arXiv subjects

Jordan Mirocha

Publications and source records attributed to Jordan Mirocha.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

CIBER $\times$ galaxy cross-correlations reveal a bright, low-redshift NIR background

We perform the first tomographic analysis of near-IR extragalactic background light (EBL) anisotropies, cross-correlating CIBER 1.1 and 1.8 $\mu$m imager data with photometric galaxy catalogs from DESI Legacy Survey DR8 and Hyper-Suprime-Cam Ultra-Deep Survey. We measure significantly higher cross-power than expectations from an integrated galaxy light (IGL) model on scales $\ell < 2000$, concentrated at low redshift ($z\lesssim 0.6$). Cluster member galaxies and associated structure account for 15-20\% of the large-angle cross-power, indicating that group- and galaxy-scale halos contribute the bulk of the signal. Through a parametric halo model decomposition, we detect two-halo and one-halo clustering in cross-power at high significance, with amplitudes that decline smoothly across $z=0{-}1$. The inferred one-halo cross-power is of similar amplitude between DESI-LS and the deeper HSC catalog, implying a scenario in which low-redshift EBL fluctuations are amplified by contributions from lower-mass halos with satellites and/or diffuse intra-halo light (IHL). Converting our two-halo fits into estimates of $b_I \times dI/dz$, we find that standard IGL predictions underestimate our measurements, even when assuming an intensity bias as high as 3, similar to that of large SZ clusters, suggesting that a higher $dI/dz$ is required to reconcile observed discrepancies. Lastly, we find that correlated large-scale structure (LSS) at $z<1$ accounts for a substantial fraction of the CIBER auto-power reported in earlier work. These results identify low-redshift LSS as a significant and previously unappreciated contributor to near-IR EBL fluctuation measurements, setting the stage for cross-correlation science with CIBER-2, SPHEREx and a variety of LSS tracers.

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arXiv2026

Spectral Map Making with SPHEREx

We present map-making methodologies and preliminary spectral data cubes for SPHEREx, a NASA Explorer mission that launched in March 2025 and has been performing an all-sky near-infrared spectral survey. The SPHEREx instrument observes from 0.75 to 5.0 microns with a spectral resolution ranging from 35 to 130 and a pixel size of 6.15". We define a nominal set of 102 wavelength channels, each of which maps the entire sky approximately twice per year. Among the main mission goals is an investigation of the cosmic history of galaxy formation through intensity mapping of the extragalactic background light (EBL), which is a primary motivation for the map maker described in this work. The SPHEREx dataset contains a wealth of additional mapping targets, e.g., resolved galaxies and nebulae and diffuse clouds of Galactic dust and gas, which display strong spectral features such as hydrogen recombination lines, molecular-hydrogen lines and emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). We describe how our map maker handles these various cases, how to mitigate foregrounds such as zodiacal light and upper-atmospheric emission and how to monitor and mitigate systematics and signal loss. Our maps are produced both in tangent-plane projection and in full-sky HEALPix format. Specialized maps will be released to accompany future publications from the SPHEREx Science Team, and a public mosaic tool will be made available by the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA).

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arXiv2026

Relatively Fast and Reasonably Furious: Evidence for Increased Burstiness in Smaller Halos at Cosmic Dawn

We introduce an effective framework to model star-formation burstiness and use it to jointly fit galaxy UV luminosity functions (UVLFs), clustering, and H$\alpha$/UV ratios, providing the first robust empirical evidence that early galaxies hosted in lower-mass halos are burstier. Using $z\sim 4-6$ observations, we find that galaxies show approximately $0.6$ dex of SFR variability if hosted in halos of $M_h = 10^{11}\, M_\odot$ (typical of $M_{\rm UV}\approx -19$ galaxies at $z = 6$). This translates into a scatter of $\sigma_{M_{\rm UV}}\approx 0.75$ mag in the UVLF, in line with past findings. Strikingly, we find that burstiness grows for galaxies hosted in smaller halos, reaching $\gtrsim 1$ dex for $M_h \leq 10^{9}\, M_\odot$ (corresponding to $\sigma_{M_{\rm UV}} \approx 1.5$ mag for faint $M_{\rm UV} \gtrsim -15$ galaxies). Extrapolating to higher redshifts, when small halos were more prevalent, the inferred mass-dependent burstiness can reproduce observed UVLFs up to $z\sim 17$ within 1$\sigma$, potentially alleviating the tension between pre- and post-JWST galaxy-formation models. Current observations allow us to constrain the main burst timescale to approximately $20$ Myr, consistent with expectations from supernova feedback, and suggest broad distributions of ionizing efficiencies at fixed $M_{\rm UV}$. Our results demonstrate that mass-dependent burstiness, as predicted by hydrodynamical simulations, is critical for understanding the mass assembly of early galaxies.

