Constraints on dark photon dark matter from Lyman-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>α</mml:mi></mml:math> forest simulations and an ultrahigh signal-to-noise quasar spectrum
The ultralight dark photon is a well-motivated, hypothetical dark matter candidate. In a dilute plasma, they can resonantly convert into photons, and heat up the intergalactic medium between galaxies. In this work, we explore the dark photon dark matter parameter space by comparing synthetic Lyman-$\ensuremath{\alpha}$ forest data from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to observational data from VLT/UVES of the quasar HE0940-1050 (${z}_{\mathrm{em}}=3.09$). We use a novel flux normalization technique that targets underdense gas, reshaping the flux probability distribution. Not only do we place robust constraints on the kinetic mixing parameter of dark photon dark matter, but notably our findings suggest that this model can still reconcile simulated and observed Doppler parameter distributions of $z\ensuremath{\sim}0$ Lyman-$\ensuremath{\alpha}$ lines, as seen by HST/COS. This work opens new pathways for the use of the Lyman-$\ensuremath{\alpha}$ forest to explore new physics, and can be extended to other scenarios such as primordial black hole evaporation, dark matter decay, and annihilation.
Authors
- James S. Bolton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2764-8248)
- Andrea Caputo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1122-6606)
- S. Cristiani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2115-5234)
- Matteo Viel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2642-5707)
- Hongwan Liu
- Andrea Trost (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5959-5964)
Institutions
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (IT)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- University of Trieste (IT)
- Trieste Astronomical Observatory (IT)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste (IT)
- Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma I (IT)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CH)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2025-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.111.083034
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.74
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Kavli Foundation
- University of Chicago
- Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK Government
- UK Research and Innovation
- Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca
- Office of Science
- Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- High Energy Physics