Unveiling the dark matter nature with reionization relics

Abstract

Dark matter constitutes roughly one-fourth of the Universe, yet its physical nature remains unknown. Warm dark matter (WDM), a class of dark matter candidates, has non-negligible velocity dispersion that suppresses the formation of small-scale cosmic structures. Current constraints therefore rely mainly on small-scale probes such as the Lyman-alpha (Ly$α$) forest and Milky Way observations of satellite galaxies and stellar streams. We propose a novel large-scale probe based on long-lived "reionization relics": because the thermal and dynamical evolution of the intergalactic medium depends on the local reionization redshift, patchy reionization imprints additional large-scale fluctuations in Ly$α$ forest opacity and post-reionization HI traced by 21 cm intensity mapping. The strength of these imprints depends on WDM through both small-scale gas evolution and WDM-driven changes in the reionization history. For example, the Ly$α$ (21 cm) power spectrum in 3 keV WDM differs from cold dark matter by ~19% (~19%) at $k=0.05\,{\rm Mpc^{-1}}$ at z=4 (z=5.5) when reionization relics are included. Using Ly$α$ forest with a covariance model designed to mimic the capabilities of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), we forecast a constraint of $m_{\rm WDM}>5.0\,{\rm keV}$ (95%), which improves to $m_{\rm WDM}>7.1\,{\rm keV}$ when combined with 21 cm intensity-mapping observations from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The next-generation surveys can further strengthen the current best lower bounds from 9.7 to 39 keV.