Searching for Sterile Neutrino with X-ray Intensity Mapping

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to detect sterile neutrinos by cross-correlating X-ray line emissions with galaxy catalogs, enhancing the search for dark matter signatures across different redshifts.

Contribution

It introduces a new cross-correlation technique between X-ray emissions and galaxy surveys to improve sterile neutrino detection prospects.

Findings

Potential to probe unexplored sterile neutrino parameter space

Utilizes upcoming X-ray and galaxy survey data

Enhances sensitivity to sterile neutrino decay signals

Abstract

The cosmological X-ray emission associated to the possible radiative decay of sterile neutrinos is composed by a collection of lines at different energies. For a given mass, each line corresponds to a given redshift. In this work, we cross correlate such line emission with catalogs of galaxies tracing the dark matter distribution at different redshifts. We derive observational prospects by correlating the X-ray sky that will be probed by the eROSITA and Athena missions with current and near future photometric and spectroscopic galaxy surveys. A relevant and unexplored fraction of the parameter space of sterile neutrinos can be probed by this technique.