arXiv subjects

Weishuang Linda Xu

Publications and source records attributed to Weishuang Linda Xu.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Testing $Λ$CDM With Dwarf Galaxy Morphology

The leading tensions to the collisionless cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm are the "small-scale controversies", discrepancies between observations at the dwarf-galactic scale and their simulational counterparts. In this work we consider methods to infer 3D morphological information on Local Group dwarf spheroidals, and test the fitness of CDM+hydrodynamics simulations to the observed galaxy shapes. We find that the subpopulation of dwarf galaxies with mass-to-light ratio $\gtrsim 100 M_\odot/L_\odot$ reflects an oblate morphology. This is discrepant with the dwarf galaxies with mass-to-light ratio $\lesssim 100 M_\odot/L_\odot$, which reflect prolate morphologies, and more importantly with simulations of CDM-sourced galaxies which are explicitly prolate. Although more simulations and data are called for, if evidence of oblate pressure-supported stellar distributions persists, we argue that an underlying oblate non-CDM dark matter halo may be required, and present this as motivation for future studies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Searching for Dark Photon Dark Matter with Cosmic Ray Antideuterons

Low energy antideuteron detection presents a unique channel for indirect detection, targeting dark matter that annihilates into hadrons in a relatively background-free way. Since the idea was first proposed, many WIMP-type models have already been disfavored by direct detection experiments, and current constraints indicate that any thermal relic candidates likely annihilate through some hidden sector process. In this paper, we show that cosmic ray antideuteron detection experiments represent one of the best ways to search for hidden sector thermal relic dark matter, and in particular investigate a vector portal dark matter that annihilates via a massive dark photon. We find that the parameter space with thermal relic annihilation and $m_χ> m_{A'} \gtrsim 20 \, \mathrm{GeV}$ is largely unconstrained, and near future antideuteron experiment \GAPS will be able to probe models in this space with $m_χ\approx m_{A'}$ up to masses of $O(100\,\mathrm{GeV})$. Specifically the dark matter models favored by the \textit{Fermi} Galactic center excess is expected to be detected or constrained at the $5(3)-σ$ level assuming a optimistic (conservative) propagation model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Probing sub-GeV Dark Matter-Baryon Scattering with Cosmological Observables

We derive new limits on the elastic scattering cross-section between baryons and dark matter using Cosmic Microwave Background data from the Planck satellite and measurements of the Lyman-alpha forest flux power spectrum from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our analysis addresses generic cross sections of the form $σ\propto v^n$, where v is the dark matter-baryon relative velocity, allowing for constraints on the cross section independent of specific particle physics models. We include high-$\ell$ polarization data from Planck in our analysis, improving over previous constraints. We apply a more careful treatment of dark matter thermal evolution than previously done, allowing us to extend our constraints down to dark matter masses of $\sim$MeV. We show in this work that cosmological probes are complementary to current direct detection and astrophysical searches.

astro-ph.CO↗