Reopening the window on charged dark matter

TL;DR

This paper revisits constraints on charged dark matter, showing magnetic fields can prevent halo particles from entering the galactic disk and that such particles may resolve multiple astrophysical issues.

Contribution

It demonstrates that previous terrestrial constraints are invalid within a specific mass and charge range and explores how charged dark matter can address various astrophysical problems.

Findings

Magnetic fields prevent halo particles from entering the galactic disk.

Charged particles are accelerated and ejected within 0.1-1 Gyrs.

Charged dark matter may solve dwarf galaxy and galaxy cluster problems.

Abstract

We reexamine the limits on charged dark matter particles. We show that if their mass and charge fall in the range 100(q_X/e)^2< m_X < 10^8(q_X/e) TeV, then magnetic fields prevent particles in the halo from entering the galactic disk, while those initially trapped inside are accelerated through the Fermi mechanism and ejected within about 0.1-1 Gyrs. Consequently, previous constraints on charged dark matter based on terrestrial non-observation are invalid within that range. Further, we find that charged massive particles may simultaneously solve several long-standing astrophysical problems, including the underabundance of dwarf galaxies, the shallow density profiles in the cores of the LSB galaxies, the absence of cooling flows in the cores of galaxy clusters, and several others.