Converting dark matter to dark radiation does not solve cosmological tensions Fiona McCarthy1and J. Colin Hill2 1 1Center for Computational Astrophysics Flatiron Institute New York NY USA 10010

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Converting dark matter to dark radiation does not solve cosmological tensions
Fiona McCarthy1, and J. Colin Hill2, 1
1Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, New York, NY, USA 10010
2Department of Physics, Columbia University, 538 West 120th Street, New York, NY, USA 10027
(Dated: September 19, 2023)
Tensions between cosmological parameters (in particular the local expansion rate H0and the am-
plitude of matter clustering S8) inferred from low-redshift data and data from the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) and large-scale structure (LSS) experiments have inspired many extensions to
the standard cosmological model, ΛCDM. Models which simultaneously lessen both tensions are of
particular interest. We consider one scenario with the potential for such a resolution, in which some
fraction of the dark matter has converted into dark radiation since the release of the CMB. Such
a scenario encompasses and generalizes the more standard “decaying dark matter” model, allowing
additional flexibility in the rate and time at which the dark matter converts into dark radiation.
In this paper, we constrain this scenario with a focus on exploring whether it can solve (or reduce)
these tensions. We find that such a model is effectively ruled out by CMB data, in particular by
the reduced peak-smearing due to CMB lensing on the power spectrum and the excess integrated
Sachs–Wolfe (ISW) signal caused by the additional dark energy density required to preserve flatness
after dark matter conversion into dark radiation. Thus, such a model does not have the power to
reduce these tensions without further modifications. This conclusion extends and generalizes related
conclusions derived for the standard decaying dark matter model.
I. INTRODUCTION
Within the standard cosmological model, our Universe
comprises cold dark matter (CDM), dark energy (DE) Λ,
a small amount of baryonic matter, and radiation in the
form of photons as well as massive neutrinos. The six pa-
rameters of this ΛCDM model have been constrained to
very high (percent) precision by cosmological datasets
such as the anisotropy power spectrum of the cosmic
microwave background (CMB) measured by the Planck
satellite [1]. However, as we have obtained ever more pre-
cise constraints, tensions of varying significance between
different datasets have emerged. One of the most well-
known of these is the H0tension, the discrepancy of 5σ
between certain measurements of the expansion rate of
the Universe today when inferred from different datasets.
The H0tension is largely driven by the discrepancy in the
local measurement of the SH0ES collaboration [2–5] and
the model-dependent inference from the CMB (e.g., as
constrained with Planck data) and/or large-scale struc-
ture data; it should be noted that many local measure-
ments of H0are consistent with both Planck and SH0ES,
albeit with larger error bars than the SH0ES measure-
ment [6]. In the coming years, such independent measure-
ments of H0are forecast to get more precise, hopefully
deciding finally whether the H0tension indeed requires
new physics.
At somewhat less significance (23σ) is the S8
tension, a tension in the amount of clustering of matter
seen between many late-Universe datasets and the CMB
data (see eg [7–12]). While this tension is not yet as
strong as the 5σtension seen in some probes of H0, its
Electronic address: fmccarthy@flatironinstitute.org
consistency across several datasets is certainly intriguing.
These tensions could either be fluctuations (in the case
of the less significant S8tension); caused by experimental
or astrophysical systematic effects; or real hints to new
physics. If we do take the tensions at face value, as in-
dicative of new physics, a simultaneous resolution of the
two would be very compelling. In this work we consider
a scenario with the potential for achieving this goal: a
model which modifies the expansion rate and structure
growth of the Universe by positing that some portion
of the CDM has converted to dark radiation (DR) after
the release of the CMB. This leads to a lower density of
CDM today than predicted by the ΛCDM model fit to
the Planck data, and as a result the DE becomes dom-
inant earlier and leads to more accelerated expansion—
and thus, a higher value of H0. Simultaneously, due
to a) the decay of some of the CDM after recombina-
tion; and b) the free-streaming of the DR decay product
(which suppresses clustering), this model can also lead a
decreased matter power spectrum P(k), and thus a lower
S8—a property that has led to this being suggested as a
potential simultaneous solution of the tensions [13, 14].
