# Galactic Center Gas Clouds and Novel Bounds on Ultra-Light Dark Photon, Vector Portal, Strongly Interacting, Composite, and Super-Heavy Dark Matter

## TL;DR

This study uses newly observed Galactic Center gas clouds to establish novel constraints on various dark matter models, including ultra-light dark photons and super-heavy dark matter, by analyzing their effects on cloud microphysics.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of how Galactic Center gas cloud properties can constrain a wide range of dark matter candidates, incorporating complex microphysical interactions.

## Key findings

- New bounds on ultra-light dark photon masses ($10^{-22}$ to $10^{-10}$ eV)
- Constraints on vector portal dark matter with sub-MeV mediators
- Limits on super-heavy dark matter interactions up to $10^{60}$ GeV

## Abstract

Cold gas clouds recently discovered hundreds of parsecs from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy have the potential to detect dark matter. With a detailed treatment of gas cloud microphysical interactions, we determine Galactic Center gas cloud temperatures, free electron abundances, atomic ionization fractions, heating rates, cooling rates, and find how these quantities vary with metallicity. Considering a number of different dark sector heating mechanisms, we set new bounds on ultra-light dark photon dark matter for masses $10^{-22}-10^{-10}$ eV, vector portal dark matter coupled through a sub-MeV mass boson, and up to $10^{60}$ GeV mass dark matter that interacts with baryons.