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arXiv2025

First Results from HERA Phase II

We report the first upper limits on the power spectrum of 21-cm fluctuations during the Epoch of Reionization and Cosmic Dawn from Phase II of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) experiment. HERA Phase II constitutes several significant improvements in the signal chain compared to Phase I, most notably resulting in expanded frequency bandwidth, from 50-250 MHz. In these first upper limits, we investigate a small two-week subset of the available Phase II observations, with a focus on identifying new systematic characteristics of the instrument, and establishing an analysis pipeline to account for them. We report 2$\sigma$ upper limits in eight spectral bands, spanning $5.6 \leq z \leq 24.4$ that are consistent with thermal noise at the $2\sigma$ level for $k \gtrsim 0.6-0.9 h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ (band dependent). Our tightest limit during Cosmic Dawn ($z>12$) is $1.13\times 10^6 {\rm mK}^2$ at ($k=0.55 h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}, z=16.78$), and during the EoR ($5.5<z<12$) it is $1.78\times 10^3 {\rm mK}^2$ at ($k=0.70 h{\rm Mpc}^{-1}, z=7.05$). We find that mutual coupling has become our dominant systematic, leaking foreground power that strongly contaminates the low-$k$ modes, resulting in the loss of modes from $k=0.35-0.55$ compared to Phase I data.

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arXiv2025

The SPHEREx Satellite Mission

SPHEREx, a NASA explorer satellite launched on 11 March 2025, is carrying out the first all-sky near-infrared spectral survey. The satellite observes in 102 spectral bands from 0.75 to 5.0 um with a resolving power ranging from 35 to 130 in 6.2 arcsecond pixels. The observatory obtains a 5-sigma depth of 19.5 - 19.9 AB mag for 0.75 to 3.8 um and 17.8 - 18.8 AB mag for 3.8 to 5.0 um after mapping the full sky four times over two years. Scientifically, SPHEREx will produce a large galaxy redshift survey over the full sky, intended to constrain the amplitude of inflationary non-Gaussianity. The observations will produce two deep spectral maps near the ecliptic poles that will use intensity mapping to probe the evolution of galaxies over cosmic history. By mapping the depth of infrared absorption features over the Galactic plane, SPHEREx will comprehensively survey the abundance and composition of water and other biogenic ice species in the interstellar medium. The initial data are rapidly released in the form of spectral images to the public. The project will release specialized data products over the life of the mission as the surveys proceed. The science team will also produce specialized spectral catalogs on planet-bearing and low-mass stars, solar system objects, and galaxy clusters 3 years after launch. We describe the design of the instrument and spacecraft, which flow from the core science requirements. Finally, we present an initial evaluation of the in-flight performance and key characteristics.

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arXiv2025

Sensitivity of the Global 21-cm Signal to Dark Matter-Baryon Scattering

With current and upcoming experiments on the horizon, the global 21-cm signal can open up new avenues for probing dark matter (DM) physics at redshifts that are otherwise inaccessible to other observables. This work investigates the effects of elastic scattering between DM and baryons on the global 21-cm signal in two distinct interacting DM (IDM) models: Coulomb-like and velocity-independent interactions. Our analysis incorporates key astrophysical parameters essential for accurately modeling the global signal, including star formation efficiency, escape fraction of ionizing photons, normalization of the X-ray luminosity, the number of Lyman-Werner photons emitted per stellar baryon, the minimum virial temperature of star-forming halos, as well as the IDM particle mass and cross section. We perform a Fisher analysis to forecast the sensitivity of four global 21-cm signal experimental scenarios as probes of DM-baryon scattering. We find that global signal experiments, even at the sensitivity of the current facilities such as EDGES and SARAS3, could improve existing cosmological and astrophysical constraints on DM-baryon scattering. Our results also highlight the degeneracies among the DM-baryon interaction cross section and astrophysical quantities. In particular, degeneracies between the IDM cross section and two astrophysical parameters, the minimum virial temperature, and Lyman-Werner photon production, can significantly impact the DM interaction inference. Conversely, the velocity-independent cross section is found to be insensitive to uncertainties in the X-ray luminosity. These findings underscore the necessity of accurately characterizing the uncertainties in astrophysical parameters to leverage the full potential of the 21-cm global signal experiments in probing IDM physics.

