Abstract

Warm dark matter (WDM) might more easily account for small scale clustering measurements than the heavier particles typically invoked incold dark matter (�CDM) cosmologies. In this paper, we consider aWDM cosmology in which sterile neutrinoss, with a mass ms of roughly 1-100 keV, are the dark matter. We use the diffuse X-ray spectrum (total minus resolved point source emission) of the Andromeda galaxy to constrain the rate of sterile neutrino radiative decay: �s → �e,µ,� + . Our findings demand that ms < 3.5 keV (95% C.L.) which is a significant improvement over the previous (95% C.L.) limits inferred from the X-ray emission of nearby clusters, ms < 8.2 keV (Virgo A) and ms < 6.3 keV (Virgo A + Coma).

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