Lyman-$α$ Forest Constraint on Dark Matter from Dark Sector Decay
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866910077586243584 |
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| author | Zhao, Si-Yuan Dai, Yi-Cheng Liao, Wei Lu, Yi-Song |
| author_facet | Zhao, Si-Yuan Dai, Yi-Cheng Liao, Wei Lu, Yi-Song |
| contents | By exploiting small-scale structure formation probed by Lyman-$α$ forest observations, we study constraints on a model of dark matter from dark sector decay. We compute the phase space distribution of the dark matter and the linear matter power spectrum. We map the non-thermal dark matter distribution in this dark matter model to an approximate thermal warm dark matter distribution, and use this approximation to obtain a constraint from the Lyman-$α$ forest observation. We combine the latest Lyman-$α$ forest bounds with the constraint from the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. As these two probes offer highly complementary constraints, we impose strong limits on sub-GeV dark matter. Consequently, masses lighter than $\sim 10^{-1}$ GeV are excluded, thereby significantly limiting the allowed parameter space. More broadly, our findings demonstrate the utility of small-scale structure observations in testing non-thermal dark matter paradigms, offering valuable insights for exploring a wider class of late-time decay models. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_24331 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Lyman-$α$ Forest Constraint on Dark Matter from Dark Sector Decay Zhao, Si-Yuan Dai, Yi-Cheng Liao, Wei Lu, Yi-Song High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics By exploiting small-scale structure formation probed by Lyman-$α$ forest observations, we study constraints on a model of dark matter from dark sector decay. We compute the phase space distribution of the dark matter and the linear matter power spectrum. We map the non-thermal dark matter distribution in this dark matter model to an approximate thermal warm dark matter distribution, and use this approximation to obtain a constraint from the Lyman-$α$ forest observation. We combine the latest Lyman-$α$ forest bounds with the constraint from the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. As these two probes offer highly complementary constraints, we impose strong limits on sub-GeV dark matter. Consequently, masses lighter than $\sim 10^{-1}$ GeV are excluded, thereby significantly limiting the allowed parameter space. More broadly, our findings demonstrate the utility of small-scale structure observations in testing non-thermal dark matter paradigms, offering valuable insights for exploring a wider class of late-time decay models. |
| title | Lyman-$α$ Forest Constraint on Dark Matter from Dark Sector Decay |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.24331 |