New Limits on Sterile Neutrinos from Suzaku Observations of the Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

Abstract

We present results of our search for X-ray line emission associated with the radiative decay of the sterile neutrino, a well-motivated dark matter candidate, in Suzaku Observatory spectra of the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. These data represent the first deep observation of one of these extreme mass-to-light systems and the first dedicated dark matter search using an X-ray telescope. No such emission line is positively detected, and we place new constraints on the combination of the sterile neutrino mass and the active-sterile neutrino oscillation mixing angle. Line flux upper limits are derived using a maximum-likelihood-based approach that, along with the lack of intrinsic X-ray emission, enables us to minimize systematics and account for those that remain. The limits we derive match or approach the best previous results over the entire 1--20 keV mass range from a single Suzaku observation. These are used to place constraints on the existence of sterile neutrinos with given parameters in the general case and in the case where they are assumed to constitute all of the dark matter. The range allowed implies that sterile neutrinos remain a viable candidate to make up some -- or all -- of the dark matter and also explain pulsar kicks and various other astrophysical phenomena.

revised to closely match version to be published in ApJ v. 698

References in corpus (40)

• Cats and Dogs, Hair and A Hero: A Quintet of New Milky Way Companions
• A common mass scale for satellite galaxies of the Milky Way
• The Observed properties of Dark Matter on small spatial scales
• Sterile neutrinos, dark matter, and the pulsar velocities in models with a Higgs singlet
• Reproducibility of Non-X-ray Background for the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer aboard Suzaku
• Dark-matter sterile neutrinos in models with a gauge singlet in the Higgs sector
• Redefining the Missing Satellites Problem
• How cold is cold dark matter? Small scales constraints from the flux power spectrum of the high-redshift Lyman-alpha forest
• Where to find a dark matter sterile neutrino?
• The Cold Dark Matter Halos of Local Group Dwarf Spheroidals
• Black Holes in Pseudobulges and Spheroidals: A Change in the Black Hole-Bulge Scaling Relations at Low Mass
• Detection of hot gas in the filament connecting the clusters of galaxies Abell 222 and Abell 223
• Relic keV sterile neutrinos and reionization
• Fundamental Planes, and the "barless" M-sigma relation, for supermassive black holes
• The Most Dark Matter Dominated Galaxies: Predicted Gamma-ray Signals from the Faintest Milky Way Dwarfs
• Direct X-ray Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Warm Dark Matter
• Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Constraints on the parameters of radiatively decaying dark matter from the dark matter halo of the Milky Way and Ursa Minor
• Constraints on decaying Dark Matter from XMM-Newton observations of M31
• New CTI Correction Method for the Spaced-Row Charge Injection of the Suzaku X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer
• Restrictions on parameters of sterile neutrino dark matter from observations of galaxy clusters
• Lighting the Universe with filaments
• Limits on the Radiative Decay of Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter from the Unresolved Cosmic and Soft X-ray Backgrounds
• Fe K Emission and Absorption in the XMM-EPIC Spectrum of the Seyfert Galaxy IC 4329a
• Sterile neutrinos in the Milky Way: Observational constraints
• Populating the galaxy velocity dispersion - supermassive black hole mass diagram: A catalogue of (M_bh, sigma) values
• Universal X-ray emissivity of the stellar population in early-type galaxies: unresolved X-ray sources in NGC 3379
• Restoring the Suzaku Source Position Accuracy and Point-Spread Function
• Sterile Neutrino-Enhanced Supernova Explosions
• Clustering properties of a sterile neutrino dark matter candidate
• Performance of the Charge Injection Capability of Suzaku XIS
• Small-scale structure formation properties of chilled sterile neutrinos as dark matter
• Sterile neutrinos as subdominant warm dark matter
• Suzaku Observations of AWM 7 Cluster of Galaxies: Temperature, Abundance and Bulk Motions
• Primordial Trispectrum from Entropy Perturbations in Multifield DBI Model
• Probing the nature of dark matter with Cosmic X-rays: Constraints from "Dark blobs" and grating spectra of galaxy clusters
• Delayed pulsar kicks from the emission of sterile neutrinos
• Suzaku Observation of HCG 62: Temperature, Abundance, and Extended Hard X-ray Emission Profiles
• Sterile neutrino dark matter in warped extra dimensions
• A 100ks XMM-Newton view of the Seyfert 1.8 ESO113-G010. I. Discovery of large X-ray variability and study of the FeKalpha line complex

Cited by in corpus (77)

