Constraints on Decaying Dark Matter

2010/11/22 by Annika H. G. Peter, Christopher E. Moody, Peter, Annika H. G. +4
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1011.4970

openalex publication_date 2010/11/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We explore a dark-matter model in which there are two dark-matter species nearly degenerate in mass, with epsilon = Delta M/M << 1. The heavier particle undergoes two-body decay with a half-life tau, to the lighter dark-matter particle and a noninteracting massless particle. Unlike previous work on decaying dark matter, we explore the regime tau > 100 Myr and non-relativistic kick speeds vk / c = epsilon. Using a set of N-body simulations of isolated dark-matter halos, we show how halos change as a function of tau and vk. We find that tau < 40 Gyr is ruled out for vk > 20 km s^-1 (epsilon > 10^-4) when we compare the simulations to observations of dwarf-galaxy- to cluster-mass dark matter halos. We highlight which set of observations should provide better future constraints for decays and other types of dark-matter physics.

Citations

• Constraining Dark Energy with the Dark Energy Survey: Theoretical\n Challenges
• LSST Science Book, Version 2.0
• Report of the Dark Energy Task Force

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