标题： 亚千电子伏暗物质可以强烈电离分子云 显示英文标题

标题： Sub-keV dark matter can strongly ionize molecular clouds

摘要： 我们表明，致密分子云的电离可以用来对产生紫外/X射线光子的暗物质模型设置严格的约束。 我们在各种暗物质模型上设定了稳健且具有竞争力的约束，例如轴子样粒子、标量和惰性中微子，在$\sim30$~eV 到$10$~keV 的质量范围内，并进行预测以说明这一目标的潜力。 我们讨论了如何通过考虑银河系中心附近和银河平面以上的更精细的分子云样本、宇宙射线电离贡献的详细建模，以及可能通过尘埃消光图对云中气体密度进行更精细的分析，从而显著改进这些约束。 因此，分子云的电离成为探测亚千电子伏特暗物质最有力的工具之一。 显示英文摘要

摘要： We show that the ionization of dense molecular clouds can be used to set strong constraints on dark matter models producing UV/X-ray photons in their annihilation or decay. We place robust and competitive constraints on various dark matter models, such as axion-like particles, scalars and sterile neutrinos, for masses between $\sim30$~eV and $10$~keV, and project forecasts to illustrate the potential of this target. We discuss how these constraints can be significantly improved by considering a more refined sample of molecular clouds near the Galactic Center and above the Galactic plane, a detailed modeling of the cosmic-ray ionization contribution and, potentially, a more refined analysis of the gas density in clouds through dust extinction maps. Thus, ionization of molecular clouds emerges as one of the most powerful tools for probing sub-keV dark matter.