Constraining dark matter-baryon scattering with linear cosmology

2013/11/14 by Cora Dvorkin, Kfir Blum, Marc Kamionkowski · 14 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Baryon #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Dark matter halo #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Halo #Particle physics #Physics #Planck #Quantum mechanics #astro-ph.CO #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.89.023519

published as Phys.Rev.D89:023519,2014 · 15 pages, 5 figures

arxiv created 2013/11/14 · openalex publication_date 2014/01/27 · arxiv updated 2015/06/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We derive constraints on elastic scattering between baryons and dark matter using the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the Planck satellite and the Lyman-\ensuremathα forest data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Elastic scattering allows baryons and dark matter to exchange momentum, affecting the dynamics of linear density perturbations in the early universe. We derive constraints to scattering cross sections of the form \ensuremathσ\ensuremath∝vⁿ, allowing for a wide range of velocity dependencies with \ensuremath-4\ensuremath≤n\ensuremath≤2. We improve and correct previous estimates where they exist, including velocity-independent cross section as well as dark matter millicharge and electromagnetic dipole moments. Lyman-\ensuremathα forest data dominate the constraints for n>\ensuremath-3, where the improvement over CMB data alone can be several orders of magnitude. Dark matter-baryon scattering cannot affect the halo mass function on mass scales M>10¹²M_\ensuremath\bigodot. Our results imply, model independently, that a baryon in the halo of a galaxy like our own Milky Way does not scatter from dark matter particles during the age of the galaxy.

Citations

• Turning off the lights: How dark is dark matter?
• Direct Detection Constraints on Superheavy Dark Matter
• Constraints on the Collisional Nature of the Dark Matter from Gravitational Lensing in the Cluster A2218
• Narrowing the window for millicharged particles by CMB anisotropy
• An excursion set model of hierarchical clustering: ellipsoidal collapse and the moving barrier
• Asymmetric dark matter
• Relative velocity of dark matter and baryonic fluids and the formation of the first structures
• The Linear Theory Power Spectrum from the Lyα Forest in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Updated bounds on milli-charged particles
• Towards closing the window on strongly interacting dark matter: Far-reaching constraints from Earth’s heat flow
• Constraints on the Interaction between Dark Matter and Baryons from Cooling Flow Clusters
• Constraints on Dark Matter interactions from structure formation: damping lengths
• Linear cosmological structure limits on warm dark matter

Cited by

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• Dark matter–radiation interactions: the structure of Milky Way satellite galaxies
• The frozen vanilla model: Exploring dark sector interactions with delta effective theories
• How blind are underground and surface detectors to strongly interacting dark matter?
• Possible interaction between baryons and dark-matter particles revealed by the first stars
• Reviving millicharged dark matter for 21-cm cosmology
• Tighter limits on dark matter explanations of the anomalous EDGES 21 cm signal
• Dark matter, destroyer of worlds: neutrino, thermal, and existential signatures from black holes in the Sun and Earth
• A fresh look into the interacting dark matter scenario
• Evidence for dark matter interactions in cosmological precision data?
• Generalized Analysis of the Eötvös Experiment
• Terrestrial and martian heat flow limits on dark matter
• The cosmology of sub-MeV dark matter
• THE MYSTERY OF THE COSMIC DIFFUSE ULTRAVIOLET BACKGROUND RADIATION

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