keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter and Low Scale Leptogenesis

Abstract

We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model to consistently explain the observation of a peak in the galactic X-ray spectrum at 3.55 keV and the light neutrino masses along with the baryon asymmetry of the universe. The baryon asymmetry is generated through leptogenesis, the lepton asymmetry being generated by the decay of a heavy neutrino with TeV mass scale. The extra singlet fermion introduced in the model can be identified as a dark matter candidate of mass 7.1 keV. It decays with a lifetime much larger than the age of the universe, producing a final state photon. The Yukawa interactions between the extra singlet neutrino and a heavier right-handed neutrino play a crucial role in simultaneously achieving low scale leptogenesis and relic density of the keV dark matter candidate.