Constraints on Dark Matter-Baryon Scattering from the Temperature Evolution of the Intergalactic Medium.
The thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM) can serve as a sensitive probe of cosmological heat sources and sinks. We employ it to limit interactions between dark matter and baryons. After reionization the IGM temperature is set by the balance between photoheating and adiabatic cooling. We use measurements of the IGM temperature from Lyman-$\alpha$-forest data to constrain the cross-section $\sigma$ between dark matter and baryons, finding $\sigma < 10^{-20}$ cm$^2$ for dark-matter masses $m_\chi\leq 1$ GeV. This provides the first direct constraint on scattering between dark matter and baryons at redshift $z\sim5$.
Publisher URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/1708.08923
DOI: arXiv:1708.08923v2
Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.
Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.