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  • Open Access

Cosmological limits on strong dark forces

Peter W. Graham1,2, Harikrishnan Ramani3, Olivier Simon4,5, and Erwin H. Tanin1,*

  • *Contact author: ehtanin@stanford.edu
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 063542 – Published 23 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pkkh-t861

Abstract

We showcase cosmology’s ability to constrain long-range forces between dark matter particles. Specifically, we consider a fermionic dark matter interacting via a Yukawa-coupled light scalar, focusing on regimes where the dark forces are stronger than gravitational and yet unconstrained. We show that the dark sector dynamics, both at the background and perturbation levels, is far richer than what can be captured with just the static interparticle Yukawa potential. The background dynamics includes an attractor that funnels a wide range of initial conditions onto an evolution unique to each parameter space. In a large swath of parameter space beyond existing limits, the dark sector deviates drastically from cold dark matter in observable epochs. We rule out this parameter space using existing constraints on dark-sector equation of state and small-scale cosmic perturbations, thus setting the strongest constraints yet on dark matter self-interactions at length scales shorter than 100 kpc. In addition, we briefly discuss repulsive dark forces and place cosmological limits that are stricter than in the attractive case.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 063542– Published 23 September, 2026
  • Received 13 May 2026
  • Accepted 21 August 2026
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