arXiv subjects

M. Sten Delos

Publications and source records attributed to M. Sten Delos.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Warm, not Fuzzy: Generalized Ultralight Dark Matter Limits from Milky Way Satellites

We generalize lower limits on the dark matter (DM) particle mass $m$ derived from Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxy abundances to scenarios in which DM is an ultralight scalar field produced with a field power spectrum peaked at a subhorizon wavenumber $k_*$. In these models, the DM field free-streams similarly to warm DM while also exhibiting significant small-scale wave interference effects. The resulting dimensionless density power spectrum shows two effects: (i) free-streaming suppression at $k_{\rm fs}\sim k_{\rm eq}/[(k_*/a_{\rm eq}m)\ln(a_{\rm eq}m/k_*)]$; (ii) Poisson-like enhancement related to wave interference at $k\gtrsim10^{-2}k_*$, which saturates near the Jeans scale $k_{\rm J}\sim k_{\rm eq}/(k_*/a_{\rm eq}m)$. Comparing these predictions with established constraints on a free-streaming cutoff in the linear matter power spectrum from the MW satellite population and assuming that warm ultralight DM does not change the form of the galaxy--halo connection relative to cold DM, we obtain $m>6\times10^{-18}\,{\rm eV}\,(k_*/10^4\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1})$ for $k_*>10^4\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ at 95% confidence. For smaller $k_*$, Poisson-noise enhancement on MW satellite scales weakens the constraint, yielding $m>6\times10^{-18}\,{\rm eV}\,(k_*/10^4\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1})^2$ for $k_*<10^4\,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$ at 95% confidence.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2026

Testing warm dark matter with kinematics of the smallest galaxies

Every dark matter halo forms with a $ρ\propto r^{-1.5}$ density cusp at its center. For warm dark matter (WDM), these prompt cusps can be massive enough to influence the kinematics of dwarf galaxies. By implementing prompt cusps in the Galacticus galaxy formation model, we show that the measured velocity dispersions of Tucana V and Triangulum II are serious outliers for dwarf galaxies arising in WDM models. For thermal-relic dark matter, the three faintest Milky Way satellites together constrain the particle mass to be $m_χ>5.8$ keV at 95 percent confidence or $m_χ>9.4$ keV at 90 percent confidence. Improved velocity dispersion measurements for these systems could greatly refine this constraint, as could identification and kinematic characterization of more such galaxies.

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arXiv2026

Growth of Structure in Multi-species Wave Dark Matter

We explore the growth of structure in multi-species wave (and particle) dark matter. We derive the evolution of the power spectrum of total density contrasts for an arbitrary number of component species, density fractions, and initial field power spectra. We also derive cross-spectra for density correlations across or within individual species. Our framework includes cold and warm wave dark matter, which can give rise to significant intrinsic Poisson-like density fluctuations along with scale-dependent evolution connected to the free-streaming and Jeans scales. Such dark matter components could be globally or locally misaligned scalar fields as well as multi-component fields with spin $>0$. The framework also includes cold and warm particle dark matter in the appropriate limits.

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arXiv2026

The pre-infall bias of subhalos

Dark matter halos destined to fall into a more massive host differ from typical field halos of the same mass even before infall. In cosmological simulations, we find that the progenitor mass functions of these "future subhalos" are systematically shifted toward higher masses, with the shift growing as infall approaches. The bias takes a compact form within extended Press-Schechter theory: the collapse barrier is multiplied by a function $β(D/D_\mathrm{infall},a)$, where $D$ is the linear growth factor at scale factor $a$ and $D_\mathrm{infall}$ is the growth factor at infall. We find $β(x,a)=(1-x)^{1.20+0.14a}$ for the $M_{200\mathrm{c}}$ mass definition and $(1-x)^{1.20+0.05a}$ for $M_{200\mathrm{m}}$; the explicit scale-factor dependence captures the late-time influence of dark energy. One consequence is that halos shortly before infall are 10-15% more centrally concentrated than typical field halos of the same mass.