In Ref. [13], a phenomological, model-independent pre-
scription for this conversion of CDM to DR was intro-
duced; this includes (and generalizes) a decaying CDM
(DCDM) scenario (e.g., [15–17]) in which some fraction
of the CDM is unstable with a cosmological-scale lifetime
τand decays into DR. The amount of DCDM has been
constrained using CMB, BAO, and LSS data (e.g., [16–
27]), and also investigated as a solution to the Hubble
and/or S8tensions (e.g., [19, 28–31]).
The model of Ref. [13] allows for a time-dependent con-
version of some fraction of the CDM to DR, occurring at
an arbitrary cosmological time (set by a parameter of the
theory); this should be contrasted with the exponential
conversion of CDM to DR at the cosmological time corre-
arXiv:2210.14339v3 [astro-ph.CO] 18 Sep 2023
2
sponding to its lifetime τin the DCDM scenario. It was
noted explicitly in Ref. [13] that this model can result in
a higher H0as well as a lower value of S8than in ΛCDM
and thus has the potential to allow for the simultaneous
resolution of the H0tension and the S8tension.
In this work, we constrain this DMDR model, and
compare it to ΛCDM using a Bayesian approach to in-
vestigate if it can indeed solve the Hubble or S8tensions.
We find that, for CMB data, it is not preferred over
ΛCDM, and that even when the SH0ES H0constraint is
included in the analysis, the amount of CDM that con-
verts to DR is constrained such that H0does not signifi-
cantly increase relative to ΛCDM, while S8also remains
nearly the same. We conclude that a model in which
some fraction of the DM has converted to DR since re-
combination will not solve the cosmological concordance
problem, unless other modifications are also considered,
such as changes to the equation(s) of state of the species
involved or additional (self)-interactions. In the course
of our investigation, we explain the origin of these con-
straints in detail and correct various aspects of earlier
implementations of this scenario. Our modified Boltz-
mann code is publicly available1.
An outline of this paper is as follows. In Section II,
we discuss the H0and S8tensions. In Section III, we
outline the theory of the DMDR model, including the
modifications to the homogeneous Universe and the per-
turbation structure. In Section IV, we describe the data
products and likelihoods used in our analysis. In Sec-
tion V, we present our results. In Section VI, we discuss
our results and conclude.
II. COSMOLOGICAL TENSIONS
A. The H0tension
Assuming ΛCDM, the Planck CMB data predict H0=
67.4±0.5 km/s/Mpc [32]. This is derived from the di-
rect measurement of the angular size of the acoustic
scale in the CMB power spectrum. Some local mea-
surements, which measure H0directly by constructing
a distance-redshift relation (the [cosmic] “distance lad-
der”), are in tension with this result, e.g., the most re-
cent measurement from the SH0ES collaboration, H0=
73.04 ±1.04 km/s/Mpc [33].
If this tension is not due to experimental or astro-
physical systematics, one of these inferences is incorrect,
and the tension can be taken as an indicator of new
physics. The direct measurement is (in principle) model-
independent, and thus we should address the modeling
that predicts H0from the directly-constrained acoustic
scale in the CMB. This calculation of H0relies on our
model of the expansion history of the Universe since the
1https://github.com/fmccarthy/class_DMDR
CMB was released in the early Universe (at “recombina-
tion”), when the Universe was very young; and our model
of the sound horizon at recombination. Solutions to the
Hubble tension must modify (at least) one of these mod-
els, while remaining consistent with the Planck data. For
a recent review of the proposed models to alleviate this
tension, see [34].
