Sterile dark matter and reionization

Abstract

Sterile neutrinos with masses in the keV range can be the dark matter, and their emission from a supernova can explain the observed velocities of pulsars. The sterile neutrino decays could produce the x-ray radiation in the early universe, which could have an important effect on the formation of the first stars. X-rays could ionize gas and could catalyze the production of molecular hydrogen during the ``dark ages''. The increased fraction of molecular hydrogen could facilitate the cooling and collapse of the primordial gas clouds in which the first stars were formed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in proceedings of 7th UCLA Symposium on sources and detection of dark matter and dark energy in the universe, 22-24 Feb 2006, Marina de Rey, Californi