Paper detail

Is the CMB telling us that dark matter is weaker than weakly interacting?

If moduli, or other long-lived heavy states, decay in the early universe in part into light and feebly interacting particles (such as axions), these decay products could account for the additional energy density in radiation that is suggested by recent measurements of the CMB. These moduli decays will also, however, alter the expansion history of the early universe, potentially diluting the thermal relic abundance of dark matter. If this is the case, then dark matter particles must annihilate with an even lower cross section than required in the standard thermal scenario (sigma v < 3x10^-26 cm^3/s) if they are to make up the observed density of dark matter. This possibility has significant implications for direct and indirect searches for dark matter.