2005/12/31 by Kevork N. Abazajian, Kevork Abazajian · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.73.063513
published as Phys.Rev. D73 (2006) 063513 · 6 pages, 4 figures; v2: matches PRD version, with note added regarding astro-ph/0602430
arxiv created 2006/03/10 · openalex publication_date 2006/03/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
I consider constraints from observations on a cutoff scale in clustering due to free streaming of the dark matter in a warm dark matter cosmological model with a cosmological constant. The limits are derived in the framework of a sterile neutrino warm dark matter universe, but can be applied to gravitinos and other models with small-scale suppression in the linear matter power spectrum. With freedom in all cosmological parameters including the free streaming scale of the sterile neutrino dark matter, limits are derived using observations of the fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background, the 3D clustering of galaxies and 1D clustering of gas in the Lyman-alpha (Ly\ensuremathα) forest in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), as well as the Ly\ensuremathα forest in high-resolution spectroscopic observations. In the most conservative case, using only the SDSS main-galaxy 3D power-spectrum shape, the limit is ms>0.11 keV; including the SDSS Ly\ensuremathα forest, this limit improves to ms>1.7 keV. More stringent constraints may be placed from the inferred matter power spectrum from high-resolution Ly\ensuremathα forest observations, which has significant systematic uncertainties; in this case, the limit improves to ms>3.0 keV (all at 95% CL).