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We explore an interacting dark matter (IDM) model that allows for a fraction of dark matter (DM) to undergo velocity-independent scattering with baryons. In this scenario, structure on small scales is suppressed relative to the cold DM scenario. Using the effective field theory of large-scale structure, we perform the first systematic analysis of BOSS full-shape galaxy clustering data for the IDM scenario, and we find that this model ameliorates theS₈tension between large-scale structure and Planck data. Adding theS₈prior from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) to our analysis further leads to a mild ∼3σpreference for a nonvanishing DM–baryon scattering cross section, assuming ∼10% of DM is interacting and has a particle mass of 1 MeV. This result produces a modest ∼20% suppression of the linear power atk≲ 1hMpc⁻¹, consistent with other small-scale structure observations. Similar scale-dependent power suppression was previously shown to have the potential to resolveS₈tension between cosmological data sets. The validity of the specific IDM model explored here will be critically tested with upcoming galaxy surveys at the interaction level needed to alleviate theS₈tension.

 

As cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons traverse the universe, anisotropies can be induced via Thomson scattering (proportional to the electron density; optical depth) and inverse Compton scattering (proportional to the electron pressure; thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect). Measurements of anisotropy in optical depthτand Comptonyparameters are imprinted by the galaxies and galaxy clusters and are thus sensitive to the thermodynamic properties of the circumgalactic medium and intergalactic medium. We use an analytic halo model to predict the power spectrum of the optical depth (ττ), the cross-correlation between the optical depth and the Comptonyparameter (τy), and the cross-correlation between the optical depth and galaxy clustering (τg), and compare this model to cosmological simulations. We constrain the optical depths of halos atz≲ 3 using a technique originally devised to constrain patchy reionization at a higher redshift range. The forecasted signal-to-noise ratio is 2.6, 8.5, and 13, respectively, for a CMB-S4-like experiment and a Vera C. Rubin Observatory–like optical survey. We show that a joint analysis of these probes can constrain the amplitude of the density profiles of halos to 6.5% and the pressure profiles to 13%. These constraints translate to astrophysical parameters, such as the gas mass fraction,f_g, which can be constrained to 5.3% uncertainty atz∼ 0. The cross-correlations presented here are complementary to other CMB and galaxy cross-correlations since they do not require spectroscopic galaxy redshifts and are another example of how such correlations are a powerful probe of the astrophysics of galaxy evolution.

 

Abstract Diverse astrophysical observations suggest the existence of cold dark matter that interacts only gravitationally with radiation and ordinary baryonic matter. Any nonzero coupling between dark matter and baryons would provide a significant step towards understanding the particle nature of dark matter. Measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provide constraints on such a coupling that complement laboratory searches. In this work we place upper limits on a variety of models for dark matter elastic scattering with protons and electrons by combining large-scale CMB data from the Planck satellite with small-scale information from Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR4 data. In the case of velocity-independent scattering, we obtain bounds on the interaction cross section for protons that are 40% tighter than previous constraints from the CMB anisotropy. For some models with velocity-dependent scattering we find best-fitting cross sections with a 2 σ deviation from zero, but these scattering models are not statistically preferred over ΛCDM in terms of model selection.