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In this work, we construct a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi type-V cosmological model with a hybrid expansion law by considering the universe to be filled with cold dark matter and non-interacting Barrow holographic dark energy with Granda-Oliveros length scale as IR cutoff. The physical and kinematical characteristics of the resulting model are discussed by studying the evolution of various parameters of cosmological importance such as the Hubble parameter, the deceleration parameter, the anisotropic parameter, the equation of state parameter, jerk parameter etc. We also examine whether the energy conditions are satisfied or violated. Our analysis reveals that the Null,Weak, and Dominant energy conditions are fullfilled, while the Strong Energy Condition is violated, which supports the accelerated expansion of the universe. Statefinder diagnostics have also been performed based on recent cosmological observations in order to compare our model with different dark energy cosmological scenario. Additionally, we establish the correspondence between the quintessence scalar field and the Barrow holographic dark energy model, supporting our description of the universe’s accelerated expansion.

In this work, we construct a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi type-V cosmological model with a hybrid expansion law by considering the universe to be filled with cold dark matter and non-interacting Barrow holographic dark energy with Granda-Oliveros length scale as IR cutoff. The physical and kinematical characteristics of the resulting model are discussed by studying the evolution of various parameters of cosmological importance such as the Hubble parameter, the deceleration parameter, the anisotropic parameter, the equation of state parameter, jerk parameter etc. We also examine whether the energy conditions are satisfied or violated. Our analysis reveals that the Null, Weak, and Dominant energy conditions are fullfilled, while the Strong Energy Condition is violated, which supports the accelerated expansion of the universe. Statefinder diagnostics have also been performed based on recent cosmological observations in order to compare our model with different dark energy cosmological scenario. Additionally, we establish the correspondence between the quintessence scalar field and the Barrow holographic dark energy model, supporting our description of the universe’s accelerated expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this paper, we study a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi type-III universe containing cold dark matter and Barrow holographic dark energy within the framework of General Relativity. We assume the cold dark matter and Barrow holographic dark energy to be non-interacting and obtain exact solutions of the Einstein field equations by considering a hybrid expansion law and assuming that the expansion scalar is proportional to the shear scalar. We examine the physical and kinematical properties of the resulting model using parameters such as the Hubble parameter, the anisotropic parameter, the deceleration parameter, the equation of state parameter, the jerk parameter etc. We also examine whether the energy conditions are violated or validated. We find that the Null, Weak, and Dominant energy conditions are fulfilled, while the Strong Energy Condition is violated, which supports the accelerated expansion of the universe. The Statefinder diagnostics have been conducted based on recent cosmological observations. In addition, we reformulated the correspondence between quintessence scalar field and Barrow holographic dark energy model.

