Dynamical Dark Matter: II. An Explicit Model

In a recent paper (arXiv:1106.4546), we introduced "dynamical dark matter," a new framework for dark-matter physics, and outlined its underlying theoretical principles and phenomenological possibilities. Unlike most traditional approaches to the dark-matter problem which hypothesize the existence of one or more stable dark-matter particles, our dynamical dark-matter framework is characterized by the fact that the requirement of stability is replaced by a delicate balancing between cosmological abundances and lifetimes across a vast ensemble of individual dark-matter components. This setup therefore collectively produces a time-varying cosmological dark-matter abundance, and the different dark-matter components can interact and decay throughout the current epoch. While the goal of our previous paper was to introduce the broad theoretical aspects of this framework, the purpose of the current paper is to provide an explicit model of dynamical dark matter and demonstrate that this model satisfies all collider, astrophysical, and cosmological constraints. The results of this paper therefore constitute an "existence proof" of the phenomenological viability of our overall dynamical dark-matter framework, and demonstrate that dynamical dark matter is indeed a viable alternative to the traditional paradigm of dark-matter physics. Dynamical dark matter must therefore be considered alongside other approaches to the dark-matter problem, particularly in scenarios involving large extra dimensions or string theory in which there exist large numbers of particles which are neutral under Standard-Model symmetries.Comment: 45 pages, LaTeX, 10 figures. Replaced to match published versio

Gravitational Instability in Collisionless Cosmological Pancakes

The gravitational instability of cosmological pancakes composed of collisionless dark matter in an Einstein-de Sitter universe is investigated numerically to demonstrate that pancakes are unstable with respect to fragmentation and the formation of filaments. A ``pancake'' is defined here as the nonlinear outcome of the growth of a 1D, sinusoidal, plane-wave, adiabatic density perturbation. We have used high resolution, 2D, N-body simulations by the Particle-Mesh (PM) method to study the response of pancakes to perturbation by either symmetric (density) or antisymmetric (bending or rippling) modes, with corresponding wavevectors k_s and k_a transverse to the wavevector k_p of the unperturbed pancake plane-wave. We consider dark matter which is initially ``cold'' (i.e. with no random thermal velocity in the initial conditions). We also investigate the effect of a finite, random, isotropic, initial velocity dispersion (i.e. initial thermal velocity) on the fate of pancake collapse and instability. Pancakes are shown to be gravitationally unstable with respect to all perturbations of wavelength l<l_p (where l_p= 2pi/k_p). These results are in contradiction with the expectations of an approximate, thin-sheet energy argument.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal (1997), accepted for publication 10/10/96, single postscript file, 61 pages, 19 figure

Limits on MeV Dark Matter from the Effective Number of Neutrinos

Thermal dark matter that couples more strongly to electrons and photons than to neutrinos will heat the electron-photon plasma relative to the neutrino background if it becomes nonrelativistic after the neutrinos decouple from the thermal background. This results in a reduction in N_eff below the standard-model value, a result strongly disfavored by current CMB observations. Taking conservative lower bounds on N_eff and on the decoupling temperature of the neutrinos, we derive a bound on the dark matter particle mass of m_\chi > 3-9 MeV, depending on the spin and statistics of the particle. For p-wave annihilation, our limit on the dark matter particle mass is stronger than the limit derived from distortions to the CMB fluctuation spectrum produced by annihilations near the epoch of recombination.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, discussion added, references added and updated, labels added to figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Cosmological Parameter Extraction from the First Season of Observations with DASI

The Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (\dasi) has measured the power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropy over the range of spherical harmonic multipoles 100<l<900. We compare this data, in combination with the COBE-DMR results, to a seven dimensional grid of adiabatic CDM models. Adopting the priors h>0.45 and 0.0<=tau_c<=0.4, we find that the total density of the Universe Omega_tot=1.04+/-0.06, and the spectral index of the initial scalar fluctuations n_s=1.01+0.08-0.06, in accordance with the predictions of inflationary theory. In addition we find that the physical density of baryons Omega_b.h^2=0.022+0.004-0.003, and the physical density of cold dark matter Omega_cdm.h^2=0.14+/-0.04. This value of Omega_b.h^2 is consistent with that derived from measurements of the primordial abundance ratios of the light elements combined with big bang nucleosynthesis theory. Using the result of the HST Key Project h=0.72+/-0.08 we find that Omega_t=1.00+/-0.04, the matter density Omega_m=0.40+/-0.15, and the vacuum energy density Omega_lambda=0.60+/-0.15. (All 68% confidence limits.)Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, minor changes in response to referee comment

Statistical characteristics of formation and evolution of structure in the universe

An approximate statistical description of the formation and evolution of structure of the universe based on the Zel'dovich theory of gravitational instability is proposed. It is found that the evolution of DM structure shows features of self-similarity and the main structure characteristics can be expressed through the parameters of initial power spectrum and cosmological model. For the CDM-like power spectrum and suitable parameters of the cosmological model the effective matter compression reaches the observed scales $R_{wall}\sim$20 -- 25$h^{-1}$Mpc with the typical mean separation of wall-like elements $D_{SLSS}\sim$50 -- 70$h^{-1}$Mpc. This description can be directly applied to the deep pencil beam galactic surveys and absorption spectra of quasars. For larger 3D catalogs and simulations it can be applied to results obtained with the core-sampling analysis. It is shown that the interaction of large and small scale perturbations modulates the creation rate of early Zel'dovich pancakes and generates bias on the SLSS scale. For suitable parameters of the cosmological model and reheating process this bias can essentially improve the characteristics of simulated structure of the universe. The models with $0.3\leq \Omega_m \leq 0.5$ give the best description of the observed structure parameters. The influence of low mass "warm" dark matter particles, such as a massive neutrino, will extend the acceptable range of $\Omega_m$ and $h$.Comment: 20pages, 7 figures, MNRAS in pres

Dynamics of pairwise motions

We derive a simple closed-form expression, relating \vs(r) -- the mean relative velocity of pairs of galaxies at fixed separation $r$ -- to the two-point correlation function of mass density fluctuations, $\xi(r)$. We compare our analytic model for \vs(r) with N-body simulations, and find excellent agreement in the entire dynamical range probed by the simulations (0.1 \lsim \xi \lsim 1000). Our results can be used to estimate the cosmological density parameter, \Om, directly from redshift-distance surveys, like Mark III.Comment: 10 pages 2 Figs., submitted to ApJ Let