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arXiv2025

CIBER 4th flight fluctuation analysis: Measurements of near-IR auto- and cross-power spectra on arcminute to sub-degree scales

We present new anisotropy measurements in the near-infrared (NIR) for angular multipoles $300<\ell<10^5$ using imaging data at 1.1 $\mu$m and 1.8 $\mu$m from the fourth flight of the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment (CIBER). Using improved analysis methods and higher quality fourth flight data, we detect surface brightness fluctuations on scales $\ell<2000$ with CIBER auto-power spectra at $\sim14\sigma$ and 18$\sigma$ for 1.1 and 1.8 $\mu$m, respectively, and at $\sim10\sigma$ in cross-power spectra. The CIBER measurements pass internal consistency tests and represent a $5-10\times$ improvement in power spectrum sensitivity on several-arcminute scales relative to that of existing studies. Through cross-correlations with tracers of diffuse galactic light (DGL), we determine that scattered DGL contributes $<10\%$ to the observed fluctuation power at high confidence. On scales $\theta > 5'$, the CIBER auto- and cross-power spectra exceed predictions for integrated galactic light (IGL) and integrated stellar light (ISL) by over an order of magnitude, and are inconsistent with our baseline IGL+ISL+DGL model at high significance. We cross-correlate two of the CIBER fields with 3.6 $\mu$m and 4.5 $\mu$m mosaics from the Spitzer Deep Wide-Field Survey and find similar evidence for departures from Poisson noise in Spitzer-internal power spectra and CIBER $\times$ Spitzer cross-power spectra. A multi-wavelength analysis indicates that the auto-power of the fluctuations at low-$\ell$ is bluer than the Poisson noise from IGL and ISL; however, for $1' <\theta < 10'$, the cross-correlation coefficient $r_{\ell}$ of nearly all band combinations decreases with increasing $\theta$, disfavoring astrophysical explanations that invoke a single correlated sky component.

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arXiv2024

Constraining bursty star formation histories with galaxy UV and H$\alpha$ luminosity functions and clustering

The observed prevalence of galaxies exhibiting bursty star formation histories (SFHs) at $z\gtrsim6$ has created new challenges and opportunities for understanding their formation pathways. The degenerate effects of the efficiency and burstiness of star formation on the observed UV luminosity function are separable by galaxy clustering. However, quantifying the timescales of burstiness requires more than just the continuum UV measurements. Here we develop a flexible semi-analytic framework for modeling both the amplitude of star formation rate (SFR) variations and their temporal correlation, from which the luminosity function and clustering can be derived for SFR indicators tracing different characteristic timescales (e.g., UV continuum and H$\alpha$ luminosities). Based on this framework, we study the prospect of using galaxy summary statistics to distinguish models where SFR fluctuations are prescribed by different power spectral density (PSD) forms. Using the Fisher matrix approach, we forecast the constraints on parameters in our PSD-based model that can be extracted from mock JWST observations of the UV and H$\alpha$ luminosity functions and clustering bias factors at $z\sim6$. These constraints demonstrate the feasibility of constraining the burstiness of high-$z$ galaxies solely from their one-point and two-point statistics and underscore the importance of combining tracers of both long-term and short-term SFR variations. Our flexible framework can be readily extended to characterize the SFH of high-redshift galaxies with a wider range of observational diagnostics.

