No Arabic abstract
We study the interaction of an electrically charged component of the dark matter with a magnetized galactic interstellar medium (ISM) of (rotating) spiral galaxies. For the observed ordered component of the field, $Bsim mu$G, we find that the accumulated Lorentz interactions between the charged particles and the ISM will extract an order unity fraction of the disk angular momentum over the few Gyr Galactic lifetime unless $q/e lesssim 10^{-13pm 1},m,c^2/$ GeV if all the dark matter is charged. The bound is weakened by factor $f_{rm qdm}^{-1/2}$ if only a mass fraction $f_{rm qdm}gtrsim0.13$ of the dark matter is charged. Here $q$ and $m$ are the dark matter particle mass and charge. If $f_{rm qdm}approx1$ this bound excludes charged dark matter produced via the freeze-in mechanism for $m lesssim$ TeV/$c^2$. This bound on $q/m$, obtained from Milky Way parameters, is rough and not based on any precise empirical test. However this bound is extremely strong and should motivate further work to better model the interaction of charged dark matter with ordered and disordered magnetic fields in galaxies and clusters of galaxies; to develop precise tests for the presence of charged dark matter based on better estimates of angular momentum exchange; and also to better understand how charged dark matter might modify the growth of magnetic fields, and the formation and interaction histories of galaxies, galaxy groups, and clusters.
We revisit constraints on annihilating dark matter based on the global 21cm signature observed by EDGES. For this purpose, we used the numerical data of the latest N-body simulation performed by state-of-art standard in order to estimate the boost factor at high redshifts ($z$ = 10 - 100), which enhances the annihilation of dark matter in course of structure formation. By taking into account to what fraction injected energy from dark matter annihilation contributes to ionization, excitation and heating of intergalactic medium during dark ages, we estimated how large the global 21cm absorption can be. By assuming the thermal freezeout scenario, we find that $m_{rm DM} < 15$ GeV and $m_{rm DM} < 3$ GeV have been excluded at 95$%$ C.L. for the annihilation modes into $bbar{b}$ and $e^+ e^-$, respectively.
Recently, the Planck collaboration has released the first cosmological papers providing the high resolution, full sky, maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. It is crucial to understand that whether the accelerating expansion of our universe at present is driven by an unknown energy component (Dark Energy) or a modification to general relativity (Modified Gravity). In this paper we study the coupled dark energy models, in which the quintessence scalar field nontrivially couples to the cold dark matter, with the strength parameter of interaction $beta$. Using the Planck data alone, we obtain that the strength of interaction between dark sectors is constrained as $beta < 0.102$ at $95%$ confidence level, which is tighter than that from the WMAP9 data alone. Combining the Planck data with other probes, like the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO), Type-Ia supernovae ``Union2.1 compilation and the CMB lensing data from Planck measurement, we find the tight constraint on the strength of interaction $beta < 0.052$ ($95%$ C.L.). Interestingly, we also find a non-zero coupling $beta = 0.078 pm 0.022$ ($68%$ C.L.) when we use the Planck, the ``SNLS supernovae samples, and the prior on the Hubble constant from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) together. This evidence for the coupled dark energy models mainly comes from a tension between constraints on the Hubble constant from the Planck measurement and the local direct $H_0$ probes from HST.
Microlensing started with the seminal paper by Paczynski in 1986, first with observations towards the Large Magellanic Cloud and the galactic bulge. Since then many other targets have been observed and new applications have been found. In particular, it turned out to be a powerful method to detect planets in our galaxy and even in the nearby M31. Here, we will present some results obtained so far by microlensing without being, however, exhaustive.
We use large-scale cosmological observations to place constraints on the dark-matter pressure, sound speed and viscosity, and infer a limit on the mass of warm-dark-matter particles. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies constrain the equation of state and sound speed of the dark matter at last scattering at the per mille level. Since the redshifting of collisionless particles universally implies that these quantities scale like $a^{-2}$ absent shell crossing, we infer that today $w_{rm (DM)}< 10^{-10.0}$, $c_{rm s,(DM)}^2 < 10^{-10.7}$ and $c_{rm vis, (DM)}^{2} < 10^{-10.3}$ at the $99%$ confidence level. This very general bound can be translated to model-dependent constraints on dark-matter models: for warm dark matter these constraints imply $m> 70$ eV, assuming it decoupled while relativistic around the same time as the neutrinos; for a cold relic, we show that $m>100$ eV. We separately constrain the properties of the DM fluid on linear scales at late times, and find upper bounds $c_{rm s, (DM)}^2<10^{-5.9}$, $c_{rm vis, (DM)}^{2} < 10^{-5.7}$, with no detection of non-dust properties for the DM.
The SIMPLE project uses superheated C2ClF5 liquid detectors to search for particle dark matter candidates. We report the results of the first stage exposure (14.1 kgd) of its latest two-stage, Phase II run, with 15 superheated droplet detectors of total active mass 0.208 kg. In combination with the results of the neutron-spin sensitive XENON10 experiment, these results yield a limit of |a_p| < 0.32, |a_n| < 0.17 for M_W = 50 GeV/c2 on the model-independent, spin-dependent sector of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-nucleus interactions, and together yield a 50% reduction in the previously allowed region of the phase space. The result provides a contour minimum of {sigma}_p ~ 2.8 x 10-2 pb at M_W = 45 GeV/c2, constituting the most restrictive direct detection limit to date against a spin-dependent WIMP-proton coupling. In the spin-independent sector, the result is seen to offer the prospect of contributing to the question of light mass WIMPs with an improvement in the current understanding of its nucleation efficiency.