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arXiv2026

Multi-species Dark Matter with Warmth and Randomness

We present a general analytic framework for the evolution of cosmic structure in multi-species dark matter models that simultaneously incorporates finite velocity dispersion and Poisson fluctuations. Our approach accommodates arbitrary numbers of dark matter components with distinct mass fractions, velocity distributions, and number densities -- ranging from cold particles to warm species and sparse populations such as primordial black holes or solitons. The framework is based on solving a truncated BBGKY hierarchy, whose solution is obtained by solving Volterra integral equations. We provide an efficient algorithm to solve for the total, as well as inter- and intra-species power spectra. Worked examples with two-component mixtures illustrate how isocurvature (initially Poisson) and adiabatic spectra evolve differently depending on the properties of the warm or sparse fraction. This evolution is controlled by the free-streaming and Jeans scales, and the results match analytic estimates and $N$-body simulations.

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arXiv2026

Role of prompt cusps in driving the core collapse of SIDM halos

Prompt cusps (PCs) form from the direct collapse of overdensities in the early Universe, reside at the center of every dark matter halo, and have density profiles steeper than $r^{-1}$ NFW cusps. Using a suite of high-resolution N-body simulations, we study the evolution of isolated halos in self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) with massive PCs embedded at their centers, a scenario that could be realized in certain SIDM models with light mediators that predict a small-scale suppression of the linear matter power spectrum. We track the evolution of three equally concentrated $10^7\,{\rm{M}}_\odot$ halos, hosting PCs of various total masses, and quantify how the presence of a PC affects the processes of core formation and collapse. Early in the core-formation phase, halos with more prominent PCs exhibit a delayed evolution by a factor of $\sim 2$ due to smaller velocity dispersion gradients in the inner region. During most of the core-collapse phase, the halo evolution becomes closely aligned in physical time, with appropriate rescaling of densities, radii, and velocity dispersions. The scale densities and radii preserve the virial mass of the original halos, but with increased concentration. Deviations occur at the late phase of core-collapse at the level of $\sim 5\%$ relative to the reference collapse track of an NFW halo. These deviations depend non-trivially on both the increased concentration incurred by the PCs, as well as the velocity dispersion (temperature) of the outer halo regions, which can inhibit or enhance the heat transfer process. Our simulations illustrate the complex interplay between the inner and outer halo profiles in determining the onset of core collapse and motivate future studies in the full cosmological context.

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arXiv2025

Structure Formation with Warm White Noise: Effects of Finite Number Density and Velocity Dispersion in Particle and Wave Dark Matter

We investigate the evolution of density perturbations in dark matter, including the new combined effects of finite number density and non-zero velocity dispersion. Using a truncated BBGKY hierarchy, we derive analytical expressions for the dark matter power spectrum during radiation and matter domination. A component of warm white noise emerges in our analysis, which arises due to the finite number density and undergoes scale-dependent evolution because of the velocity dispersion. Although free streaming erases adiabatic initial perturbations on small scales, warm white noise persists below the free-streaming length and grows during matter domination, with growth suppressed below the dark matter Jeans length. Our calculated power spectra agree with $N$-body simulations in the linear regime and accurately predict halo mass functions in the nonlinear regime. Effects of warm white noise can emerge on observable quasi-linear scales for ultralight dark matter produced after inflation with a subhorizon correlation length. Our formalism is applicable to these scenarios (with de Broglie-scale quasi-particles), to cases in which dark matter includes macroscopic structures (such as primordial black holes), and to traditional warm and cold dark matter scenarios.

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arXiv2025

21-cm Constraints on Dark Matter Annihilation after an Early Matter-Dominated Era

Although it is commonly assumed that relativistic particles dominate the energy density of the universe quickly after inflation, a variety of well-motivated scenarios predict an early matter-dominated era (EMDE) before the onset of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Subhorizon dark matter density perturbations grow faster during an EMDE than during a radiation-dominated era, leading to the formation of "microhalos" far earlier than in standard models of structure formation. This enhancement of small-scale structure boosts the dark-matter annihilation rate, which contributes to the heating of the intergalactic medium (IGM). We compute how the dark matter annihilation rate evolves after an EMDE and forecast how well measurements of the 21-cm background can detect dark matter annihilation in cosmologies with EMDEs. We find that future measurements of the global 21-cm signal at a redshift of $z\sim 17$ are unlikely to improve on bounds derived from observations of the isotropic gamma-ray background, but measurements of the 21-cm power spectrum have the potential to detect dark matter annihilation following an EMDE. Moreover, dark matter annihilation and astrophysical X-rays produce distinct heating signatures in the 21-cm power spectrum at redshifts around 14, potentially allowing differentiation between these two IGM heating mechanisms.

