2020/10/31 by Wolfgang Enzi, Riccardo Murgia, Oliver Newton +10 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stab1960
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 506 (2021), 4, 5848-5862 · 16 pages, 3 Figures, minor updates of the results
arxiv created 2021/06/22 · arxiv updated 2021/10/18
We derive joint constraints on the warm dark matter (WDM) half-mode scale by combining the analyses of a selection of astrophysical probes: strong gravitational lensing with extended sources, the Lyman-α forest, and the number of luminous satellites in the Milky Way. We derive an upper limit of λ\rm hm=0.089\rm~Mpc~h-1 at the 95 per cent confidence level, which we show to be stable for a broad range of prior choices. Assuming a Planck cosmology and that WDM particles are thermal relics, this corresponds to an upper limit on the half-mode mass of M\rm hm < 3 × 107 \rm~M\odot~h-1, and a lower limit on the particle mass of m\rm th > 6.048 \rm~keV, both at the 95 per cent confidence level. We find that models with λ\rm hm> 0.223 \rm~Mpc~h-1 (corresponding to m\rm th > 2.552 \rm~keV and M\rm hm < 4.8 × 108 \rm~M\odot~h-1) are ruled out with respect to the maximum likelihood model by a factor ≤ 1/20. For lepton asymmetries L6>10, we rule out the 7.1 \rm~keV sterile neutrino dark matter model, which presents a possible explanation to the unidentified 3.55 \rm~keV line in the Milky Way and clusters of galaxies. The inferred 95 percentiles suggest that we further rule out the ETHOS-4 model of self-interacting DM. Our results highlight the importance of extending the current constraints to lower half-mode scales. We address important sources of systematic errors and provide prospects for how the constraints of these probes can be improved upon in the future.