Using data from ALFALFA, xGASS, H i -MaNGA, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we identify a sample of 47 "red but H i -rich" (RR) galaxies with near-UV (NUV) − r > 5 and unusually high H i -to-stellar mass ratios. We compare the optical properties and local environments between the RR galaxies and a control sample of "red and H i -normal" (RN) galaxies that are matched in stellar mass and color. The two samples are similar in the optical properties typical of massive red (quenched) galaxies in the local Universe. The RR sample tends to be associated with slightly lower-density environments and has lower clustering amplitudes and smaller neighbor counts at scales from several hundred kiloparsecs to a few megaparsecs. The results are consistent with the RR galaxies being preferentially located at the center of low-mass halos, with a median halo mass ∼1012 h −1 M ⊙ compared to ∼1012.5 h −1 M ⊙ for the RN sample. This result is confirmed by the SDSS group catalog, which reveals a central fraction of 89% for the RR sample, compared to ∼60% for the RN sample. If assumed to follow the H i size–mass relation of normal galaxies, the RR galaxies have an average H i -to-optical radius ratio of R HI/ R 90 ∼ 4, four times the average ratio for the RN sample. We compare our RR sample with similar samples in previous studies, and quantify the population of RR galaxies using the SDSS complete sample. We conclude that the RR galaxies form a unique but rare population, accounting for only a small fraction of the massive quiescent galaxy population. We discuss the formation scenarios of the RR galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in photon detectors have provided exceptional sensitivities to dark matter with high angular resolution. Motivated by this, we present a detailed study of photon flux from dark matter decay in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) by focusing on the detectors with arcsecond-level field of view and/or angular resolution. We propose to use differential D -factors since such detectors are sensitive to their dark matter distributions. We carefully estimate the differential D -factors of 35 dSphs. By using the differential D -factors, it turns out that the resulting signal flux can have a more than O (1–10) enhancement compared to conventional estimations. Based on this analysis, we find that the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (IRCS) installed on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope can be an excellent dark matter detector for the mass in the eV range, particularly axion-like particles (ALPs). Observing the Draco or Ursa Major II dSphs with the IRCS for O (1) night will enable us to place the most stringent bound for the ALP dark matter in the mass range of 1 eV ≲ m a ≲ 2 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi type-III universe containing cold dark matter and Barrow holographic dark energy within the framework of General Relativity. We assume the cold dark matter and Barrow holographic dark energy to be non-interacting and obtain exact solutions of the Einstein field equations by considering a hybrid expansion law and assuming that the expansion scalar is proportional to the shear scalar. We examine the physical and kinematical properties of the resulting model using parameters such as the Hubble parameter, the anisotropic parameter, the deceleration parameter, the equation of state parameter, the jerk parameter etc. We also examine whether the energy conditions are violated or validated. We find that the Null, Weak, and Dominant energy conditions are fulfilled, while the Strong Energy Condition is violated, which supports the accelerated expansion of the universe. The Statefinder diagnostics have been conducted based on recent cosmological observations. In addition, we reformulated the correspondence between quintessence scalar field and Barrow holographic dark energy model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unraveling the nature of dark matter (DM) stands as a primary objective in modern physics. Here we present evidence suggesting deviations from the collisionless cold DM (CDM) paradigm. It arises from the radial distribution of stars in six ultrafaint dwarf (UFD) galaxies measured with the Hubble Space Telescope. After a trivial renormalization in size and central density, the six UFDs show the same stellar distribution, which happens to have a central plateau or core. Assuming spherical symmetry and isotropic velocities, the Eddington inversion method proves the observed distribution to be inconsistent with the characteristic potentials of CDM particles. Under such assumptions, the observed innermost slope of the stellar profile discards the UFDs to reside in a CDM potential at a ≥97% confidence level. The extremely low stellar mass of these galaxies, 10 ^3 –10 ^4 M _⊙ , prevents stellar feedback from modifying the shape of a CDM potential. Other conceivable explanations for the observed cores, like deviations from spherical symmetry and isotropy, tidal forces, and the exact form of the used CDM potential, are disfavored by simulations and/or observations. Thus, the evidence suggests that collisions among DM particles or other alternatives to CDM are likely shaping these galaxies. Many of these alternatives produce cored gravitational potentials, shown here to be consistent with the observed stellar distribution.

