<i>JWST</i> lensed quasar dark matter survey – II. Strongest gravitational lensing limit on the dark matter free streaming length to date

ABSTRACT This is the second in a series of papers in which we use JWST Mid Infrared Instrument multiband imaging to measure the warm dust emission in a sample of 31 multiply imaged quasars, to be used as a probe of the particle nature of dark matter. We present measurements of the relative magnifications of the strongly lensed warm dust emission in a sample of nine systems. The warm dust region is compact and sensitive to perturbations by populations of haloes down to masses $\sim 10^6$ M$_{\odot }$. Using these warm dust flux-ratio measurements in combination with five previous narrow-line flux-ratio measurements, we constrain the halo mass function. In our model, we allow for complex deflector macromodels with flexible third- and fourth-order multipole deviations from ellipticity, and we introduce an improved model of the tidal evolution of subhaloes. We constrain a WDM model and find an upper limit on the half-mode mass of $10^{7.6}\, {\rm M}_\odot$ at posterior odds of 10:1. This corresponds to a lower limit on a thermally produced dark matter particle mass of 6.1 keV. This is the strongest gravitational lensing constraint to date, and comparable to those from independent probes such as the Ly $\alpha$ forest and Milky Way satellite galaxies.

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Publication Details

Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2024-11-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2458
Citations
24
Primary Topic
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
12.15

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article

JWST lensed quasar dark matter survey – II. Strongest gravitational lensing limit on the dark matter free streaming length to date

Dominique Sluse, Simon Birrer, Anna Nierenberg, S. Hoenig et al.
24 citations
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
12.15
article

JWST lensed quasar dark matter survey – II. Strongest gravitational lensing limit on the dark matter free streaming length to date

Dominique Sluse, Simon Birrer, Anna Nierenberg, S. Hoenig, S. G. Djorgovski, Leonidas A. Moustakas, Maverick S. H. Oh, Alexander Kusenko, Xiaolong Du, Daniel Stern, Cameron Lemon, Kevork N. Abazajian, Ryan E. Keeley, Tommaso Treu, K. K. Gupta, Charles Gannon, T. Anguita, V. Motta, Andrew Benson, Vardha N. Bennert, Daniel Gilman, Risa H. Wechsler, M. Malkan
article en
24 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT This is the second in a series of papers in which we use JWST Mid Infrared Instrument multiband imaging to measure the warm dust emission in a sample of 31 multiply imaged quasars, to be used as a probe of the particle nature of dark matter. We present measurements of the relative magnifications of the strongly lensed warm dust emission in a sample of nine systems. The warm dust region is compact and sensitive to perturbations by populations of haloes down to masses $\sim 10^6$ M$_{\odot }$. Using these warm dust flux-ratio measurements in combination with five previous narrow-line flux-ratio measurements, we constrain the halo mass function. In our model, we allow for complex deflector macromodels with flexible third- and fourth-order multipole deviations from ellipticity, and we introduce an improved model of the tidal evolution of subhaloes. We constrain a WDM model and find an upper limit on the half-mode mass of $10^{7.6}\, {\rm M}_\odot$ at posterior odds of 10:1. This corresponds to a lower limit on a thermally produced dark matter particle mass of 6.1 keV. This is the strongest gravitational lensing constraint to date, and comparable to those from independent probes such as the Ly $\alpha$ forest and Milky Way satellite galaxies.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyVol. 535(2)
California Institute of Technology (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), Universidad Andrés Bello (CL), Valparaiso University (US), California Polytechnic State University (US), University of California, Merced (US), University of Liège (BE), Stockholm University (SE), Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP), University of Toronto (CA), Carnegie Institution for Science (US), University of California, Irvine (US), UCLA Health (US), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US), Ghent University (BE), University of Chicago (US), Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (US), Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (CL), Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CA), Carnegie Observatories (US), University of Southampton (GB), Stony Brook University (US), The University of Tokyo (JP), University of Valparaíso (CL), Stanford University (US)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Entomological Society of America, Stony Brook University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
12.15
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