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arXiv2024

LIMFAST. III. Timing Cosmic Reionization with the 21 cm and Near-Infrared Backgrounds

The timeline of cosmic reionization remains uncertain despite sustained efforts to study how the ionizing output of early galaxies shaped the intergalactic medium (IGM). Using the semi-numerical code LIMFAST, we investigate the prospects for timing the reionization process by cross-correlating the 21 cm signal with the cosmic near-infrared background (NIRB) contributed by galaxies at $z>5$. Tracing opposite phases of the IGM on large scales during reionization, the two signals together serve as a powerful probe for the reionization history. However, because long-wavelength, line-of-sight Fourier modes -- the only modes probed by NIRB fluctuations -- are contaminated by 21 cm foregrounds and thus inevitably lost to foreground cleaning or avoidance, a direct cross-correlation of the two signals vanishes. We show that this problem can be circumvented by squaring the foreground-filtered 21 cm signal and cross-correlating the squared field with the NIRB. This statistic is related to the 21 cm--21 cm--NIRB cross-bispectrum and encodes valuable information regarding the reionization timeline. Particularly, the 21 cm$^2$ and NIRB signals are positively correlated during the early phases of reionization and negatively correlated at later stages. We demonstrate that this behavior is generic across several different reionization models and compare our simulated results with perturbative calculations. We show that this cross-correlation can be detected at high significance by forthcoming 21 cm and NIRB surveys such as SKA and SPHEREx. Our methodology is more broadly applicable to cross-correlations between line intensity mapping data and 2D tracers of the large-scale structure, including photometric galaxy surveys and CMB lensing mass maps, among others.

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arXiv2024

A physically-motivated template set for high-z galaxy SED fitting

We introduce a new physically-motivated spectral template set for fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of high-z galaxies. We use the public galaxy formation code ARES to generate star formation histories of thirteen representative galaxies with diverse masses and generate their predicted spectra across a set of redshifts at z > 6. The model parameters are calibrated to reproduce the properties of z > 6 galaxies observed by HST. Motivated by the apparent importance of bursty star formation at high redshifts, we also include templates with recent starbursts. We use these templates with the SED-fitting code EAZY to analyze both an independent theoretical model and a public sample of JWST-observed galaxies from the JADES survey. The comparison with a semi-analytic model demonstrates that our fitting framework accurately measures the galaxy properties, even when the underlying assumptions of the model differ from ours. Our preliminary application to JWST data shows that galaxies at z > 8 are often bursty (especially at small galaxy masses), follow a star-forming main sequence similar to those at lower redshift (albeit with a higher normalization), and form stars earlier than expected in ares. Our SED-fitting framework is very fast (thanks to the efficiency of EAZY) but provides full inferred star formation histories for each source. Additionally, it enables a direct comparison to theoretical models and helps point toward improvements necessary in those models.

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arXiv2024

The relative constraining power of the high-$z$ 21-cm dipole and monopole signals

The 21-cm background is a promising probe of early star formation and black hole activity. While a slew of experiments on the ground seek to detect the 21-cm monopole and spatial fluctuations on large $\sim 10$ arcminute scales, little work has been done on the prospects for detecting the 21-cm dipole signal or its utility as a probe of early galaxies. Though an intrinsically weak signal relative to the monopole, its direction is known well from the cosmic microwave background and wide-field surveys, plus as a relative measurement the dipole could help relax instrumental requirements. In order to understand the constraining power of the dipole, in this work we perform parameter inference on mock datasets that include the dipole, monopole, or both signals. We find that while the monopole does provide the best constraints for a given integration time, constraints from a dipole measurement are competitive, and can in principle constrain the cosmic star formation rate density and efficiency of X-ray photon production in early $z \sim 15$ galaxies to better than a factor of $\sim 2$. This result holds for most of the available prior volume, which is set by constraints on galaxy luminosity functions, the reionization history, and upper limits from 21-cm power spectrum experiments. We also find that predictions for the monopole from a dipole measurement are robust to different choices of signal model. As a result, the 21-cm dipole signal is a valuable target for future observations and offers a robust cross-check on monopole measurements.

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arXiv2024

Reionization after JWST: a photon budget crisis?

