Astroparticle Constraints from the Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density at High Redshift: Current Status and Forecasts for JWST

• Published in: Universe (Basel) Vol. 8; no. 11; p. 589
• Main Authors: Gandolfi, Giovanni, Lapi, Andrea, Ronconi, Tommaso, Danese, Luigi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Astronomical research; Dark matter; Dark matter (Astronomy); Estimates; galaxy formation; Luminosity (Astronomy); Markov chains; Red shift; Satellites; Space telescopes; Star & galaxy formation; Star formation; Stars & galaxies; Italy
• ISSN: 2218-1997; 2218-1997
• DOI: 10.3390/universe8110589

We exploit the recent determination of the cosmic star formation rate (SFR) density at high redshifts z≳4 to derive astroparticle constraints on three common dark matter (DM) scenarios alternative to standard cold dark matter (CDM): warm dark matter (WDM), fuzzy dark matter (ψDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). Our analysis relies on the ultraviolet (UV) luminosity functions measured from blank field surveys by the Hubble Space Telescope out to z≲10 and down to UV magnitudes MUV≲−17. We extrapolate these to fainter yet unexplored magnitude ranges and perform abundance matching with the halo mass functions in a given DM scenario, thus, obtaining a redshift-dependent relationship between the UV magnitude and the halo mass. We then computed the cosmic SFR density by integrating the extrapolated UV luminosity functions down to a faint magnitude limit MUVlim, which is determined via the above abundance matching relationship by two free parameters: the minimum threshold halo mass MHGF for galaxy formation, and the astroparticle quantity X characterizing each DM scenario (namely, particle mass for WDM and ψDM, and kinetic temperature at decoupling TX for SIDM). We perform Bayesian inference on such parameters using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) technique by comparing the cosmic SFR density from our approach to the current observational estimates at z≳4, constraining the WDM particle mass to mX≈1.2−0.4(−0.5)+0.3(11.3) keV, the ψDM particle mass to mX≈3.7−0.4(−0.5)+1.8(+12.9.3)×10−22 eV, and the SIDM temperature to TX≈0.21−0.06(−0.07)+0.04(+1.8) keV at 68% (95%) confidence level. Finally, we forecast how such constraints will be strengthened by upcoming refined estimates of the cosmic SFR density if the early data on the UV luminosity function at z≳10 from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be confirmed down to ultra-faint magnitudes.