground models to self-consistently determine the morphology of the excess with velocity-suppressed dark matter annihilation., 7 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; v2: published version; v3: adjusted notation for Eddington formula and fixed typos, results unchanged

We perform a comprehensive analysis of the most common early- and late-Universe solutions to the $H_0$, Ly-$\alpha$, and $S_8$ discrepancies. When considered on their own, massive neutrinos provide a natural solution to the $S_8$ discrepancy at the expense of increasing the $H_0$ tension. If all extensions are considered simultaneously, the best-fit solution has a neutrino mass sum of $\sim 0.4$ eV, a dark energy equation of state close to that of a cosmological constant, and no additional relativistic degrees of freedom. However, the $H_0$ tension, while weakened, remains unresolved. Motivated by this result, we perform a non-parametric reconstruction of the evolution of the dark energy fluid density (allowing for negative energy densities), together with massive neutrinos. When all datasets are included, there exists a residual $\sim1.9\sigma$ tension with $H_0$. If this residual tension remains in the future, it will indicate that it is not possible to solve the $H_0$ tension solely with a modification of the late-Universe dynamics within standard general relativity. However, we do find that it is possible to resolve the tension if either galaxy BAO or JLA supernovae data are omitted. We find that \textit{negative} dark energy densities are favored near redshift $z\sim2.35$ when including the Ly-$\alpha$ BAO measurement (at $\sim 2\sigma$). This behavior may point to a negative curvature, but it is most likely indicative of systematics or at least an underestimated covariance matrix. Quite remarkably, we find that in the extended cosmologies considered in this work, the neutrino mass sum is always close to $0.4$ eV regardless of the choice of external datasets, as long as the $H_0$ tension is solved or significantly decreased., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures. Comments welcome. v2: updated to match published version

We obtain the first cosmological constraints on interactions between dark matter and protons within the formalism of nonrelativistic effective field theory developed for direct detection. For each interaction operator in the effective theory, parametrized by different powers of the relative velocity of the incoming particles, we use the Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature, polarization, and lensing anisotropy to set upper limits on the scattering cross section for all dark matter masses above 15 keV. We find that for interactions associated with a stronger dependence on velocity, dark matter and baryons stay thermally coupled for longer, but the interaction strengths are suppressed at the low temperatures relevant for Planck observations and are thus less constrained. At the same time, cross sections with stronger velocity dependencies are more constrained in the limit of small dark matter mass. In all cases, the effect of dark matter-proton scattering is most prominent on small scales in the CMB power spectra and in the matter power spectrum, and we thus expect substantial improvement over the current limits with data from ground-based CMB experiments and galaxy surveys., 17 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables; matches published version (PRD)

We investigate the hypothesis that Coulomb-type interactions between dark matter (DM) and baryons explain the anomalously low 21cm brightness-temperature minimum at redshift z ~ 17 that was recently measured by the EDGES experiment. In particular, we reassess the validity of the scenario where a small fraction of the total DM is millicharged, focusing on newly derived constraints from Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. Crucially, the CMB power spectrum is sensitive to DM-baryon scattering if the fraction of interacting DM is larger than (or comparable to) the fractional uncertainty in the baryon energy density. Meanwhile, there is a mass-dependent lower limit on the fraction for which the required interaction to cool the baryons sufficiently is so strong that it drives the interacting-DM temperature to the baryon temperature prior to their decoupling from the CMB. If this occurs as early as recombination, the cooling saturates. We precisely determine the viable parameter space for millicharged DM, and find that only a fraction (m_chi/MeV) 0.0115%, Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

We perform an improved cosmic microwave background (CMB) analysis to search for dark matter--proton scattering with a momentum-transfer cross section of the form ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{0}{v}^{n}$ for $n=\ensuremath{-}2$ and $n=\ensuremath{-}4$. In particular, we present a new and robust prescription for incorporating the relative bulk velocity between the dark matter and baryon fluids into the standard linear Boltzmann calculation. Using an iterative procedure, we self-consistently include the effects of the bulk velocities in a cosmology in which dark matter interacts with baryons. With this prescription, we derive CMB bounds on the cross section, excluding ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{0}g2.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1{0}^{\ensuremath{-}33}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for $n=\ensuremath{-}2$ and ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{0}g1.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1{0}^{\ensuremath{-}41}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for $n=\ensuremath{-}4$ at 95% confidence, for dark matter masses below 10 MeV. Furthermore, we investigate how these constraints change when only a subcomponent of dark matter is interacting. We show that Planck limits vanish if $\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.4%$ of dark matter is tightly coupled to baryons. We discuss the implications of our results for present and future cosmological observations.