New James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations are revealing the first galaxies to be prolific producers of ionizing photons, which we argue gives rise to a tension between different probes of reionization. Over the last two decades a consensus has emerged where star-forming galaxies are able to generate enough photons to drive reionization, given reasonable values for their number densities, ionizing efficiencies $\xi_{\rm ion}$ (per unit UV luminosity), and escape fractions $f_{\rm esc}$. However, some new JWST observations infer high values of $\xi_{\rm ion}$ during reionization and an enhanced abundance of earlier ($z\gtrsim 9$) galaxies, dramatically increasing the number of ionizing photons produced at high $z$. Simultaneously, recent low-$z$ studies predict significant escape fractions for faint reionization-era galaxies. Put together, we show that the galaxies we have directly observed ($M_{\rm UV} < -15$) not only can drive reionization, but would end it too early. That is, our current galaxy observations, taken at face value, imply an excess of ionizing photons and thus a process of reionization in tension with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Lyman-$\alpha$ forest. Considering galaxies down to $M_{\rm UV}\approx -11$, below current observational limits, only worsens this tension. We discuss possible avenues to resolve this photon budget crisis, including systematics in either theory or observations.

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arXiv2024

Exploring the role of the halo mass function for inferring astrophysical parameters during reionisation

The detection of the 21-cm signal at $z\gtrsim6$ will reveal insights into the properties of the first galaxies responsible for driving reionisation. To extract this information, we perform parameter inference which requires embedding 3D simulations of the 21-cm signal within a Bayesian inference pipeline. Presently, when performing inference we must choose which sources of uncertainty to sample and which to hold fixed. Since the astrophysics of galaxies are much more uncertain than those of the underlying halo-mass function (HMF), we usually parameterise and model the former while fixing the latter. However, in doing so we may bias our inference of the properties of these first galaxies. In this work, we explore the consequences of assuming an incorrect choice of HMF and quantify the relative biases in our inferred astrophysical model parameters when considering the wrong HMF. We then relax this assumption by constructing a generalised five parameter model for the HMF and simultaneously recover these parameters along with our underlying astrophysical model. For this analysis, we use 21cmFAST and perform Simulation-Based Inference by applying marginal neural ratio estimation to learn the likelihood-to-evidence ratio using Swyft. Using a mock 1000 hour observation of the 21-cm power spectrum from the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array, conservatively assuming foreground wedge avoidance, we find assuming the incorrect HMF can bias the recovered astrophysical parameters by up to $\sim3-4\sigma$ even when including independent information from observed luminosity functions. When considering our generalised HMF model, we recover constraints on our astrophysical parameters with a factor of $\sim2-4$ larger marginalised uncertainties. Importantly, these constraints are unbiased, agnostic to the underlying HMF and therefore more conservative.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2023

Machine-learning recovery of foreground wedge-removed 21-cm light cones for high-$z$ galaxy mapping

Upcoming experiments will map the spatial distribution of the 21-cm signal over three-dimensional volumes of space during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Several methods have been proposed to mitigate the issue of astrophysical foreground contamination in tomographic images of the 21-cm signal, one of which involves the excision of a wedge-shaped region in cylindrical Fourier space. While this removes the $k$-modes most readily contaminated by foregrounds, the concurrent removal of cosmological information located within the wedge considerably distorts the structure of 21-cm images. In this study, we build upon a U-Net based deep learning algorithm to reconstruct foreground wedge-removed maps of the 21-cm signal, newly incorporating light-cone effects. Adopting the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) as our fiducial instrument, we highlight that our U-Net recovery framework retains a reasonable level of reliability even in the face of instrumental limitations and noise. We subsequently evaluate the efficacy of recovered maps in guiding high-redshift galaxy searches and providing context to existing galaxy catalogues. This will allow for studies of how the high-redshift galaxy luminosity function varies across environments, and ultimately refine our understanding of the connection between the ionization state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) and galaxies during the EoR.

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arXiv2023

Breaking degeneracies in the first galaxies with clustering

The high-redshift galaxy UV luminosity function (UVLF) has become essential for understanding the formation and evolution of the first galaxies. Yet, UVLFs only measure galaxy abundances, giving rise to a degeneracy between the mean galaxy luminosity and its stochasticity. Here, we show that upcoming clustering measurements with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as well as with Roman, will be able to break this degeneracy, even at redshifts $z \gtrsim 10$. First, we demonstrate that current Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) measurements of the galaxy bias at $z\sim 4-6$ point to a relatively tight halo-galaxy connection, with low stochasticity. Then, we show that the larger UVLFs observed by JWST at $z\gtrsim 10$ can be explained with either a boosted average UV emission or an enhanced stochasticity. These two models, however, predict different galaxy biases, which are potentially distinguishable in JWST and Roman surveys. Galaxy-clustering measurements, therefore, will provide crucial insights into the connection between the first galaxies and their dark-matter halos, and identify the root cause of the enhanced abundance of $z \gtrsim 10$ galaxies revealed with JWST during its first year of operations.