By employing Tsallis' extensive but non-additive δ -entropy, we formulate the first two laws of thermodynamics for gravitating systems. By invoking Carathéodory's principle, we pay particular attention to the integrating factor for the heat one-form. We show that the latter factorizes into the product of thermal and entropic parts, where the entropic part cannot be reduced to a constant, as is the case in conventional thermodynamics, due to the non-additive nature of S δ . The ensuing two laws of thermodynamics imply a Tsallis cosmology, which is then applied to a radiation-dominated universe to address the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the relic abundance of cold dark matter particles. It is demonstrated that the Tsallis cosmology with the scaling exponent δ ∼1.499 (or equivalently, the anomalous dimension Δ ∼0.0013) consistently describes both the abundance of cold dark matter particles and the formation of primordial light elements, such as deuterium 2 H and helium 4 H e . Salient issues, including the zeroth law of thermodynamics for the δ -entropy and the lithium 7 L i problem, are also briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We look for possible evidence of a nonminimal coupling (NMC) between dark matter (DM) and gravity using data from the X-COP compilation of galaxy clusters. We consider a theoretically motivated NMC that may dynamically arise from the collective behavior of the coarse-grained DM field (e.g., via Bose–Einstein condensation) with averaging/coherence length L NMC. In the Newtonian limit, the NMC modifies the Poisson equation by a term L NMC 2 ∇ 2 ρ proportional to the Laplacian of the DM density itself. We show that this term, when acting as a perturbation over the standard Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile of cold DM particles, can yield DM halo density profiles capable of correctly fitting galaxy clusters' pressure profiles with an accuracy comparable to and, in some cases, even better than the standard cold DM NFW profile. We also show that the observed relation between the NMC length scale and the virial mass found in Gandolfi et al. for late-type galaxies is consistent with the relation we find in the current work, suggesting that the previously determined power-law scaling law holds up to galaxy cluster mass scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We improve and generalize the non-minimal curvaton model originally proposed in arXiv: 2112.12680 to a model in which a spectator field non-minimally couples to an inflaton field and the power spectrum of the perturbation of spectator field at small scales is dramatically enhanced by the sharp feature in the form of non-minimal coupling. At or after the end of inflation, the perturbation of the spectator field is converted into curvature perturbation and leads to the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs). Furthermore, for example, we consider three phenomenological models for generating PBHs with mass function peaked at ~ 10−12Mʘ and representing all the cold dark matter in our universe and find that the scalar induced gravitational waves generated by the curvature perturbation can be detected by the future space-borne gravitational-wave detectors such as Taiji, TianQin, and LISA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The E 6 -inspired extension of the minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model (MSSM) with an extra U (1) N gauge symmetry, under which right-handed neutrinos have zero charge, involves exotic matter beyond the MSSM to ensure anomaly cancellation. We consider the variant of this extension (SE 6 SSM) in which the cold dark matter is composed of the lightest neutral exotic fermion and gravitino. The observed baryon asymmetry can be induced in this case via the decays of the lightest right-handed neutrino/sneutrino into exotic states even for relatively low reheating temperatures T R ≲ 10 6 − 7 G e V . We argue that there are some regions of the SE 6 SSM parameter space, which are safe from all current constraints, and discuss the implications of this model for collider phenomenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of dark matter (DM) searches in a sample of 31 dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxies within the field of view of the HAWC Observatory. dIrr galaxies are DM-dominated objects in which astrophysical gamma-ray emission is estimated to be negligible with respect to the secondary gamma-ray flux expected by annihilation or decay of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). While we do not see any statistically significant DM signal in dIrr galaxies, we present the exclusion limits (95% C.L.) for annihilation cross section and decay lifetime for WIMP candidates with masses between 1 and 100 TeV. Exclusion limits from dIrr galaxies are relevant and complementary to benchmark dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. In fact, dIrr galaxies are targets kinematically different from benchmark dSph, preserving the footprints of different evolution histories. We compare the limits from dIrr galaxies to those from ultrafaint and classical dSph galaxies previously observed with HAWC. We find that the constraints are comparable to the limits from classical dSph galaxies and ∼2 orders of magnitude weaker than the ultrafaint dSph limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dark matter subhalos orbiting in a galactic halo perturb the orbits of stars in thin stellar streams. Over time, the random velocities in the streams develop non-Gaussian wings. The rate of velocity increase is approximately a random walk at a rate proportional to the number of subhalos, primarily those in the mass range ≈10 ^6−7 M _⊙ . The distribution of random velocities in long streams is measured in simulated Milky Way–like halos that develop in representative warm dark matter (WDM) and cold dark matter (CDM) cosmologies. The radial velocity distributions are well modeled as the sum of a Gaussian and an exponential. The resulting Markov Chain Monte Carlo fits find Gaussian cores of 1−2 km s ^−1 and exponential wings that increase from 3 km s ^−1 for 5.5 keV WDM, 4 km s ^−1 for 7 keV WDM, to 6 km s ^−1 for a CDM halo. The observational prospects to use stream measurements to constrain the nature of galactic dark matter are discussed.

Placed slightly out of dynamical equilibrium, an isolated stellar system quickly returns toward a steady virialized state. We study this process of collisionless relaxation using the matrix method of linear response theory. We show that the full phase-space distribution of the final virialized state can be recovered directly from the disequilibrium initial conditions, without the need to compute the time evolution of the system. This shortcut allows us to determine the final virialized configuration with minimal computational effort. Complementing this result, we develop tools to model the system's full time evolution in the linear approximation. In particular, we show that moments of the velocity distribution can be efficiently computed using a generalized moment matrix. We apply our linear methods to study the relaxation of energy-truncated Hernquist spheres, mimicking the tidal stripping of a cuspy dark matter subhalo. Comparison of our linear predictions against controlled, isolated N -body simulations shows agreement at percent level for the parts of the system where a linear response to the perturbation is expected. We find that relaxation generates a tangential velocity anisotropy in the intermediate regions, despite the initial disequilibrium state having isotropic kinematics. Our results also strengthen the case for relaxation depleting the amplitude of the density cusp, without affecting its asymptotic slope. Finally, we compare the linear theory against an N -body simulation of tidal stripping on a radial orbit, confirming that the theory still accurately predicts density and velocity dispersion profiles for most of the system.