Direct measurements of H0: the cosmic distance ladder
We can measure H0today by directly measuring the
apparent recession velocity and distance to distant ob-
jects. While velocity can be measured directly by mea-
suring the redshift of spectra of objects, distance requires
the use of a “standard candle” of known intrinsic bright-
ness along with the distance-luminosity relation. Type
Ia Supernovae (SNe) can be used as a standardizable
candle to measure H0; however, the normalization of
their brightness is not known absolutely, and so they
can only constrain the relative evolution of cosmological
distance, H(z)/H0. To constrain their intrinsic bright-
ness, we need to know the absolute distance to some of
the SNe; we measure this by using other standard can-
dles, such as cepheids, which are known to obey a tight
period-luminosity relation [35]. In turn, the cepheid in-
trinsic brightness is measured by taking parallax mea-
surements of the nearest cepheids, in particular those
in nearby galaxies. Thus we have the cosmic distance
ladder: the parallax measurements of nearby cepheids
are used to calibrate the more distant cepheids, which
in turn are used to calibrate the nearby SNe; using this
calibration, these and the more distance SNe are used to
measure H0.
The SH0ES collaboration uses this approach to mea-
sure H0directly as H0= 73.04 ±1.04 km/s/Mpc [33].
Other methods include using tip of the red giant branch
(TRGB) stars instead of cepheids to calibrate the SNe;
these measurements are in less tension with Planck, find-
ing H0= 69.8±1.9 km/s/Mpc [6].
Inference of H0from the CMB
We infer H0from the angular scale θsimprinted on the
CMB by baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAOs). θsis a
projection of the physical sound horizon at recombination
rs(z), according to
θs=rs(z)
DA(z),(1)
where DA(z) is the comoving angular diameter distance
to the surface where the CMB was released at redshift z
(the “surface of last scattering”).
The sound horizon rs(z), the distance a sound wave
could travel in the time between the beginning of the
Universe and recombination, is given by the integral over
3
comoving distance multiplied by the sound speed cs(z):
rs(z) = Z
z
dz
H(z)cs(z); (2)
the comoving distance is given by2
DA(z) = Zz
0
dz
H(z).(3)
In these distance integrals, H(z) accounts for the geom-
etry of the expanding Universe. Its form depends on the
density of the Universe via the Friedmann equation:
H(z) = r8πG
3ρ(z) (4)
where ρ(z) is the energy density of the Universe at red-
shift z. Within ΛCDM, the form of ρ(z) is specified ex-
plicitly, and thus so is the z-dependence of H(z):
ρ(z)ΛCDM =ρm(z) + ργ(z) + ρν(z) + ρΛ(5)
=ρ0
m(1 + z)3+ρ0
γ(1 + z)4+ρν(z) + ρΛ,(6)
where the subscripts {m, γ, ν, Λ}refer to the components
of the Universe within ΛCDM: matter m(including CDM
and baryons); radiation γ(including photons and mass-
less neutrinos); massive neutrinos ν; and the cosmolog-
ical constant Λ, respectively; the values of ρimust be
measured to fully characterize ρ(z)ΛCDM .
ρ0
mand ρ0
γare the densities of matter and radiation to-
day; ρ0
mis constrained indirectly from the CMB, which
most directly constrains ρm(zz), by assuming the
standard evolution of matter ρm(z)(1 + z)3.ρ0
γ
is constrained from the monopole temperature of the
CMB [36]. ρν(z), the evolution of the neutrino den-
sity, is also constrained from the CMB; the form of
its evolution ρν(z) depends on the neutrino mass but
is specified within ΛCDM. The only remaining compo-
nent of the density is ρΛ. However, the CMB directly
constrains θs; and the physics of the sound speed cs(z)
are well understood within ΛCDM. Thus, the CMB data
along with Equation (1) specify ρΛ; as such, H(z), in-
cluding its value today H0H(z= 0), is fully spec-
ified by the CMB within ΛCDM, although it is useful
to break the “geometric degeneracy” [37] in the fit to
CMB data using an external probe of the matter den-
sity, such as BAO or CMB lensing data. Planck finds
H0= 67.4±0.5 km/s/Mpc [32]; similar inferences which
use the BAO scale of galaxy surveys (as opposed to the
CMB) are in agreement with this, with the DES survey
combined with BOSS BAO data and BBN data finding
H0= 67.4±1.2 km/s/Mpc [38].