We present the first cosmological constraint on dark matter scattering with protons in the early Universe for the entire range of dark matter masses between 1 keV and 1 TeV. This constraint is derived from the Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy, and the CMB lensing anisotropy. It improves upon previous CMB constraints by many orders of magnitude, where limits are available, and closes the gap in coverage for low-mass dark matter candidates. We focus on two canonical interaction scenarios: spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering with no velocity dependence. Our results exclude (with 95% confidence) spin-independent interactions with cross sections greater than $5.3 \times 10^{-27}$ cm$^2$ for 1 keV, $3.0 \times 10^{-26}$ cm$^2$ for 1 MeV, $1.7 \times 10^{-25}$ cm$^2$ for 1 GeV, and $1.6 \times 10^{-23}$ cm$^2$ for 1 TeV dark matter mass. Finally, we discuss the implications of this study for dark matter physics and future observations., published version (spin-factor correction and corresponding text changes are included)

For models in which dark matter annihilation is Sommerfeld-enhanced, the annihilation cross section increases at low relative velocities. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) have low characteristic dark matter particle velocities and are thus ideal candidates to study such models. In this paper we model the dark matter phase space of dSphs as isotropic and spherically-symmetric, and determine the $J$-factors for several of the most important targets for indirect dark matter searches. For Navarro-Frenk-White density profiles, we quantify the scatter in the $J$-factor arising from the astrophysical uncertainty in the dark matter potential. We show that, in Sommerfeld-enhanced models, the ordering of the most promising dSphs may be different relative to the standard case of velocity-independent cross sections. This result can have important implications for derived upper limits on the annihilation cross section, or on possible signals, from dSphs., 19 pages, 7 figures, 1 table; v2: published version

Many modern cosmological scenarios feature large volumes of spacetime in a de Sitter vacuum phase. Such models are said to be faced with a "Boltzmann Brain problem" - the overwhelming majority of observers with fixed local conditions are random fluctuations in the de Sitter vacuum, rather than arising via thermodynamically sensible evolution from a low-entropy past. We argue that this worry can be straightforwardly avoided in the Many-Worlds (Everett) approach to quantum mechanics, as long as the underlying Hilbert space is infinite-dimensional. In that case, de Sitter settles into a truly stationary quantum vacuum state. While there would be a nonzero probability for observing Boltzmann-Brain-like fluctuations in such a state, "observation" refers to a specific kind of dynamical process that does not occur in the vacuum (which is, after all, time-independent). Observers are necessarily out-of-equilibrium physical systems, which are absent in the vacuum. Hence, the fact that projection operators corresponding to states with observers in them do not annihilate the vacuum does not imply that such observers actually come into existence. The Boltzmann Brain problem is therefore much less generic than has been supposed.

We consider dark matter as an analog of hydrogen in a secluded sector and study its astrophysical implications. The self interactions between dark matter particles include elastic scatterings as well as inelastic processes from hyperfine transitions. We show that for a dark hydrogen mass in the 10–100 GeV range and a dark fine-structure constant larger than 0.01, the self-interaction cross section has the right magnitude and velocity dependence to explain the low dark matter density cores seen in small galaxies while being consistent with all constraints from observations of galaxy clusters. Excitations to the hyperfine state and subsequent decays, however, may cause significant cooling losses and affect the evolution of low-mass halos. We also find minimum halo masses in the range of 103.5–107 M⊙, which are significantly larger than the typical predictions for weakly interacting dark matter models. This pattern of observables in structure formation is unique to this model, making it possible to determine...

