Hints of dark photon dark matter from observations and hydrodynamical simulations of the low-redshift Lyman-$\alpha$ forest

Abstract

Recent work has suggested that an additional $\lesssim 6.9\mathrm{eV}$ per baryon of heating in the intergalactic medium is needed to reconcile hydrodynamical simulations with Lyman-$\alpha$ forest absorption line widths at redshift $z\simeq 0.1$. Resonant conversion of dark photon dark matter into low frequency photons is a viable source of such heating. We perform the first hydrodynamical simulations including dark photon heating and show that dark photons with mass $m_{A^{\prime }}\sim 8\times 10^{-14}\mathrm{eV}{\mathrm{c}}^{-2}$ and kinetic mixing $\epsilon \sim 5\times 10^{-15}$ can alleviate the heating excess. A prediction of this model is a non-standard thermal history for underdense gas at $z\gtrsim 3$.

5+1 pages, 2+1 figures

References in corpus (19)

• Non-adiabatic Level Crossing in Resonant Neutrino Oscillations
• Lyman-alpha Constraints on Ultralight Scalar Dark Matter: Implications for the Early and Late Universe
• Possible evidence for an inverted temperature-density relation in the intergalactic medium from the flux distribution of the Lyman-alpha forest
• Microwave Background Constraints on Mixing of Photons with Hidden Photons
• Illuminating the Hidden Sector of String Theory by Shining Light through a Magnetic Field
• Dark Photon Dark Matter from a Network of Cosmic Strings
• Cosmological Constraints on Very Dark Photons
• Constraints on Dark Matter annihilations from reionization and heating of the intergalactic gas
• The thermal history of the intergalactic medium down to redshift z=1.5: a new curvature measurement
• Unveiling the nature of dark matter with high redshift 21 cm line experiments
• Aspects of Nonlinear Effect on Black Hole Superradiance
• VoIgt profile Parameter Estimation Routine (VIPER): H I photoionization rate at z<0.5
• Late-time decaying dark matter: constraints and implications for the $H_0$-tension
• Exploring the Thermal State of the Low-Density Intergalactic Medium at z=3 with an Ultra-High Signal-to-Noise QSO Spectrum
• Constraints on Dark Matter-Baryon Scattering from the Temperature Evolution of the Intergalactic Medium
• Thermal state of the intergalactic medium at $z\sim 2-4$
• The low redshift Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest as a constraint for models of AGN feedback
• The evolution of the low-density HI intergalactic medium from z=3.6 to 0: Data, transmitted flux and HI column density
• Dark photon superradiance quenched by dark matter

Cited by in corpus (8)

• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
• Structure Formation Paradigm and Axion Quark Nugget dark matter model
• Dark Matter in Fractional Gravity I: Astrophysical Tests on Galactic Scales
• Stronger Constraints on Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter Derived from the Thermal Evolution of the Intergalactic Medium over the Last Twelve Billion Years
• Hunting Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter in Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest
• Probing new fundamental fields with Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals
• Scalar-Magnetometer Search for Ultralight Dark Photon Dark Matter with a Single-Site, Two-Sensor Array: A 6-Channel DTFT Likelihood Analysis with Scalar Optically Pumped Magnetometers
• The Dark Photon: a 2026 Perspective