Low-surface-brightness galaxies are excellent laboratories, where stars and baryonic matter act as tracers of the gravitational potential of the dark matter halo. If dark matter is modeled as a perfect fluid, then spherically symmetric and static dark matter halos in hydrostatic equilibrium demand that dark matter should have an intrinsic pressure that counteracts the gravitational attraction that the dark matter halo exerts on itself. This static fluid (a dark-matter-dominated system, where the presence of baryons is negligible) has a specific equation of state for each rotational velocity profile of the stars in galaxies. In this work, we study the dark matter equation of state needed for the self-gravitating object to produce a gravitational potential such that the tracers follow the universal rotational velocity profile for stars of spiral galaxies proposed by Persic et al. and analyze the properties of the self-gravitating structures that emerge from this equation of state. The resulting configurations explaining the observed rotational speeds are found to be unstable. We conclude that the halo is not in hydrostatic equilibrium, it is nonspherically symmetric, or it is not static if the universal velocity profile should be valid for fitting the rotational velocity curve of the galaxies.

Any astrophysical object can, in principle, serve as a probe of the interaction between dark matter (DM) and regular baryonic matter. This method is based on the potential observable consequences annihilations of captured DM have on the surface temperature of the object itself. In a series of previous papers we developed and validated simple analytic approximations for the total capture rates of DM valid in four distinct regions of the DM–nucleon scattering cross section ( σ ) versus DM particle mass ( m _X ) parameter space. In this work, we summarize those previous results and extend them significantly by deriving a completely general closed-form solution for the total capture rate of DM in the multiscatter regime. Moreover, we demonstrate the existence of a region in the σ versus m _X parameter space where the constraining power of any astrophysical object heated by annihilations of captured DM is lost. This corresponds to a maximal temperature ( T _crit ) any astrophysical object can have, such that it can still serve as a DM probe. Any object with observed temperature T _obs > T _crit loses its DM constraining power. We provide analytic formulae that can be used to estimate T _crit for any object.

A fundamental prediction of the Lambda cold dark matter cosmology is the centrally divergent cuspy density profile of dark matter haloes. Density cusps render cold dark matter haloes resilient to tides, and protect dwarf galaxies embedded in them from full tidal disruption. The hierarchical assembly history of the Milky Way may therefore give rise to a population of “microgalaxies”; i.e., heavily stripped remnants of early accreted satellites, which can reach arbitrarily low luminosity. Assuming that the progenitor systems are dark matter dominated, we use an empirical formalism for tidal stripping to predict the evolution of the luminosity, size, and velocity dispersion of such remnants, tracing their tidal evolution across multiple orders of magnitude in mass and size. The evolutionary tracks depend sensitively on the progenitor distribution of stellar binding energies. We explore three cases that likely bracket most realistic models of dwarf galaxies: one where the energy distribution of the most tightly bound stars follows that of the dark matter, and two where stars are defined by either an exponential density or surface brightness profile. The tidal evolution in the size–velocity dispersion plane is quite similar for these three models, although their remnants may differ widely in luminosity. Microgalaxies are therefore best distinguished from globular clusters by the presence of dark matter; either directly, by measuring their velocity dispersion, or indirectly, by examining their tidal resilience. Our work highlights the need for further theoretical and observational constraints on the stellar energy distribution in dwarf galaxies.

In this work, we investigate the merger rate of primordial black hole–neutron star (PBH-NS) binaries in two widely studied modified gravity (MG) models: Hu–Sawicki f ( R ) gravity and the normal branch of Dvali–Gabadadze–Porrati gravity. In our analysis, we take into account the effects of MG on the halo properties, including halo mass function, halo concentration parameter, halo density profile, and velocity dispersion of dark matter particles. We find that these MG models, due to their stronger gravitational field induced by an effective fifth force, predict enhanced merger rates compared to general relativity. This enhancement is found to be redshift-dependent and sensitive to model parameters and PBH mass and fraction. Assuming a PBH mass range of 5–50 M _⊙ , we compare the predicted merger rate of PBH-NS binaries with those inferred from LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA observations of gravitational waves (GWs). We find that the merger rates obtained from MG models will be consistent with the GW observations if the abundance of PBHs is relatively large, with the exact amount depending on the MG model and its parameter values, as well as PBH mass. We also establish upper limits on the abundance of PBHs in these MG frameworks while comparing them with the existing non-GW constraints, which can potentially impose even more stringent constraints.