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arXiv2022

Improved Constraints on the 21 cm EoR Power Spectrum and the X-Ray Heating of the IGM with HERA Phase I Observations

We report the most sensitive upper limits to date on the 21 cm epoch of reionization power spectrum using 94 nights of observing with Phase I of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). Using similar analysis techniques as in previously reported limits (HERA Collaboration 2022a), we find at 95% confidence that $\Delta^2(k = 0.34$ $h$ Mpc$^{-1}$) $\leq 457$ mK$^2$ at $z = 7.9$ and that $\Delta^2 (k = 0.36$ $h$ Mpc$^{-1}) \leq 3,496$ mK$^2$ at $z = 10.4$, an improvement by a factor of 2.1 and 2.6 respectively. These limits are mostly consistent with thermal noise over a wide range of $k$ after our data quality cuts, despite performing a relatively conservative analysis designed to minimize signal loss. Our results are validated with both statistical tests on the data and end-to-end pipeline simulations. We also report updated constraints on the astrophysics of reionization and the cosmic dawn. Using multiple independent modeling and inference techniques previously employed by HERA Collaboration (2022b), we find that the intergalactic medium must have been heated above the adiabatic cooling limit at least as early as $z = 10.4$, ruling out a broad set of so-called "cold reionization" scenarios. If this heating is due to high-mass X-ray binaries during the cosmic dawn, as is generally believed, our result's 99% credible interval excludes the local relationship between soft X-ray luminosity and star formation and thus requires heating driven by evolved low-metallicity stars.

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arXiv2022

Structure Formation and the Global 21-cm Signal in the Presence of Coulomb-like Dark Matter-Baryon Interactions

Many compelling dark matter (DM) scenarios feature Coulomb-like interactions between DM particles and baryons, in which the cross section for elastic scattering scales with relative particle velocity as $v^{-4}$. Previous studies have invoked such interactions to produce heat exchange between cold DM and baryons and alter the temperature evolution of hydrogen. In this study, we present a comprehensive study of the effects of Coulomb-like scattering on structure formation, in addition to the known effects on the thermal history of hydrogen. We find that interactions which significantly alter the temperature of hydrogen at Cosmic Dawn also dramatically suppress the formation of galaxies that source the Lyman-$\alpha$ background, further affecting the global 21-cm signal. In particular, an interaction cross section at the current observational upper limit leads to a decrease in the abundance of star-forming halos by a factor of $\sim 2$ at $z\sim 20$, relative to cold, collisionless DM. We also find that DM that is 100% millicharged cannot reproduce the depth and the timing of the reported EDGES anomaly in any part of the parameter space. These results critically inform modeling of the global 21-cm signal and structure formation in cosmologies with DM-baryon scattering, with repercussions for future and upcoming cosmological data analysis.

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arXiv2022

Seeking dark matter with $\gamma$-ray attenuation

The flux of high-energy astrophysical $\gamma$ rays is attenuated by the production of electron-positron pairs from scattering off of extragalactic background light (EBL). We use the most up-to-date information on galaxy populations to compute their contributions to the pair-production optical depth. We find that the optical depth inferred from $\gamma$-ray measurements exceeds that expected from galaxies at the $\sim2\sigma$ level. If the excess is modeled as a frequency-independent re-scaling of the standard contribution to the EBL from galaxies, then an excess (an overall $14-30\%$ increase of the EBL) over the null hypothesis of no excess at the $2.7\sigma$ level. If the frequency dependence of the excess is instead modeled as a two-photon decay of a dark-matter axion, then the excess is favored over the null hypothesis at the $2.1\sigma$ confidence level. While we find no evidence for a dark-matter signal, the analysis sets the strongest current bounds on the photon-axion coupling over the $8-25$ eV mass range. This work highlights the sensitivity of $\gamma$-ray optical depth measurements to ALPs, which is expected to improve with new observatories and better EBL determinations from future observations.

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