Small-scale structure of cold dark matter

Abstract

We investigate the clumping of cold dark matter (CDM) at small scales. If the CDM particle is the neutralino, we find that collisional damping during its kinetic decoupling from the radiation fluid and free streaming introduce a small-scale cut-off in the primordial power spectrum of CDM. This cut-off sets the scale for the very first CDM objects in the Universe, which we expect to have a mass of $\sim 10^{-12}{M}_{\odot }$. For non-thermal CDM candidates, such as axions, wimpzillas, or primordial black holes, the cosmological QCD transition might induce features in the primordial spectrum at similar mass scales.

3 pages, talk given at TAUP99, Paris

References in corpus (7)

• Neutralino-Stau Coannihilation and the Cosmological Upper Limit on the Mass of the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle
• Nonthermal Supermassive Dark Matter
• Constraints on the density perturbation spectrum from primordial black holes
• Results from a High-Sensitivity Search for Cosmic Axions
• Charginos and Neutralinos in the Light of Radiative Corrections: Sealing the Fate of Higgsino Dark Matter
• Amplification of Cosmological Inhomogeneities by the QCD Transition
• Constraints on Neutralino Dark Matter from LEP 2 and Cosmology

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Damping scales of neutralino cold dark matter
• Dark matter in Draco and the Local Group: Implications for direct detection experiments
• Remnants of dark matter clumps
• Small-scale clumps of dark matter
• SUSY dark matter annihilation in the Galactic halo