H0inferences using the cosmic “inverse” distance lad-
der (see, e.g. [39, 40]), wherein an absolute SNIa lumi-
nosity calibration is determined directly from the BAO
2We work in units with the speed of light c= 1.
scale (by comparing directly luminosity and the BAO
angular distance measurement at the same redshift),
are also not in tension with Planck, with [40] finding
H0= 69.71 ±1.28 for an analysis in which the SNe were
calibrated from the BAO angular sound horizon (which
itself was calibrated from the CMB angular sound hori-
zon). Such methods disfavor models that modify cosmic
evolution after recombination to attempt to increase H0,
as they depend only on the fact that the BAO scale is
the same at z1100 and at low redshifts. However, the
error bars are large enough that some potential wiggle
room remains.
To infer a different value of H0, there are three options:
modify the pre-recombination sound speed; modify ρ(z)
before recombination; or modify ρ(z) after recombination
(or some combination of these). In this work, we focus on
the modification of ρ(z) after recombination, in particu-
lar by modifying the evolution of the CDM density. We
allow some component of the CDM to convert into dark
radiation (DR), and thus modify the form of ρm(z) while
also adding a new component ρDR(z) to Equation (5).
This can lead to a different value of ρΛ, as well as a dif-
ferent value of ρ0
m, a different z-evolution H(z), and a
different value of H0today.
B. The S8tension
The S8parameter is defined as
S8σ8m
0.30.5
.(7)
mρ0
m0
cr is the density of matter today as a fraction
of the critical density ρ0
cr and σ8measures the rms ampli-
tude of linear matter density fluctuations over a sphere
of radius R= 8 Mpc/h at z= 0:
(σ8)2=1
2π2Zdk
kW2(kR)k3P(k),(8)
where P(k) is the linear matter power spectrum today
and W(kR) is a spherical top-hat filter of radius R=
8Mpc/h.
There is a slight tension emerging between S8as mea-
sured from late-Universe datasets and indirecty inferred
the CMB; i.e., by constraining the ΛCDM parameters
from the CMB and calculating the resulting S8. In
particular, weak lensing surveys such as KIDS measure
S8= 0.759 ±0.024 [8]; clustering surveys analyses such
as BOSS also consistently find low S8[10, 11]. DES mea-
sures S8= 0.776 ±0.017 from galaxy-galaxy lensing [9]
(the combined analysis of the clustering of foreground
galaxies and lensing of background galaxies). These num-
bers should be compared to the indirect Planck con-
straint, S8= 0.834 ±0.016 from the primary CMB [32].
While CMB lensing from Planck alone is not in ten-
sion with respect to the primary CMB constraints, its
4
low-zcontribution, measured through cross-correlation
with the unWISE galaxy sample (galaxies at redshifts at
around z12) gives S8= 0.784 ±0.015 [12], an in-
teresting addition to the low-S8measurements due to its
complementary systematics.
III. THEORY
A. Background cosmology
We consider ΛCDM modified by the addition of an
extra dark matter (DM) component, such that the total
background DM density evolves as [13]
ρDM (a) = ρ0
DM
(a/a0)3
1 + ζ
1(a/a0)κ
1 + a/a0
atκ
,(9)
where ρ0
DM is the total DM density today, ais the scale
factor, and a0is a reference scale factor. This modifica-
tion to ΛCDM is fully characterized by three parameters:
ζ, κ, and at.ζdescribes the amount of DM that converts
into DR—in particular, the comoving DM density de-
creases by a factor of (1 + ζ) between a0 and a0;κ
characterizes the rate of the DMDR conversion; and at
sets the timescale for the conversion to occur. For transi-
tions long before a0(i.e., for which (a0/at)κa0), all of
the DM remaining at a0evolves as normal and ρDM (a)
can be split neatly into a “converting” and a standard
component (which decays as a3) by inspection. For
transitions that are not complete at a0(or for transi-
tions in the future relative to a0), this is not the case, as
some of the contribution to ρ0
DM will decay; however, it
is possible to reparameterize Equation (9) by redefining
the reference scale factor a0such that (a0/at)κa0
in such a way that there is a well-defined split into the
converting and standard component. In any case, the fi-
nal comoving DM density (a3ρDM (a→ ∞)) is given by
ρ0
DM
(1/a0)3(1 aκ
tζ). The requirement that the DM density
always be positive thus gives a constraint on the param-
eters: we require
ζ1
aκ
t
.(10)
This also allows for the case that all DM is of the
converting type and will eventually convert, in which
case the inequality in Equation (10) is saturated and
a3ρDM (a→ ∞) = 0.
