New Forces in the Dark Sector

We detect a weak unidentified emission line at E = (3.55 3.57) ± 0.03 keV in a stacked XMMspectrum of 73 galaxy clusters spanning a redshift range 0.01 0.35. MOS and PN observationsindependently show the presence of the line at consistent energies. When the full sample is dividedinto three subsamples (Perseus, Centaurus+Ophiuchus+Coma, and all others), the line is seen at> 3 statistical significance in all three independent MOS spectra and the PN “all others” spectrum.The line is also detected at the same energy in the Chandra ACIS-S and ACIS-I spectra of the Perseuscluster, with a flux consistent with XMM-Newton (however, it is not seen in the ACIS-I spectrum ofVirgo). The line is present even if we allow maximum freedom for all the known thermal emissionlines. However, it is very weak (with an equivalent width in the full sample of only ⇠ 1 eV) and locatedwithin 50–110 eV of several known faint lines; the detection is at the limit of the current instrumentcapabilities and subject to significant modeling uncertainties. On the origin of this line, we argue thatthere should be no atomic transitions in thermal plasma at this energy. An intriguing possibility isthe decay of sterile neutrino, a long-sought dark matter particle candidate. Assuming that all darkmatter is in sterile neutrinos with ms = 2E = 7.1 keV, our detection in the full sample corresponds toa neutrino decay mixing angle sin(2✓) ⇡ 7⇥ 10 11, below the previous upper limits. However, basedon the cluster masses and distances, the line in Perseus is much brighter than expected in this model,significantly deviating from other subsamples. This appears to be because of an anomalously brightline at E = 3.62 keV in Perseus, which could be an Arxvii dielectronic recombination line, althoughits emissivity would have to be 30 times the expected value and physically di cult to understand. Inprinciple, such an anomaly might explain our line detection in other subsamples as well, though itwould stretch the line energy uncertainties. Another alternative is the above anomaly in the Ar linecombined with the nearby 3.51 keV K line also exceeding expectation by factor 10–20. Confirmationwith Chandra and Suzaku, and eventually Astro-H, are required to determine the nature of this newline.