Realistic Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter with keV Mass does not Contradict Cosmological Bounds

2008/12/17 by Alexey Boyarsky, Julien Lesgourgues, Oleg Ruchayskiy +1 · 186 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Baryogenesis #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Neutrino #Neutrino oscillation #Nuclear physics #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Physics beyond the Standard Model #Standard Model (mathematical formulation) #Sterile neutrino #astro-ph #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.201304

published in Physical Review Letters 102(20), 201304 (American Physical Society) · 4 pages, 4 figures

arxiv created 2008/12/17 · openalex publication_date 2009/05/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Previous fits of sterile neutrino dark matter (DM) models to cosmological data ruled out masses smaller than approximately 8 keV, assuming a production mechanism that is not the best motivated from a particle physics point of view. Here we focus on a realistic extension of the standard model with three sterile neutrinos, consistent with neutrino oscillation data and baryogenesis, with the lightest sterile neutrino being the DM particle. We show that for each mass >or= 2 keV there exists at least one model accounting for 100% of DM and consistent with Lyman-alpha and other cosmological, astrophysical, and particle physics data.

Citations

• A lower bound on the mass of dark matter particles
• New Dark Matter Candidate: Nonthermal Sterile Neutrinos
• Sterile neutrino hot, warm, and cold dark matter
• The Standard Model Higgs boson as the inflaton
• Sterile neutrinos as dark matter
• Dark-matter sterile neutrinos in models with a gauge singlet in the Higgs sector
• Sterile Neutrinos, Dark Matter, and Pulsar Velocities in Models with a Higgs Singlet
• Leptogenesis

Cited by

• Non-linear evolution of cosmological structures in warm dark matter models
• Neutrino masses and sterile neutrino dark matter from the PeV scale