Hereafter, we will always take a0to be the scale fac-
tor today and set a0= 1. Note that, in this case, ζ
describes the fraction of the original DM that has con-
verted by today, but not the total fraction of DM that
will eventually convert, unless the transition is in the
past: (1/at)κ1. In this parametrization it is evident
that scenarios in which the transition is yet to begin are
degenerate with ΛCDM as they demand ζ0.
We consider the case where the DM converts into a
dark radiation (DR) particle, whose background energy
density evolves as a4. The conservation of energy de-
mands that
1
a3
d
dt a3ρDM =1
a4
d
dt a4ρDR,(11)
which allows us to explicitly write the DR energy density
ρDR as [13]
ρDR(a) = ζρ0
DM
a3
(1 + aκ
t)
(aκ+aκ
t)×
(aκ+aκ
t)2F11,1
κ; 1 + 1
κ;a
atκaκ
t,(12)
where 2F1(b, c;d;z) is the hypergeometric function.
The ansatz in Equation 9 encompasses and general-
izes the standard decaying DM model, in which a sub-
component of the DM exponentially decays with lifetime
τ. Such a model is accurately captured by setting κ= 2
in Equation 9 and setting atsuch that H(at)Γ, where
Γ is the DM decay rate. As pointed out in Ref. [13], a
model in which a sub-component of the DM undergoes
Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation can be accurately rep-
resented by setting κ= 1. This approach thus naturally
encompasses a wide range of possible scenarios in which
DM converts to DR, in a relatively model-independent
manner.
Impact on the expansion of the Universe
This modification to the evolution of the background
density of the Universe directly changes the evolution
of the Hubble rate H(a). In order to compare with
ΛCDM, we must think about what parameters should
remain fixed. In our ΛCDM plots in Figures 1 and 2,
we fix the background cosmological parameters to the
best-fit values from the Planck fit to the CMB alone
(TT-EE-TE): thus for the ΛCDM case we take {100θs=
1.040909,bh2= 0.022383,CDM h2= 0.12011}, where
θsis the angular size of the acoustic scale at last scatter-
ing, Ωbh2is the physical density of baryons today, and
CDM h2is the physical density of CDM today (these
quantities are directly constrained by the CMB).
For the modified DM case, we must consider that the
CMB does not directly constrain the density of CDM to-
day, but instead the density of CDM when it was released
at z=z1100, the redshift of the surface of last scat-
tering. Thus we modify ΩCDM h2in the DMDR plots
to demand that the matter density at the redshift of last
scattering matches the constraint from the CMB; this
results in the relation
CDM h2ΛCDM =
CDM h2DMDR 1 + ζ1aκ
1+(a
at)κ(13)
5
where a=1
1+zwas the scale factor at the time of
last scattering. Note that CDM h2DMDR includes
the density both of the converting part and the non-
converting part of the DM.
The evolution of the resulting DM and DR densities
are shown in Figure 1, for some choices of the DMDR
parameters. Note that because we hold θsfixed in each
case, it is not immediately straightforward to calculate
the evolution of these densities directly, as one must de-
duce H0(more generally H(z), in particular by finding
the dark energy density ρΛrequired to make the Uni-
verse flat) appropriately. In the plots in Figures 1 and 2,
we have deduced H0using the “shooting” method imple-
mented in CLASS [41].
In Figure 2, we show on the left how these density
evolutions lead to an earlier redshift of Λ-matter equality,
and thus result in a higher value of H0today, as is shown
on the right.
