Searching for particle dark matter with eROSITA early data
Many well-motivated dark matter (DM) particle candidates can decay into detectable x-ray photons. We analyze the Final Equatorial Depth Survey data from eROSITA early data release to search for unidentified x-ray lines that could indicate DM signals. Having discovered no anomalous signal, we set limits on DM decay rate in the mass range between 1.8 and 18 keV and constrain the parameter space of two DM particles: sterile neutrino and axionlike particle. Finally, we also study the projected sensitivity of eROSITA full sky search, showing that the eROSITA all-sky survey is expected to set the most stringent limits in the soft x-ray band.
Authors
- Kenny C. Y. Ng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8016-2170)
- C. W. Fong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3492-9849)
- Qishan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1437-6829)
Institutions
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- China Center of Advanced Science and Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2025-09-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/f2dq-hq2j
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.87
Funders
- Smithsonian Institution
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Croucher Foundation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Universität Hamburg
- Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam
- Goddard Space Flight Center
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
- Leibniz-Gemeinschaft
- Russian Academy of Sciences
- Astrophysics Science Division
- Astrophysics Division