Joint constraints on thermal relic dark matter from strong gravitational lensing, the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest, and Milky Way satellites

TL;DR

This study combines multiple astrophysical observations to set stringent limits on warm dark matter properties, significantly constraining models and informing future research directions.

Contribution

It provides the first joint constraints on the WDM half-mode scale using strong lensing, Lyman-$eta$ forest, and Milky Way satellites, improving limits on dark matter particle mass.

Findings

Upper limit on half-mode scale: 0.089 Mpc/h at 95% CL

Excludes sterile neutrino dark matter with $L_6>10$ and $m_{th}>6.048 keV$

Rules out ETHOS-4 self-interacting dark matter model

Abstract

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-$\alpha$ forest, and the number of luminous satellites in the Milky Way. We derive an upper limit of $\lambda_{\rm hm}=0.089{\rm~Mpc~h^{-1} }$ 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 $M_{\rm hm }< 3 \times 10^{7} {\rm~M_{\odot}~h^{-1}}$, 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 $\lambda_{\rm hm}> 0.223 {\rm~Mpc~h^{-1} }$ (corresponding to $m_{\rm th }> 2.552 {\rm~keV}$ and $M_{\rm hm }< 4.8 \times 10^{8} {\rm~M_{\odot}~h^{-1}}$) are ruled out with respect to the maximum likelihood model by a factor $\leq 1/20$. For lepton asymmetries $L_6>10$, 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.