Updated CMB constraints on dark matter annihilation cross sections
Résumé
The injection of secondary particles produced by Dark Matter (DM) annihilation at redshift
100 <∼ z <∼ 1000 affects the process of recombination, leaving an imprint on Cosmic Microwave
Background (CMB) anisotropies. Here we provide a new assessment of the constraints set by CMB
data on the mass and self-annihilation cross-section of DM particles. Our new analysis includes the
most recent WMAP (7-year) and ACT data, as well as an improved treatment of the time-dependent
coupling between the DM annihilation energy with the thermal gas. We show in particular that the
improved measurement of the polarization signal places already stringent constraints on light DM
particles, ruling out ‘thermal’ WIMPs with mass mχ <∼ 10 GeV