XRISM constraints on unidentified X-ray emission lines, including the 3.5 keV line, in the stacked spectrum of ten galaxy clusters

We stack 3.75 Megaseconds of early XRISM Resolve observations of ten galaxy clusters to search for unidentified spectral lines in the $E=$ 2.5-15 keV band (rest frame), including the $E=3.5$ keV line reported in earlier, low spectral resolution studies of cluster samples. Such an emission line may originate from the decay of the sterile neutrino, a warm dark matter (DM) candidate. No unidentified lines are detected in our stacked cluster spectrum, with the $3\sigma$ upper limit on the $m_{\rm s}\sim$ 7.1 keV DM particle decay rate (which corresponds to a $E=3.55$ keV emission line) of $\Gamma \sim 1.0 \times 10^{-27}$ s$^{-1}$. This upper limit is 3-4 times lower than the one derived by Hitomi Collaboration et al. (2017) from the Perseus observation, but still 5 times higher than the XMM-Newton detection reported by Bulbul et al. (2014) in the stacked cluster sample. XRISM Resolve, with its high spectral resolution but a small field of view, may reach the sensitivity needed to test the XMM-Newton cluster sample detection by combining several years worth of future cluster observations.

Publication Details

Journal
Maryland Shared Open Access Repository (USMAI Consortium)
Published
2025-10-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.13016/m2zh3b-srrg
Primary Topic
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
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article

XRISM constraints on unidentified X-ray emission lines, including the 3.5 keV line, in the stacked spectrum of ten galaxy clusters

Maryland Shared Open Access Repository (USMAI Consortium)
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
article

XRISM constraints on unidentified X-ray emission lines, including the 3.5 keV line, in the stacked spectrum of ten galaxy clusters

article en

Abstract

We stack 3.75 Megaseconds of early XRISM Resolve observations of ten galaxy clusters to search for unidentified spectral lines in the $E=$ 2.5-15 keV band (rest frame), including the $E=3.5$ keV line reported in earlier, low spectral resolution studies of cluster samples. Such an emission line may originate from the decay of the sterile neutrino, a warm dark matter (DM) candidate. No unidentified lines are detected in our stacked cluster spectrum, with the $3\sigma$ upper limit on the $m_{\rm s}\sim$ 7.1 keV DM particle decay rate (which corresponds to a $E=3.55$ keV emission line) of $\Gamma \sim 1.0 \times 10^{-27}$ s$^{-1}$. This upper limit is 3-4 times lower than the one derived by Hitomi Collaboration et al. (2017) from the Perseus observation, but still 5 times higher than the XMM-Newton detection reported by Bulbul et al. (2014) in the stacked cluster sample. XRISM Resolve, with its high spectral resolution but a small field of view, may reach the sensitivity needed to test the XMM-Newton cluster sample detection by combining several years worth of future cluster observations.

Maryland Shared Open Access Repository (USMAI Consortium)
Openalex Percentile: Top 27%
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
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