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arXiv2025

Gamma-Ray Observations of Galaxy Clusters Strongly Constrain Dark Matter Annihilation in Prompt Cusps

Thermal dark matter models generically include the prompt creation of highly-concentrated dark matter cusps in the early Universe. Recent studies find that these cusps can survive to the present day, as long as they do not fall into extremely dense regions of baryonic structure. In this work, we build models of dark matter annihilation within the prompt cusps that reside in galaxy clusters, showing that they dominate the total $γ$-ray annihilation signal. Using 15 years of Fermi-LAT data, we find no evidence for a $γ$-ray excess from these sources, and set strong constraints on annihilating dark matter. These constraints generically rule out the thermal annihilation cross-section to the $b\bar{b}$ channel for dark matter masses below $\sim$200~GeV.

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arXiv2025

The cusp-halo relation

Simulations have established that each halo of collisionless dark matter is expected to contain a $ρ= A r^{-1.5}$ density cusp at its center. This prompt cusp is a relic of the halo's earliest moments and has a mass comparable to the cutoff scale in the spectrum of initial density perturbations. In this work, we provide a framework to predict for each halo the coefficient $A$ of its central cusp. We also present a "cusp-NFW" functional form that accurately describes the density profile of a halo with a prompt cusp at its center. Accurate characterization of each halo's central cusp is of particular importance in the study of warm dark matter models, for which the spectral cutoff is on an astrophysically relevant mass scale. To facilitate easy incorporation of prompt cusps into any halo modeling approach, we provide a code package that implements the cusp-halo relation and the cusp-NFW density profile.

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arXiv2025

Limits on Early Matter Domination from the Isotropic Gamma-Ray Background

In cosmologies with hidden sector dark matter, the lightest hidden sector species can come to dominate the energy budget of the universe and cause an early matter-dominated era (EMDE). EMDEs amplify the matter power spectrum on small scales, leading to dense, early-forming microhalos which massively boost the dark matter annihilation signal. We use the Fermi-LAT measurement of the isotropic gamma-ray background to place limits on the parameter space of hidden sector models with EMDEs. We calculate the amplified annihilation signal by sampling the properties of prompt cusps, which reside at the centers of these microhalos and dominate the signal on account of their steep $ρ\propto r^{-3/2}$ density profiles. We also include the portions of the parameter space affected by the gravitational heating that arises from the formation and subsequent destruction of nonlinear structure during the EMDE. We are able to rule out significant portions of the parameter space, particularly at high reheat temperatures. Long EMDEs remain poorly constrained despite large structure-induced boosts to the annihilation signal.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Structure formation with primordial black holes: collisional dynamics, binaries, and gravitational waves

Primordial black holes (PBHs) could compose the dark matter content of the Universe. We present the first simulations of cosmological structure formation with PBH dark matter that consistently include collisional few-body effects, post-Newtonian orbit corrections, orbital decay due to gravitational wave emission, and black-hole mergers. We carefully construct initial conditions by considering the evolution during radiation domination as well as early-forming binary systems. We identify numerous dynamical effects due to the collisional nature of PBH dark matter, including evolution of the internal structures of PBH halos and the formation of a hot component of PBHs. We also study the properties of the emergent population of PBH binary systems, distinguishing those that form at primordial times from those that form during the nonlinear structure formation process. These results will be crucial to sharpen constraints on the PBH scenario derived from observational constraints on the gravitational wave background. Even under conservative assumptions, the gravitational radiation emitted over the course of the simulation appears to exceed current limits from ground-based experiments, but this depends on the evolution of the gravitational wave spectrum and PBH merger rate toward lower redshifts.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Detecting dark objects with plasma microlensing by their gravitational wakes

A moving mass makes a gravitational wake in the partially ionized interstellar medium, which acts as a lens for radio-frequency light. Consequently, plasma microlensing could complement gravitational microlensing in the search for invisible massive objects, such as stellar remnants or compact dark matter. This work explores the spatial structure of the plasma lens associated with a gravitational wake. Far away from the moving mass, the characteristic lensing signal is the steady demagnification or magnification of a radio source as the wake passes in front of it at the speed of sound. Sources can be plasma lensed at a much greater angular distance than they would be gravitationally lensed to the same degree by the same object. However, only the wakes of objects greatly exceeding stellar mass are expected to dominate over the random turbulence in the interstellar medium.

