Related papers: Constraints on Dark Matter-Electron Scattering fro…
It was recently discovered that in some regions of the Galaxy, the cosmic ray (CR) abundance is several orders of magnitude higher than previously thought. Additionally, there is evidence that in molecular cloud envelopes, the CR ionization…
Clouds containing molecular dark matter in quantities relevant for star formation may exist in minihaloes of the type of cold dark matter included in many cosmological simulations or in the regions of some galaxies extending far beyond…
Dark matter particles can be captured by the sun with rates that depend on the dark matter mass and the DM-nucleon cross section. However, for masses below $\sim 3.3$ GeV, the captured dark matter particles evaporate, leading to an…
Through photoionization modeling, constraints on the physical conditions of three z ~ 1.7 single-cloud weak Mg II systems (W_r(2796) < 0.3A) are derived. Constraints are provided by high resolution R = 45,000, high signal-to-noise spectra…
We study dark matter-helium scattering in the early Universe and its impact on constraints from cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements. We describe possible theoretical frameworks for dark matter-nucleon interactions via…
Chemistry in diffuse molecular clouds relies primarily on rapid ion-molecule reactions. Formation of the initial ions, H$^+$ and H$_2^+$, is dominated by cosmic-ray ionization of H and H$_2$, making the cosmic-ray ionization rate (denoted…
Primordially formed extended dark objects would accrete baryonic matter and impact the ionisation history of the Universe. Insisting on consistency with the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background, we derive constraints on the dark…
A novel detection of sub-GeV dark matter is proposed in the paper. The electron cloud is boosted by the dark matter and emits an electron when it is dragged back by the heavy nucleus, namely the coherent scattering of the electron cloud of…
We examine the signals produced by dark matter interactions with electrons, which play a crucial role in direct detection experiments employing heavy target materials, particularly in many well-motivated sub-GeV dark matter scenarios. When…
Cosmic rays are the only agent able to penetrate into the interior of dense molecular clouds. Depositing (part of) their energy through ionisation, cosmic rays play an essential role in determining the physical and chemical evolution of…
Dark matter interactions with electrons or protons during the early Universe leave imprints on the cosmic microwave background and the matter power spectrum, and can be probed through cosmological and astrophysical observations. These…
Dark matter captured by interaction with electrons inside the Sun may annihilate via long-lived mediator to produce observable gamma ray signals. We utilize solar gamma ray flux measurements from the Fermi Large Area Telescope and High…
Boosted dark matter constitutes a small fraction of the total dark matter in the Universe, with mass ranging from eV to MeV and often exhibiting (semi)relativistic velocity. Hence the likelihood of detecting boosted dark matter in…
It is shown that the data from the orbital period decay of binary pulsars give strong constraints on the dark matter-nucleons cross section. The limits are robust and competitive because this new method for testing dark matter interactions…
We explore the possibility that exotic forms of dark matter could expose humans on Earth or on prolonged space travel to a significant radiation dose. The radiation exposure from dark matter interacting with nuclei in the human body is…
We investigate the ability of primordial gas clouds to retain molecular hydrogen (H_2) during the initial phase of the reionization epoch. We find that before the Stromgren spheres of the individual ionizing sources overlap, the UV…
We investigate the formation of molecular hydrogen (H_2) in a primordial H+He gas cloud irradiated by a power-law UV flux. We find that at high densities (>1 cm^{-3}) and low temperatures (<10^4 K), the background radiation enhances the…
The Sun is a promising target for dark matter (DM) searches due to its ability to accumulate DM particles via scattering and catalyze their self-annihilation. However, at low DM masses, DM particles can also "evaporate" due to subsequent…
Low-energy cosmic rays ($E\lesssim 1$ GeV) are responsible for the ionisation and heating of molecular clouds. While the role of supra-thermal electrons produced in the ionisation process in inducing excitation of the ambient gas (mostly…
In this letter, we report precise and robust observational constraints on dark matter-dark energy scattering cross section, using the latest data from cosmic microwave background (CMB) Planck temperature and polarization, baryon acoustic…