The recently discovered stellar system Ursa Major III/UNIONS 1 (UMa3/U1) is the faintest known Milky Way satellite to date. With a stellar mass of ${16}_{-5}^{+6}\,{M}_{\odot }$ and a half-light radius of 3 ± 1 pc, it is either the darkest galaxy ever discovered or the faintest self-gravitating star cluster known to orbit the Galaxy. Its line-of-sight velocity dispersion suggests the presence of dark matter, although current measurements are inconclusive because of the unknown contribution to the dispersion of potential binary stars. We use N -body simulations to show that, if self-gravitating, the system could not survive in the Milky Way tidal field for much longer than a single orbit (roughly 0.4 Gyr), which strongly suggests that the system is stabilized by the presence of large amounts of dark matter. If UMa3/U1 formed at the center of a ∼10 ^9 M _⊙ cuspy LCDM halo, its velocity dispersion would be predicted to be of order ∼1 km s ^−1 . This is roughly consistent with the current estimate, which, neglecting binaries, places σ _los in the range 1–4 km s ^−1 . Because of its dense cusp, such a halo should be able to survive the Milky Way tidal field, keeping UMa3/U1 relatively unscathed until the present time. This implies that UMa3/U1 is plausibly the faintest and densest dwarf galaxy satellite of the Milky Way, with important implications for alternative dark matter models and for the minimum halo mass threshold for luminous galaxy formation in the LCDM cosmology. Our results call for multi-epoch high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up to confirm the dark matter content of this extraordinary system.

We investigate the feasibility of using the velocity acoustic oscillations (VAO) features on the Cosmic Dawn 21 cm power spectrum to probe small-scale density fluctuations. In the standard cold dark matter (CDM) model, Population III stars form in minihalos and affect the 21 cm signal through Ly α and X-ray radiation. Such a process is modulated by the relative motion between dark matter and baryons, generating the VAO wiggles on the 21 cm power spectrum. In the fuzzy or warm dark matter models for which the number of minihalos is reduced, the VAO wiggles are weaker or even fully invisible. We investigate the wiggle features in the CDM with different astrophysical models and in different dark matter models. We find that (1) in the CDM model the relative streaming velocities can generate the VAO wiggles for broad ranges of parameters f _* , ζ _X , and f _esc,LW ζ _LW , though for different parameters the wiggles would appear at different redshifts and have different amplitudes. (2) For the axion model with m _a ≲ 10 ^−19 eV, the VAO wiggles are negligible. In the mixed model, the VAO signal is sensitive to the axion fraction. For example, the wiggles almost disappear when f _a ≳ 10% for m _a = 10 ^−21 eV. Therefore, the VAO signal can be an effective indicator for small-scale density fluctuations and a useful probe of the nature of dark matter. The Square Kilometre Array-low with ∼2000 hr observation time has the ability to detect the VAO signal and constrain dark matter models.

Using data from ALFALFA, xGASS, H i -MaNGA, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we identify a sample of 47 “red but H i -rich” (RR) galaxies with near-UV (NUV) − r > 5 and unusually high H i -to-stellar mass ratios. We compare the optical properties and local environments between the RR galaxies and a control sample of “red and H i -normal” (RN) galaxies that are matched in stellar mass and color. The two samples are similar in the optical properties typical of massive red (quenched) galaxies in the local Universe. The RR sample tends to be associated with slightly lower-density environments and has lower clustering amplitudes and smaller neighbor counts at scales from several hundred kiloparsecs to a few megaparsecs. The results are consistent with the RR galaxies being preferentially located at the center of low-mass halos, with a median halo mass ∼10 ^12 h ^−1 M _⊙ compared to ∼10 ^12.5 h ^−1 M _⊙ for the RN sample. This result is confirmed by the SDSS group catalog, which reveals a central fraction of 89% for the RR sample, compared to ∼60% for the RN sample. If assumed to follow the H i size–mass relation of normal galaxies, the RR galaxies have an average H i -to-optical radius ratio of R _HI / R _90 ∼ 4, four times the average ratio for the RN sample. We compare our RR sample with similar samples in previous studies, and quantify the population of RR galaxies using the SDSS complete sample. We conclude that the RR galaxies form a unique but rare population, accounting for only a small fraction of the massive quiescent galaxy population. We discuss the formation scenarios of the RR galaxies.

