Constraining Annihilating Dark Matter with the Cosmic Microwave Background

Title: Constraining Annihilating Dark Matter with the Cosmic Microwave Background

Presenter: Aaron Vincent (U Valencia)

Chair: Thomas Schwetz (MPI Heidelberg)

Abstract:I will provide a brief introduction to annihilating dark matter and the CMB, and show what effects one can have on the other. Building upon this, I will discuss recent results in which we used the newly-released WMAP9 and South Pole Telescope (SPT) data to update constraints on the thermally-averaged annihilation cross-section of DM into standard model particles. Using a realistic energy deposition model, I will show the effect of DM annihilation on CMB photons at recombination as well as during the epoch of reionization, when halo formation can enhance the DM contribution. I will discuss further constraints, including the Gunn-Peterson optical depth measurements, and the late-time matter temperature measurements from Lyman-alpha observations. This is based on work with Laura Lopez-Honorez, Olga Mena and Sergio Palomares-Ruiz.