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arXiv2024

Conversations and Deliberations: Non-Standard Cosmological Epochs and Expansion Histories

This document summarizes the discussions which took place during the PITT-PACC Workshop entitled "Non-Standard Cosmological Epochs and Expansion Histories," held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sept. 5-7, 2024. Much like the non-standard cosmological epochs that were the subject of these discussions, the format of this workshop was also non-standard. Rather than consisting of a series of talks from participants, with each person presenting their own work, this workshop was instead organized around free-form discussion blocks, with each centered on a different overall theme and guided by a different set of Discussion Leaders. This document is not intended to serve as a comprehensive review of these topics, but rather as an informal record of the discussions that took place during the workshop, in the hope that the content and free-flowing spirit of these discussions may inspire new ideas and research directions.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Limits on dark matter annihilation in prompt cusps from the isotropic gamma-ray background

Recent studies indicate that thermally produced dark matter will form highly concentrated, low-mass cusps in the early universe that often survive until the present. While these cusps contain a small fraction of the dark matter, their high density significantly increases the expected gamma-ray flux from dark matter annihilation, particularly in searches of large angular regions. We utilize 14 years of Fermi-LAT data to set strong constraints on dark matter annihilation through a detailed study of the isotropic gamma-ray background, excluding with 95% confidence dark matter annihilation to $b\bar{b}$ final states for dark matter masses below 120 GeV.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

An analytic description of substructure-induced gravitational perturbations in stellar systems

Perturbations to stellar systems can reflect the gravitational influence of dark matter substructures. On scales much smaller than the size of a stellar system, we point out analytic connections between the stellar and dark matter distributions. In particular, the density and velocity power spectra of the stars are proportional to the density power spectrum of the perturbing dark matter, scaled by $k^{-4}$. This relationship allows easy evaluation of the suitability of a stellar system for detecting dark substructure. As examples, we show that the Galactic stellar halo is expected to be sensitive to cold dark matter substructure at wavenumbers $k\lesssim 0.3$ kpc$^{-1}$, and the Galactic disk might be sensitive to substructure at wavenumbers $k\sim 4$ kpc$^{-1}$. The perturbations considered in this work are short-lived, being rapidly erased by the stellar velocity dispersion, so it may be possible to attribute a detection to dark matter substructure without ambiguity.

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arXiv2024

Simulations of Gravitational Heating Due to Early Matter Domination

In cosmologies with an early matter-dominated era (EMDE) prior to Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the boosted growth of small-scale matter perturbations during the EMDE leads to microhalo formation long before halos would otherwise begin to form. For a range of models, halos can even form during the EMDE itself. These halos would dissipate at the end of the EMDE, releasing their gravitationally heated dark matter and thereby imprinting a free-streaming cut-off on the matter power spectrum. We conduct the first cosmological $N$-body simulations of the formation and evaporation of halos during and after an EMDE. We show that in these scenarios, the free-streaming cut-off after the EMDE can be predicted accurately from the linear matter power spectrum. Although the free streaming can erase much of the EMDE-driven boost to density perturbations, we use our findings to show that the (re-)formation of halos after the EMDE nevertheless proceeds before redshift $\sim 1000$. Early-forming microhalos are a key observational signature of an EMDE, and our prescription for the impact of gravitational heating will allow studies of the observational status and prospects of EMDE scenarios to cover a much wider range of parameters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Can prompt cusps of WIMP dark matter be detected as individual gamma-ray sources?

Prompt $ρ\propto r^{-1.5}$ density cusps are the densest and most abundant dark matter systems. If the dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP), recent studies have shown that prompt cusps dominate the aggregate dark matter annihilation rate. This article explores whether individual prompt cusps could be detected as gamma-ray sources. At the Fermi telescope's point-source sensitivity, WIMPs with the canonical annihilation cross section could form detectable prompt cusps if the particle mass is of order 10 GeV. These objects could be 10-100 pc away and weigh under a solar mass; they would subtend around 0.1 degrees on the sky. For GeV-scale dark matter particles with below-canonical cross sections, searches for individual prompt cusps can be more sensitive than searches for the annihilation signals from galactic dark matter halos.

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