Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 19, 2025
11:21
Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving
Published on: March 30, 2017
7.6K
Cosmology of Sub-MeV Dark Matter Freeze-In.
Cora Dvorkin1, Tongyan Lin2, Katelin Schutz3,4
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|September 24, 2021
Summary
This study explores freeze-in dark matter (DM) produced via a light mediator. Combining cosmological data, we constrain DM masses up to 20 keV and forecast future explorations up to 80 keV.
Area of Science:
- Cosmology
- Particle Physics
- Astrophysics
Background:
- Dark matter (DM) is a significant component of the universe, but its nature remains unknown.
- Freeze-in production offers a viable mechanism for generating DM through feeble interactions in the early universe.
- Light DM candidates with effective electric charges can impact cosmological evolution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To constrain the mass of freeze-in dark matter using a combination of observational data.
- To forecast the potential of future experiments in probing higher mass ranges for freeze-in DM.
- To investigate the observable consequences of DM produced via freeze-in in the standard model plasma.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
- Analyzing Lyman-α forest, quasar lensing, stellar streams, and Milky Way satellite abundances.
- Performing forecasts for upcoming experiments like CMB-S4, HERA, and the Vera Rubin Observatory.
Main Results:
- Setting limits on freeze-in dark matter masses up to approximately 20 keV.
- The exact constraint depends on whether the dark matter thermalizes within its own sector.
- Forecasting the exploration of freeze-in dark matter masses up to approximately 80 keV with future experiments.
Conclusions:
- Freeze-in dark matter with a light mediator is a plausible scenario.
- Current cosmological and astrophysical data provide significant constraints on freeze-in DM properties.
- Future observational facilities will greatly enhance our ability to detect and characterize freeze-in dark matter.
Related Concept Videos
02:39Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
13.5K
Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
13.5K
01:12Reduced Mass Coordinates: Isolated Two-body Problem
1.8K
In classical mechanics, the two-body problem is one of the fundamental problems describing the motion of two interacting bodies under gravity or any other central force. When considering the motion of two bodies, one of the most important concepts is the reduced mass coordinates, a quantity that allows the two-body problem to be solved like a single-body problem. In these circumstances, it is assumed that a single body with reduced mass revolves around another body fixed in a position with an...
1.8K
03:37Subatomic Particles
105.4K
Dalton was only partially correct about the particles that make up matter. All matter is composed of atoms, and atoms are composed of three smaller subatomic particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. These three particles account for the mass and the charge of an atom.
105.4K
01:12Fermi Level Dynamics
401
The vacuum level denotes the energy threshold required for an electron to escape from a material surface. It is usually positioned above the conduction band of a semiconductor and acts as a benchmark for comparing electron energies within various materials.
Electron affinity in semiconductors refers to the energy gap between the minimum of its conduction band and the vacuum level and it is a critical parameter in determining how easily a semiconductor can accept additional electrons.
The work...
Electron affinity in semiconductors refers to the energy gap between the minimum of its conduction band and the vacuum level and it is a critical parameter in determining how easily a semiconductor can accept additional electrons.
The work...
401
01:21Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
2.3K
No object with a finite mass can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. This fact has an interesting consequence in the domain of extremely high gravitational fields.
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape...
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape...
2.3K
02:33Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
18.5K
Some solids can transition directly into the gaseous state, bypassing the liquid state, via a process known as sublimation. At room temperature and standard pressure, a piece of dry ice (solid CO2) sublimes, appearing to gradually disappear without ever forming any liquid. Snow and ice sublimate at temperatures below the melting point of water, a slow process that may be accelerated by winds and the reduced atmospheric pressures at high altitudes. When solid iodine is warmed, the solid sublimes...
18.5K