Recent advances in photon detectors have provided exceptional sensitivities to dark matter with high angular resolution. Motivated by this, we present a detailed study of photon flux from dark matter decay in dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) by focusing on the detectors with arcsecond-level field of view and/or angular resolution. We propose to use differential D -factors since such detectors are sensitive to their dark matter distributions. We carefully estimate the differential D -factors of 35 dSphs. By using the differential D -factors, it turns out that the resulting signal flux can have a more than ${ \mathcal O }$ (1–10) enhancement compared to conventional estimations. Based on this analysis, we find that the Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (IRCS) installed on the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope can be an excellent dark matter detector for the mass in the eV range, particularly axion-like particles (ALPs). Observing the Draco or Ursa Major II dSphs with the IRCS for ${ \mathcal O }(1)$ night will enable us to place the most stringent bound for the ALP dark matter in the mass range of 1 eV ≲ m _a ≲ 2 eV.

By employing Tsallis’ extensive but non-additive δ-entropy, we formulate the first two laws of thermodynamics for gravitating systems. By invoking Carathéodory’s principle, we pay particular attention to the integrating factor for the heat one-form. We show that the latter factorizes into the product of thermal and entropic parts, where the entropic part cannot be reduced to a constant, as is the case in conventional thermodynamics, due to the non-additive nature of Sδ. The ensuing two laws of thermodynamics imply a Tsallis cosmology, which is then applied to a radiation-dominated universe to address the Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the relic abundance of cold dark matter particles. It is demonstrated that the Tsallis cosmology with the scaling exponent δ∼1.499 (or equivalently, the anomalous dimension Δ∼0.0013) consistently describes both the abundance of cold dark matter particles and the formation of primordial light elements, such as deuterium 2H and helium 4He. Salient issues, including the zeroth law of thermodynamics for the δ-entropy and the lithium 7Li problem, are also briefly discussed.

Among magnetar models of fast radio bursts (FRBs), there is ongoing debate about whether the site of coherent radio emission lies within or beyond the light cylinder. We propose a mechanism by which FRBs produced near the magnetar surface are transported out of the magnetosphere by axions, which are hypothetical particles that couple to photons. If the emission site hosts strong accelerating electric fields, a considerable fraction of the FRB energy budget is converted to an axion burst. Once produced, the axion burst free streams out of the magnetosphere due to the rapidly decreasing magnetic field. The burst may escape through either the open or closed magnetosphere while retaining the temporal signature of the original FRB. In the wind region, axions resonantly excite ordinary (O) modes that escape as the plasma density decreases. The radio efficiency of this mechanism satisfies energetics constraints from FRB 121102 for axion−photon coupling strengths that have not been excluded by other astrophysical probes.

In the E 6 inspired U (1) N extension of the minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model (MSSM), a single discrete Z ˜ 2 H symmetry permits suppressing rapid proton decay and non-diagonal flavor transitions. If matter parity and Z ˜ 2 H symmetry are preserved in this SUSY model (SE 6 SSM), it may involve two dark matter candidates. In this article, we study a new modification of the SE 6 SSM in which the cold dark matter is composed of gravitino and the lightest neutral exotic fermion. We argue that, in this case, the dark matter nucleon scattering cross-section can be considerably smaller than the present experimental limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold dark matter (DM) is conceived as a gas of massive particles that undergo collisions, interact gravitationally and exchange quanta of energy. A new nonrelativistic quantum theory is presented for this model of DM, based on a recently discovered equation for a spinless, no charge and free particle. This theory describes the quantum processes undergoing by the particles, specifies the required characteristic wavelength of the quanta of energy, gives constraints on the mass of DM particles, and predicts a detectable gravitational wave background associated with DM halos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The E6-inspired extension of the minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model (MSSM) with an extra U(1)N gauge symmetry, under which right-handed neutrinos have zero charge, involves exotic matter beyond the MSSM to ensure anomaly cancellation. We consider the variant of this extension (SE6SSM) in which the cold dark matter is composed of the lightest neutral exotic fermion and gravitino. The observed baryon asymmetry can be induced in this case via the decays of the lightest right-handed neutrino/sneutrino into exotic states even for relatively low reheating temperatures TR≲106−7GeV. We argue that there are some regions of the SE6SSM parameter space, which are safe from all current constraints, and discuss the implications of this model for collider phenomenology.

