Searches for sterile neutrinos and axionlike particles from the Galactic halo with eROSITA

Abstract

Dark matter might be made of "warm" particles, such as sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range, which can decay into photons through mixing and are consequently detectable by X-ray telescopes. Axionlike particles (ALPs) are detectable by X-ray telescopes too when coupled to standard model particles and decay into photons in the keV range. Both particles could explain the unidentified 3.5 keV line and, interestingly, XENON1T observed an excess of electron recoil events most prominent at 2-3 keV. One explanation could be an ALPs origin, which is not yet excluded by X-ray constraints in an anomaly-free symmetry model in which the photon production is suppressed. We study the diffuse emission coming from the Galactic halo, and calculate the sensitivity of all-sky X-ray survey performed by eROSITA to identify a sterile neutrino or ALP dark matter. We estimate bounds on the mixing angle of the sterile neutrinos and coupling strength of the ALPs. After four years of data-taking by eROSITA, we expect to set stringent constraints, and in particular, we expect to firmly probe mixing angle ${\sin }^2(2\theta )$ up to nearly two orders magnitude below the best-fit value for explaining the unidentified 3.5 keV line. Moreover, with eROSITA, we will be able to probe the ALP parameter space of couplings to photons and electrons, and potentially confirm an ALP origin of the XENON1T excess.

8 pages, 6 figures; Comments welcome; Matches version accepted for publication in PRD

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• The Irreducible Axion Background
• Long-Exposure NuSTAR Constraints on Decaying Dark Matter in the Galactic Halo
• Warm Dark Matter Constraints Using Milky-Way Satellite Observations and Subhalo Evolution Modeling
• Dark Grand Unification in the Axiverse: Decaying Axion Dark Matter and Spontaneous Baryogenesis
• A new life for sterile neutrino dark matter after the pandemic
• Sterile neutrino dark matter catalyzed by a very light dark photon
• Axion Dark Matter from Lepton flavor-violating Decays
• Decaying dark matter in dwarf spheroidal galaxies: Prospects for X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes
• ALP Searches at the LHC: FASER as a Light Shining through Walls Experiment
• Probing HNL-ALP couplings at colliders
• Dark Matter in X-rays: Revised XMM-Newton Limits and New Constraints from eROSITA
• Constraining Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter in the Milky Way Halo with Swift-XRT
• Anomaly-free axion dark matter in three Higgs doublet model and its phenomenological implications
• Probing ultra-light dark photon from inverse Compton-like scattering
• Synergy Between Hubble Tension Motivated Self-Interacting Neutrino and KeV-Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
• Correlation Analysis of Decaying Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter in the Context of the SRG Mission
• Constraining eV-scale axion-like particle dark matter: insights from the M87 Galaxy
• Searching for Particle Dark Matter with eROSITA Early Data
• ALP Dark Matter from Kinetic Fragmentation: Opening up the Parameter Window
• Sterile neutrino Dark Matter in the minimal Dirac Seesaw