A theory of dark matter
2008/10/31 by Nima Arkani–Hamed, Nima Arkani-Hamed, Douglas P. Finkbeiner +2 · 1,674 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Annihilation #Astrophysics #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark energy #Dark matter #Electron #Lepton #Light dark matter #Nuclear physics #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Scalar field dark matter #Weakly interacting massive particles #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.79.015014
published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 79(1) (American Physical Society) · 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted by PRD. Version 2 corrects two equations and clarifies saturation of Sommerfeld enhancement at low velocity. Version 3 is the final journal version
arxiv created 2009/01/20 · openalex publication_date 2009/01/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract
We propose a comprehensive theory of dark matter that explains the recent proliferation of unexpected observations in high-energy astrophysics. Cosmic ray spectra from ATIC and PAMELA require a WIMP (weakly interacting massive particle). with mass M_\ensuremathχ\ensuremath∼500--800 GeV that annihilates into leptons at a level well above that expected from a thermal relic. Signals from WMAP and EGRET reinforce this interpretation. Limits on p and \ensuremathπ0\mathrm\text\ensuremath-\ensuremathγ's constrain the hadronic channels allowed for dark matter. Taken together, we argue these facts imply the presence of a new force in the dark sector, with a Compton wavelength m_\ensuremathφ^\ensuremath-1\ensuremath\gtrsim1 GeV^\ensuremath-1. The long range allows a Sommerfeld enhancement to boost the annihilation cross section as required, without altering the weak-scale annihilation cross section during dark matter freeze-out in the early universe. If the dark matter annihilates into the new force carrier \ensuremathφ, its low mass can make hadronic modes kinematically inaccessible, forcing decays dominantly into leptons. If the force carrier is a non-Abelian gauge boson, the dark matter is part of a multiplet of states, and splittings between these states are naturally generated with size \ensuremathαm_\ensuremathφ\ensuremath∼ MeV, leading to the eXciting dark matter (XDM) scenario previously proposed to explain the positron annihilation in the galactic center observed by the INTEGRAL satellite; the light boson invoked by XDM to mediate a large inelastic scattering cross section is identified with the \ensuremathφ here. Somewhat smaller splittings would also be expected, providing a natural source for the parameters of the inelastic dark matter (iDM) explanation for the DAMA annual modulation signal. Since the Sommerfeld enhancement is most significant at low velocities, early dark matter halos at redshift \ensuremath∼10 potentially produce observable effects on the ionization history of the universe. Because of the enhanced cross section, detection of substructure is more probable than with a conventional WIMP. Moreover, the low velocity dispersion of dwarf galaxies and Milky Way subhalos can increase the substructure annihilation signal by an additional order of magnitude or more.
Citations
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