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Unveiling Dark Matter free-streaming at the smallest scales with high redshift Lyman-alpha forest

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arxiv 2309.04533 v2 pith:YAAHV6AM submitted 2023-09-08 astro-ph.CO hep-phhep-th

classification astro-ph.COhep-phhep-th
keywords thermalforestmathrmscalesalphadarkfree-streaminghistory
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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abstract

This study introduces novel constraints on the free-streaming of thermal relic warm dark matter (WDM) from Lyman-$\alpha$ forest flux power spectra. Our analysis utilises a high-resolution, high-redshift sample of quasar spectra observed using the HIRES and UVES spectrographs ($z=4.2-5.0$). We employ a Bayesian inference framework and a simulation-based likelihood that encompasses various parameters including the free-streaming of dark matter, cosmological parameters, the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, and inhomogeneous reionization, to establish lower limits on the mass of a thermal relic WDM particle of $5.7\;\mathrm{keV}$ (at 95\% C.L.). This result surpasses previous limits from the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest through reduction of the measured uncertainties due to a larger statistical sample and by measuring clustering to smaller scales ($k_{\rm max}=0.2\;\mathrm{km^{-1}\,s}$). The approximately two-fold improvement due to the expanded statistical sample suggests that the effectiveness of Lyman-$\alpha$ forest constraints on WDM models at high redshifts are limited by the availability of high-quality quasar spectra. Restricting the analysis to comparable scales and thermal history priors as in prior studies ($k_{\rm max}<0.1\;\mathrm{km^{-1}\,s}$) lowers the bound on the WDM mass to $4.1\;\mathrm{keV}$. As the precision of the measurements increases, it becomes crucial to examine the instrumental and modelling systematics. On the modelling front, we argue that the impact of the thermal history uncertainty on the WDM particle mass constraint has diminished due to improved independent observations. At the smallest scales, the primary source of modeling systematic arises from the structure in the peculiar velocity of the intergalactic medium and inhomogeneous reionization.

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Forward citations

Cited by 11 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Modeling the Cosmological Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest at the Field Level

    astro-ph.CO 2025-06 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    An effective-field-theory forward model reproduces the Lyman-alpha forest field from a hydrodynamic simulation at percent level, down to a few megaparsecs, using the same initial conditions.

  2. Ringing of the Reionization: A first direct measurement of the intergalactic pressure smoothing scale at redshift z>4.2 as imprinted onto small-scale peculiar velocities in the Lyman-alpha forest

    astro-ph.CO 2026-07 reject novelty 6.0 of 10

    A claimed first direct measurement of the IGM pressure smoothing scale at z≈4.2–5.0 from a fitted peak in the Lyman-alpha flux power spectrum, tied to an acoustic feature in the peculiar velocity gradient.

  3. High resolution Lyman-{\alpha} forest constraints on dark matter-neutrino scattering

    astro-ph.CO 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    The Lyman-alpha forest constrains dark matter-neutrino scattering to u_nu_chi < 1.5e-8 (95% C.L.), excluding previously claimed hints of a non-zero interaction.

  4. Bridging Simulations and EFT: A Hybrid Model of the Lyman-Alpha Forest Field

    astro-ph.CO 2025-12 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A hybrid EFT forward model using N-body displacements reproduces the simulated Lyman-alpha forest to 5% at k <= 1 h/Mpc with a white-noise residual.

  5. 21 cm Cosmology Sensitivity to Small-Scale Structure: Warm vs Neutrino-Interacting Dark Matter

    astro-ph.CO 2025-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    21 cm forecasts show HERA can detect νDM interactions down to ~3×10⁻³⁵ cm² (assuming zero modelling error) but cannot distinguish νDM from warm dark matter.

  6. JWST lensed quasar dark matter survey IV: Stringent warm dark matter constraints from the joint reconstruction of extended lensed arcs and quasar flux ratios

    astro-ph.CO 2025-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Adding extended lensed arcs to quasar flux ratios in 28 JWST lenses tightens the dark-matter free-streaming limit to m_hm < 10^7.4 M⊙ (galacticus prior) and gives the most precise lensing measurement of subhalo abundance.

  7. The Compressed 3D Lyman-Alpha Forest Bispectrum

    astro-ph.CO 2025-10 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    The Lyman-alpha forest bispectrum can be compressed into 26 skew spectra, including a new shifted variant, with tree-level EFT predictions matching simulations at 1-2 sigma up to k≈0.17 h/Mpc.

  8. Small-scale Lyman alpha forest cosmology with PRIYA: Constraints from XQ100 and KODIAQ-SQUAD one-dimensional flux power spectra

    astro-ph.CO 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    The XQ100 Lyman-alpha forest power spectrum, modeled with the PRIYA simulations, gives cosmological constraints consistent with eBOSS and Planck and constrains the IGM thermal history without external temperature data...

  9. Updated bounds on ultra-light dark matter from the tiniest galaxies

    astro-ph.CO 2025-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    If Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 is a galaxy, ultra-light dark matter particles must be heavier than 8 x 10^-18 eV, the strongest such bound.

  10. Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest Constraint on Dark Matter from Dark Sector Decay

    hep-ph 2026-03 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Late-time dark-sector decay producing sub-0.1 GeV dark matter is ruled out by Lyman-alpha forest and BBN constraints.

  11. Coherent and Stochastic Axion Dark Matter from Thermal Relaxation

    hep-ph 2026-08 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    Thermal relaxation of an axion field produces a dark matter relic whose coherent and stochastic parts share one optical depth, yielding a subthermal momentum spectrum.

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