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Lyman-alpha Constraints on Ultralight Scalar Dark Matter: Implications for the Early and Late Universe

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arxiv 1708.00015 v2 pith:SNQFFIJ5 submitted 2017-07-31 astro-ph.CO hep-phhep-th

Lyman-alpha Constraints on Ultralight Scalar Dark Matter: Implications for the Early and Late Universe

classification astro-ph.CO hep-phhep-th
keywords scalarconstraintslyman-alphadarkfieldforestlimitmatter
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We investigate constraints on scalar dark matter (DM) by analyzing the Lyman-alpha forest, which probes structure formation at medium and small scales, and also by studying its cosmological consequences at high and low redshift. For scalar DM that constitutes more than 30% of the total DM density, we obtain a lower limit m >~ 10^{-21} eV for the mass of scalar DM. This implies an upper limit on the initial field displacement (or the decay constant for an axion-like field) of phi <~ 10^{16} GeV. We also derive limits on the energy scale of cosmic inflation and establish an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r < 10^{-3} in the presence of scalar DM. Furthermore, we show that there is very little room for ultralight scalar DM to solve the "small-scale crisis" of cold DM without spoiling the Lyman-alpha forest results. The constraints presented in this paper can be used for testing generic theories that contain light scalar fields.

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Forward citations

Cited by 11 Pith papers

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