The "new standard cosmology," based on the theory of inflation, has very impressive observational support. I review some outstanding problems of the new cosmology and the global view of the universe—the multiverse—that it suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wide-area deep imaging surveys have discovered large numbers of extremely low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxies, which challenge galaxy formation theory and, potentially, offer new constraints on the nature of dark matter. Here we discuss one as-yet-unexplored formation mechanism that may account for a fraction of LSB dwarfs. We call this the “ghost galaxy” scenario. In this scenario, inefficient radiative cooling prevents star formation in the “main branch” of the merger tree of a low-mass dark matter halo, such that almost all its stellar mass is acquired through mergers with less massive (but nevertheless star-forming) progenitors. Present-day systems formed in this way would be “ghostly” isolated stellar halos with no central galaxy. We use merger trees based on the extended Press–Schechter formalism and the Copernicus Complexio cosmological N -body simulation to demonstrate that mass assembly histories of this kind can occur for low-mass halos in ΛCDM, but they are rare. They are most probable in isolated halos of present-day mass ∼4 × 10 ^9 M _⊙ , occurring for ∼5% of all halos of that mass under standard assumptions about the timing and effect of cosmic reionization. The stellar masses of star-forming progenitors in these systems are highly uncertain; abundance-matching arguments imply a bimodal present-day mass function having a brighter population (median M _⋆ ∼ 3 × 10 ^6 M _⊙ ) consistent with the tail of the observed luminosity function of ultradiffuse galaxies. This suggests that observable analogs of these systems may await discovery. We find that a stronger ionizing background (globally or locally) produces brighter and more extended ghost galaxies.

According to the current concordance cosmological model, dark matter (DM) particles are collisionless and produce self-gravitating structures with a central cusp, which, generally, is not observed. The observed density tends to a central plateau or core, explained within the cosmological model through the gravitational feedback of baryons on DM. This mechanism becomes inefficient when decreasing the galaxy’s stellar mass so that in the low-mass regime ( M _⋆ ≪ 10 ^6 M _⊙ ) the energy provided by the baryons is insufficient to modify cusps into cores. Thus, if cores exist in these galaxies they have to reflect departures from the collisionless nature of DM. Measuring the DM mass distribution in these faint galaxies is extremely challenging; however, their stellar mass distribution can be characterized through deep photometry. Here we provide a way of using only the stellar mass distribution to constrain the underlying DM distribution. The so-called Eddington inversion method allows us to discard pairs of stellar distributions and DM potentials requiring (unphysical) negative distribution functions in the phase space. In particular, cored stellar density profiles are incompatible with the Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) potential expected from collisionless DM if the velocity distribution is isotropic and the system spherically symmetric. Through a case-by-case analysis, we are able to relax these assumptions to consider anisotropic velocity distributions and systems that do not have exact cores. In general, stellar distributions with radially biased orbits are difficult to reconcile with NFW-like potentials, and cores in the baryon distribution tend to require cores in the DM distribution.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) will induce a dynamical friction (DF) wake on infall to the Milky Way (MW). The MW’s stellar halo will respond to the gravity of the LMC and the dark matter (DM) wake, forming a stellar counterpart to the DM wake. This provides a novel opportunity to constrain the properties of the DM particle. We present a suite of high-resolution, windtunnel-style simulations of the LMC's DF wake that compare the structure, kinematics, and stellar tracer response of the DM wake in cold DM (CDM), with and without self-gravity, versus fuzzy DM (FDM) with m _a = 10 ^−23 eV. We conclude that the self-gravity of the DM wake cannot be ignored. Its inclusion raises the wake’s density by ∼10%, and holds the wake together over larger distances (∼50 kpc) than if self-gravity is ignored. The DM wake’s mass is comparable to the LMC’s infall mass, meaning the DM wake is a significant perturber to the dynamics of MW halo tracers. An FDM wake is more granular in structure and is ∼20% dynamically colder than a CDM wake, but with comparable density. The granularity of an FDM wake increases the stars’ kinematic response at the percent level compared to CDM, providing a possible avenue of distinguishing a CDM versus FDM wake. This underscores the need for kinematic measurements of stars in the stellar halo at distances of 70–100 kpc.