Slow-roll inflation can become eternal if the quantum variance of the inflaton field around its slowly rolling classical trajectory is converted into a distribution of classical spacetimes inflating at different rates, and if the variance is large enough compared to the rate of classical rolling that the probability of an increased rate of expansion is sufficiently high. Both of these criteria depend sensitively on whether and how perturbation modes of the inflaton interact and decohere. Decoherence is inevitable as a result of gravitationally-sourced interactions whose strength are proportional to the slow-roll parameters. However, the weakness of these interactions means that decoherence is typically delayed until several Hubble times after modes grow beyond the Hubble scale. We present perturbative evidence that decoherence of long-wavelength inflaton modes indeed leads to an ensemble of classical spacetimes with differing cosmological evolutions. We introduce the notion of per-branch observables---expectation values with respect to the different decohered branches of the wave function---and show that the evolution of modes on individual branches varies from branch to branch. Thus single-field slow-roll inflation fulfills the quantum-mechanical criteria required for the validity of the standard picture of eternal inflation. For a given potential, the delayed decoherence can lead to slight quantitative adjustments to the regime in which the inflaton undergoes eternal inflation., 27 pages, 3 figures; v2 reflects peer review process and has new results in Section 5

Many models currently exist which attempt to interpret the excess of gamma rays emanating from the Galactic Center in terms of annihilating or decaying dark matter. These models typically exhibit a variety of complicated cascade mechanisms for photon production, leading to a non-trivial kinematics which obscures the physics of the underlying dark sector. In this paper, by contrast, we observe that the spectrum of the gamma-ray excess may actually exhibit an intriguing "energy-duality" invariance under $E_\gamma \rightarrow E_\ast^2/E_\gamma$ for some $E_\ast$. As we shall discuss, such an energy duality points back to a remarkably simple alternative kinematics which in turn is realized naturally within the Dynamical Dark Matter framework. Observation of this energy duality could therefore provide considerable information about the properties of the dark sector from which the Galactic-Center gamma-ray excess might arise, and highlights the importance of acquiring more complete data for the Galactic-Center excess in the energy range around 1 GeV., Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures

We study the atomic physics and the astrophysical implications of a model in which the dark matter is the analog of hydrogen in a secluded sector. The self interactions between dark matter particles include both elastic scatterings as well as inelastic processes due to a hyperfine transition. The self-interaction cross sections are computed by numerically solving the coupled Schr\"{o}dinger equations for this system. We show that these self interactions exhibit the right velocity dependence to explain the low dark matter density cores seen in small galaxies while being consistent with all constraints from observations of clusters of galaxies. For a viable solution, the dark hydrogen mass has to be in 10--100 GeV range and the dark fine-structure constant has to be larger than 0.02. Precisely for this range of parameters, we show that significant cooling losses may occur due to inelastic excitations to the hyperfine state and subsequent decays, with implications for the evolution of low-mass halos and the early growth of supermassive black holes. Cooling from excitations to higher $n$ levels of dark hydrogen and subsequent decays is possible at the cluster scale, with a strong dependence on halo mass. Finally, we show that the minimum halo mass is in the range of $10^{3.5}$ to $10^7 M_\odot$ for the viable regions of parameter space, significantly larger than the typical predictions for weakly-interacting dark matter models. This pattern of observables in cosmological structure formation is unique to this model, making it possible to rule in or rule out hidden sector hydrogen as a viable dark matter model., Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables; v2: published version

Identifying signatures of dark matter at indirect-detection experiments is generally more challenging for scenarios involving non-minimal dark sectors such as Dynamical Dark Matter (DDM) than for scenarios involving a single dark particle. This additional difficulty arises because the partitioning of the total dark-matter abundance across an ensemble of different constituent particles with different masses tends to "smear" the injection spectra of photons and other cosmic-ray particles that are produced via dark-matter annihilation or decay. As a result, the imprints of the dark sector on these cosmic-ray flux spectra typically take the form of continuum features rather than sharp peaks or lines. In this paper, however, we identify an unambiguous signature of non-minimal dark sectors such as DDM which can overcome these issues and potentially be observed at gamma-ray telescopes operating in the MeV range. We discuss the specific situations in which this signature can arise, and demonstrate that this signature can be exploited in order to significantly enhance our ability to resolve the unique spectral features of DDM and other non-minimal dark sectors at future gamma-ray facilities., 21 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures, 1 table