• Detection of An Unidentified Emission Line in the Stacked X-ray spectrum of Galaxy Clusters
• A facility to Search for Hidden Particles at the CERN SPS: the SHiP physics case
• The role of sterile neutrinos in cosmology and astrophysics
• A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Neutrino Mass and Mixing: from Theory to Experiment
• The Phenomenology of Right Handed Neutrinos
• Dark Matter, Baryogenesis and Neutrino Oscillations from Right Handed Neutrinos
• Flavor structures of charged fermions and massive neutrinos
• A review of indirect searches for particle dark matter
• Sterile neutrino dark matter bounds from galaxies of the Local Group
• Sterile neutrinos in cosmology
• Constraints on the Dark Matter Particle Mass from the Number of Milky Way Satellites
• Checking the dark matter origin of 3.53 keV line with the Milky Way center
• New Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter from $NuSTAR$ M31 Observations
• (Almost) Closing the $\nu$MSM Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter Window with NuSTAR
• Dark Matter from Split Seesaw
• Dark Matter in the Milky Way's Dwarf Spheroidal Satellites
• keV Neutrino Model Building
• Constraining Sterile Neutrino Warm Dark Matter with Chandra Observations of the Andromeda Galaxy
• NuSTAR Tests of Sterile-Neutrino Dark Matter: New Galactic Bulge Observations and Combined Impact
• Searching for dark matter in X-rays: how not to check the dark matter origin of a spectral feature
• Dark Matter Search Using Chandra Observations of Willman 1, and a Spectral Feature Consistent with a Decay Line of a 5 keV Sterile Neutrino
• Model independent analysis of dark matter points to a particle mass at the keV scale
• Long-Exposure NuSTAR Constraints on Decaying Dark Matter in the Galactic Halo
• Next decade of sterile neutrino studies
• On Computing Upper Limits to Source Intensities
• Updated CMB, X- and gamma-ray constraints on majoron dark matter
• Diluted equilibrium sterile neutrino dark matter
• An X-ray Spectroscopic Search for Dark Matter in the Perseus Cluster with Suzaku
• Cosmology: small scale issues revisited
• Improved Limits on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter using Full-Sky Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor Data
• Small scale aspects of warm dark matter : power spectra and acoustic oscillations
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on sterile neutrino and lepton asymmetry of the Universe
• Questioning a 3.5 keV dark matter emission line
• Possible Capture of keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter on Radioactive beta-decaying Nuclei
• Moduli dark matter and the search for its decay line using Suzaku X-ray telescope
• Neutrino dark matter and the Higgs portal: improved freeze-in analysis
• Dark Matter Search Using XMM-Newton Observations of Willman 1
• Higgs boson mass, neutrino masses and mixing and keV dark matter in an $U(1{)}_R-$ lepton number model
• Inert-Sterile Neutrino: Cold or Warm Dark Matter Candidate
• Thermalizing sterile neutrino dark matter
• Searching for dark matter in X-rays: how to check the dark matter origin of a spectral feature
• The mass function of nearby black hole candidates
• Beta and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decays with KeV Sterile Fermions
• Dark Matter Velocity Spectroscopy
• Dark matter line emission constraints from NuSTAR observations of the Bullet Cluster
• 7 keV Sterile neutrino dark matter in $U(1{)}_R-$ lepton number model
• Sterile neutrinos produced near the EW scale I: mixing angles, MSW resonances and production rates
• The Abundance Pattern in the Hot ISM of NGC 4472: Insights and Anomalies
• Influence of a keV sterile neutrino on neutrino-less double beta decay -- how things changed in the recent years
• Observation of the new emission line at ~3.5 keV in X-ray spectra of galaxies and galaxy clusters
• Cosmological evolution of warm dark matter fluctuations I: Efficient computational framework with Volterra integral equations
• Captures of Hot and Warm Sterile Antineutrino Dark Matter on EC-decaying Ho-163 Nuclei
• Swift observation of Segue 1: constraints on sterile neutrino parameters in the darkest galaxy
• Constraints on sterile neutrino dark matter from XMM--Newton observation of M33
• Common origin of reactor and sterile neutrino mixing
• Snowmass-2013 Cosmic Frontier 3 (CF3) Working Group Summary: Non-WIMP dark matter
• Why three generations?
• Longevity Problem of Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Constraining models for keV sterile neutrinos by quasi-degenerate active neutrinos
• An X-ray spectroscopic search for dark matter and unidentified line signatures in the Perseus cluster with Hitomi
• Electron events from the scattering with solar neutrinos in the search of keV scale sterile neutrino dark matter
• Detection of Dark Matter Decay in the X-ray
• Magnetic dipole moment and keV neutrino dark matter
• A sensitive search for unknown spectral emission lines in the diffuse X-ray background with XMM-Newton
• Thermal effects in freeze-in neutrino dark matter production
• Freeze-In Dark Matter within the Seesaw mechanism
• Potential of LOFT telescope for the search of dark matter
• Freeze-in production of sterile neutrino dark matter in a gauged U$(1{)}^{\prime }$ model with inverse seesaw
• Phasing out of Darkness: From Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter to Neutrino Masses via Time-Dependent Mixing
• Can decaying sterile neutrinos account for all dark matter?
• On the use of X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes for identifying the origin of electrons and positrons observed by ATIC, Fermi, and PAMELA
• Phenomenological implications of sterile neutrinos in the $\mu \nu$SSM and dark matter
• Searching for Particle Dark Matter with eROSITA Early Data
• Subdominant Dark Matter sterile neutrino resonant production in the light of Planck
• Low Scale Leptogenesis from Non-Leptonic CP-Phases
• How many new particles do we need after the Higgs boson?