We look for possible evidence of a nonminimal coupling (NMC) between dark matter (DM) and gravity using data from the X-COP compilation of galaxy clusters. We consider a theoretically motivated NMC that may dynamically arise from the collective behavior of the coarse-grained DM field (e.g., via Bose–Einstein condensation) with averaging/coherence length L _NMC . In the Newtonian limit, the NMC modifies the Poisson equation by a term ${L}_{\mathrm{NMC}}^{2}{{\rm{\nabla }}}^{2}\rho $ proportional to the Laplacian of the DM density itself. We show that this term, when acting as a perturbation over the standard Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile of cold DM particles, can yield DM halo density profiles capable of correctly fitting galaxy clusters’ pressure profiles with an accuracy comparable to and, in some cases, even better than the standard cold DM NFW profile. We also show that the observed relation between the NMC length scale and the virial mass found in Gandolfi et al. for late-type galaxies is consistent with the relation we find in the current work, suggesting that the previously determined power-law scaling law holds up to galaxy cluster mass scales.

Substructures are known to be good tracers for the dynamical states and recent accretion histories of the most massive collapsed structures in the universe, galaxy clusters. Observations find extremely massive substructures in some clusters, especially Abell 2744 (A2744), which are potentially in tension with the ΛCDM paradigm because they are not found in simulations directly. However, the methods to measure substructure masses strongly differ between observations and simulations. Using the fully hydrodynamical cosmological simulation suite Magneticum Pathfinder , we develop a method to measure substructure masses in projection from simulations, similarly to the observational approach. We identify a simulated A2744 counterpart that not only has eight substructures of similar mass fractions but also exhibits similar features in the hot gas component. This cluster formed only recently through a major merger together with at least six massive minor merger events since z = 1, where previously the most massive component had a mass of less than 1 × 10 ^14 M _⊙ . We show that the mass fraction of all substructures and of the eighth substructure separately are excellent tracers for the dynamical state and assembly history for all galaxy cluster mass ranges, with high fractions indicating merger events within the last 2 Gyr. Finally, we demonstrate that the differences between subhalo masses measured directly from simulations as bound and those measured in projection are due to methodology, with the latter generally 2–3 times larger than the former. We provide a predictor function to estimate projected substructure masses from SubFind masses for future comparison studies between simulations and observations.

We present the results of dark matter (DM) searches in a sample of 31 dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxies within the field of view of the HAWC Observatory. dIrr galaxies are DM-dominated objects in which astrophysical gamma-ray emission is estimated to be negligible with respect to the secondary gamma-ray flux expected by annihilation or decay of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). While we do not see any statistically significant DM signal in dIrr galaxies, we present the exclusion limits (95% C.L.) for annihilation cross section and decay lifetime for WIMP candidates with masses between 1 and 100 TeV. Exclusion limits from dIrr galaxies are relevant and complementary to benchmark dwarf Spheroidal (dSph) galaxies. In fact, dIrr galaxies are targets kinematically different from benchmark dSph, preserving the footprints of different evolution histories. We compare the limits from dIrr galaxies to those from ultrafaint and classical dSph galaxies previously observed with HAWC. We find that the constraints are comparable to the limits from classical dSph galaxies and ∼2 orders of magnitude weaker than the ultrafaint dSph limits.

In the E6 inspired U(1)N extension of the minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) standard model (MSSM), a single discrete Z˜2H symmetry permits suppressing rapid proton decay and non-diagonal flavor transitions. If matter parity and Z˜2H symmetry are preserved in this SUSY model (SE6SSM), it may involve two dark matter candidates. In this article, we study a new modification of the SE6SSM in which the cold dark matter is composed of gravitino and the lightest neutral exotic fermion. We argue that, in this case, the dark matter nucleon scattering cross-section can be considerably smaller than the present experimental limit.

Stellar streams from globular clusters (GCs) offer constraints on the nature of dark matter and have been used to explore the dark matter halo structure and substructure of our Galaxy. Detection of GC streams in other galaxies would broaden this endeavor to a cosmological context, yet no such streams have been detected to date. To enable such exploration, we develop the Hough Stream Spotter ( HSS ), and apply it to the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS) photometric data of resolved stars in M31's stellar halo. We first demonstrate that our code can re-discover known dwarf streams in M31. We then use the HSS to blindly identify 27 linear GC stream-like structures in the PAndAS data. For each HSS GC stream candidate, we investigate the morphologies of the streams and the colors and magnitudes of all stars in the candidate streams. We find that the five most significant detections show a stronger signal along the red giant branch in color–magnitude diagrams than spurious non-stream detections. Lastly, we demonstrate that the HSS will easily detect globular cluster streams in future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope data of nearby galaxies. This has the potential to open up a new discovery space for GC stream studies, GC stream gap searches, and for GC stream-based constraints on the nature of dark matter.