We argue that, under certain plausible assumptions, de Sitter space settles into a quiescent vacuum in which there are no dynamical quantum fluctuations. Such fluctuations require either an evolving microstate, or time-dependent histories of out-of-equilibrium recording devices, which we argue are absent in stationary states. For a massive scalar field in a fixed de Sitter background, the cosmic no-hair theorem implies that the state of the patch approaches the vacuum, where there are no fluctuations. We argue that an analogous conclusion holds whenever a patch of de Sitter is embedded in a larger theory with an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, including semiclassical quantum gravity with false vacua or complementarity in theories with at least one Minkowski vacuum. This reasoning provides an escape from the Boltzmann brain problem in such theories. It also implies that vacuum states do not uptunnel to higher-energy vacua and that perturbations do not decohere while slow-roll inflation occurs, suggesting that eternal inflation is much less common than often supposed. On the other hand, if a de Sitter patch is a closed system with a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, there will be Poincare recurrences and dynamical Boltzmann fluctuations into lower-entropy states. Our analysis does not alter the conventional understanding of the origin of density fluctuations from primordial inflation, since reheating naturally generates a high-entropy environment and leads to decoherence, nor does it affect the existence of non-dynamical vacuum fluctuations such as those that give rise to the Casimir effect., version accepted for publication in Foundations of Physics

We consider the prospects for the indirect detection of low mass dark matter which couples dominantly to quarks. If the center of mass energy is below about 280 MeV, the kinematically allowed final states will be dominated by photons and neutral pions, producing striking signatures at gamma ray telescopes. In fact, an array of new instruments have been proposed, which would greatly improve sensitivity to photons in this energy range. We find that planned instruments can improve on current sensitivity to dark matter models of this type by up to a few orders of magnitude., 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, LaTeX. Submitted to the proceedings of CETUP*/PPC 2015

The astrophysics community is considering plans for a variety of gamma-ray telescopes (including ACT and GRIPS) in the energy range 1--100 MeV, which can fill in the so-called "MeV gap" in current sensitivity. We investigate the utility of such detectors for the study of low-mass dark matter annihilation or decay. For annihilating (decaying) dark matter with a mass below about 140 MeV (280 MeV) and couplings to first generation quarks, the final states will be dominated by photons or neutral pions, producing striking signals in gamma-ray telescopes. We determine the sensitivity of future detectors to the kinematically allowed final states. In particular, we find that planned detectors can improve on current sensitivity to this class of models by up to a few orders of magnitude., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables; v2: published version, added analysis for AdEPT; v3: minor correction, results unchanged

© 2014 American Physical Society. We consider a simple supersymmetric hidden sector: pure SU(N) gauge theory. Dark matter is made up of hidden glueballinos with mass mX and hidden glueballs with mass near the confinement scale Λ. For mX∼1TeV and Λ∼100MeV, the glueballinos freeze out with the correct relic density and self-interact through glueball exchange to resolve small-scale structure puzzles. An immediate consequence is that the glueballino spectrum has a hyperfine splitting of order Λ2/mX∼10keV. We show that the radiative decays of the excited state can explain the observed 3.5 keV x-ray line signal from clusters of galaxies, Andromeda, and the Milky Way.

There is strong evidence in favor of the idea that dark matter is self interacting, with the cross section-to-mass ratio $\sigma / m \sim 1\,\mathrm{cm^2/g} \sim 1\,\mathrm{barn/GeV}$. We show that viable models of dark matter with this large cross section are straightforwardly realized with non-Abelian hidden sectors. In the simplest of such models, the hidden sector is a pure gauge theory, and the dark matter is composed of hidden glueballs with a mass around $100\,\mathrm{MeV}$. Alternatively, the hidden sector may be a supersymmetric pure gauge theory with a $\sim 10\,\mathrm{TeV}$ gluino thermal relic. In this case, the dark matter is largely composed of glueballinos that strongly self interact through the exchange of light glueballs. We present a unified framework that realizes both of these possibilities in anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking, where, depending on a few model parameters, the dark matter may be composed of hidden glueballinos, hidden glueballs, or a mixture of the two. These models provide simple examples of multicomponent dark matter, have interesting implications for particle physics and cosmology, and include cases where a subdominant component of dark matter may be extremely strongly self interacting, with interesting astrophysical consequences., Comment: 25 pages; v2: added references, published version; v3: note added