B. Perturbative cosmology
The perturbations to the homogeneous background,
which give rise to the CMB and the clustering of mat-
ter today, are evolved with the linearized perturbed
Einstein–Boltzmann equations. This is done numeri-
cally, usually with an Einstein–Boltzmann solver such as
CLASS3[41] or CAMB4[42]. In our implementation of the
DMDR dark matter model, we modify CLASS.
Both the DM and the DR perturbations must be
evolved correctly, even though the DR perturbations can-
not be detected directly: they interact gravitationally
with the perturbations to the Universe’s spacetime met-
ric, and thus indirectly with the measureable perturba-
tions of interest, in particular the DM perturbations and
the perturbations to the photon fluid (which we observe
as the CMB). Following Ref. [43], in this Subsection we
present the Boltzmann equations for the DM and DR.
Formally, the fluids obey the Boltzmann equation
dfi
dt =Qi(14)
where fiis the distribution function of either DM or DR,
and Qiis the appropriate collision term. For the system
as a whole, there are no collisions (i.e., PiQi= 0) and
so QDR =−QDM ≡ Q. The 0th-order, momentum-
integrated Boltzmann equation is
1
a3
d
dt a3ρ(0)
DM =1
a4
d
dt a4ρ(0)
DR=−Q(0),(15)
where superscript (0) refers to 0th-order (background)
quantities; and so we see (from comparison with the
3https://lesgourg.github.io/class public/class.html
4https://camb.info/
derivative of Equation (9)) that the 0th-order collision
term is
Q(0) =Hκρ0
DM ζ
a3
aκ+a
atκ
1 + a
atκ2
.(16)
The perturbations are evolved with the 1st-order Boltz-
mann equation; to evolve these we need to specify the
perturbation to Q, ie Q(1). We follow the “minimal op-
tion” of Ref. [13]:
Q(1) =Q(0)δDM (17)
where δDM δρDM
ρDM (0) is the dimensionless perturbation
to the DM density, with δρDM ρ(1)
DM the dimensionful
perturbation. The exact specification of Q(1) is model-
dependent, but any change from the ansatz in Equa-
tion (17) must be proportional to Q(0), as emphasized
in Ref. [13]. Since this is already tightly constrained (see
below) solely by the evolution of background densities,
any correction to this assumption will have a negligible
impact on our results. It is also worth noting that in the
standard decaying DM scenario Equation (17) is exact,
and even in a Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation scenario
the corrections to it are negligible [13].
In the synchronous gauge, the perturbed FRW
(Friedmann–Robertson–Walker) metric is
ds2=gµν dxµdxν=a22+ (δij +hij )dxidxj,
(18)
where τis conformal time; δij is the Kronecker delta in
three (spatial) dimensions; and hij are the synchronous
metric perturbations (with three-dimensional trace h
Pihii). In this gauge the Boltzmann equations for the
DMDR model are5:
δ
DM =h
2; (19)
θ
DM =−HθDM ,(20)
with prime () denoting differentiation with respect to
conformal time and H ≡ a
a.
The DR field is defined in terms of its perturbed phase-
space distribution
fDR(x, ⃗p, τ) = f(0)
DR(p, τ) (1 + ΨDR (x, p, τ)) (21)
where f(0)
DR(p, τ) is the background phase-space distribu-
tion and ΨDR (x, p, τ) is its perturbation. ΨDR is ex-
panded over the Legendre polynomials P(µ) in moments
5Due to the “minimal” assumption for Q, the Boltzmann equa-
tions for the perturbations to the component of the DM that
converts into DR coincide with those for the perturbations to
the component that undergoes standard evolution, and so we
retain the very general subscript DM here.
摘要:

ConvertingdarkmattertodarkradiationdoesnotsolvecosmologicaltensionsFionaMcCarthy1,∗andJ.ColinHill2,11CenterforComputationalAstrophysics,FlatironInstitute,NewYork,NY,USA100102DepartmentofPhysics,ColumbiaUniversity,538West120thStreet,NewYork,NY,USA10027(Dated:September19,2023)Tensionsbetweencosmologic...

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