Cosmological evolution of collisionless relativistic gases as dark matter
Abstract
We study a phenomenological dark matter model described as a collisionless relativistic kinetic gas in a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe. After normalization to the observed present-day dark matter abundance, the model is fully specified by a single dimensionless parameter $β$, interpreted as the present particle velocity in units of the speed of light. The resulting energy density, pressure, and sound speed admit closed analytic expressions, interpolating between a radiation-like regime at early times and cold dark matter at late times. We implement the model in a modified version of the Boltzmann code CLASS and confront it with Planck 2018 CMB data. We find that sufficiently small values of $β$ are observationally indistinguishable from $Λ$CDM, while larger values inducing relativistic effects at early times are constrained. These results establish the consistency of the relativistic kinetic gas scenario with current cosmological observations.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Galaxies: Formation
Evolution
Phenomena
Publication details
- Journal / source
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Publication date
- 27 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint