The nongravitational interactions of dark matter in colliding galaxy clusters
Open accessAbstract
Uncloaking the influence of the invisible actor: The idea of dark matter enjoys popular support, but two major concerns persist: the so-called Standard Model excludes it, and it cannot be directly detected by any telescope. For now, astronomers can only observe dark matter's influence indirectly, such as when watching unseen creatures perturb the surface of a pond. Harvey et al. observed 72 galaxy collisions to compare the resulting centers of mass for the gas and stars (from direct observations) and for the dark matter (by inference). Based on these offsets, dark matter is clearly present. Science , this issue p. 1462
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A significant self-interaction cross section would induce a momentum-transfer drag, resulting in an offset between the dark matter mass centroid and the galaxies.
“Conversely, a significant SICS would induce a momentumtransfer drag, resulting in an offset between the DM mass centroid and the galaxies (M.Markevitch et al. 2004;D. Harvey et al. 2015).”
From A New Robust Constraint on the Self-interaction Cross Section of Dark Matter with Double Radio Relic Clusters (2026) · cites this paper as D. Harvey et al. 2015
The main text says that an additional drag force would produce a lag of dark matter behind the stars. But the paper limits this drag-and-offset mechanism to frequent, low-momentum, long-range self-interactions; it says rare, high-momentum, short-range interactions tend instead to scatter dark matter away and cause mass loss. The cited claim omits that distinction. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredHarvey et al. (2015) derived an upper limit on the self-interaction cross section of dark matter of <0.47 cm^2 g^-1 at 95% confidence and <-0.01 cm^2 g^-1 at 68% confidence by averaging DM-galaxy offsets in an ensemble of 30 merging galaxy clusters, using a simple solid-body scattering model.
“In an influential recent paper, Harvey et al. derive an upper limit to the self-interaction cross section of dark matter (DM) ( m DM s <0.47 cm 2 g -1 at 95% confidence) by averaging the DM-galaxy offsets in a sample of merging galaxy clusters.”
From The Mismeasure of Mergers: Revised Limits on Self-interacting Dark Matter in Merging Galaxy Clusters (2018) · cites this paper as Harvey et al. (2015)
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Research works printed but not linked: 7
- [8]8. D. N. Spergel, P. J. Steinhardt, Observational Evidence for Self-Interacting Cold Dark Matter, Physical Review Letters 84 , 3760-3763 (2000).
- [12]12. R. Foot, Mirror dark matter: Cosmology, galaxy structure and direct detection, International Journal of Modern Physics A 29 , 30013 (2014).
- [14]14. Y. Hochberg, E. Kuflik, T. Volansky, J. G. Wacker, The SIMP Miracle, arXiv:1402.5143 (2014). · arXiv
- [16]16. S. Tulin, H.-B. Yu, K. M. Zurek, Resonant Dark Forces and Small-Scale Structure, Physical Review Letters 110 , 111301 (2013).
- [40]40. A. M. Koekemoer, A. S. Fruchter, R. N. Hook, W. Hack, HST Calibration Workshop : Hubble after the Installation of the ACS and the NICMOS Cooling System , S. Arribas, A. Koekemoer, B. Whitmore, eds. (2003), p. 337.
- [46]46. J. E. Krist, R. N. Hook, F. Stoehr (2011), vol. 8127 of Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series .
- [47]47. E. Jullo, et al. , A Bayesian approach to strong lensing modelling of galaxy clusters, New Journal of Physics 9 , 447 (2007).
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The Mismeasure of Mergers: Revised Limits on Self-interacting Dark Matter in Merging Galaxy Clusters
Wittman, D., Golovich, N., & Dawson, W. A. (2018) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaee77 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Jee, M. J., Park, D., & Lee, W. (2026) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ae88fb · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Harvey, D., Massey, R., Kitching, T., Taylor, A., & Tittley, E.
- Affiliations
- Royal Observatory (GB)
- Durham University (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2015-03-27
- Volume
- 347
- Issue
- 6229
- Pages
- 1462-1465
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2078533011
- Cited by
- 512
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 98 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 43
- FWCI
- 39.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (acceptedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion)
- Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Royal Society
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
- Keywords
- dark matter self-interaction, galaxy cluster collisions, Bullet Cluster, non-gravitational forces, dark matter mass, dark matter substructure, Chandra X-ray observations, Hubble Space Telescope observations
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