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  • Open Access

Self-interacting dark matter with observable ΔNeff

Debasish Borah1,2,*, Satyabrata Mahapatra3,†, Narendra Sahu4,‡, and Vicky Singh Thounaojam4,§

  • *Contact author: dborah@iitg.ac.in
  • †Contact author: satyabrata@skku.edu
  • ‡Contact author: nsahu@phy.iith.ac.in
  • §Contact author: ph22resch01004@iith.ac.in
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 035037 – Published 27 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tkzf-r816

Abstract

We propose a GeV-scale self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) candidate within a dark U(1)D gauged extension of the Standard Model (SM), addressing small-scale structure issues in ΛCDM while predicting an observable contribution to ΔNeff in the form of dark radiation. The model introduces a fermionic DM candidate χ and a scalar ϕ, both charged under an unbroken U(1)D gauge symmetry. The self-interactions of χ are mediated by a light vector boson Xμ, whose mass is generated via the Stueckelberg mechanism. The relic abundance of χ is determined by thermal freeze-out through annihilations into Xμ, supplemented by a nonthermal component from the late decay of ϕ. Crucially, ϕ decays after the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) but before the cosmic microwave background (CMB) epoch, producing additional χ and a dark radiation species (νS). This late-time production compensates for thermal underabundance due to efficient annihilation into light mediators, while remaining consistent with structure formation constraints. The accompanying dark radiation yields a detectable ΔNeff, compatible with Planck 2018 bounds and within reach of next-generation experiments such as SPT-3G, CMB-S4, and CMB-HD.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 035037– Published 27 August, 2025
  • Received 6 May 2025
  • Accepted 1 August 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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