Constraining Ultralight Dark Matter in Dynamical Dark Energy Cosmologies
Abstract
We investigate the cosmological implications of scalar-field dark matter (SFDM) in a dynamical dark energy framework, extending previous analyses that considered SFDM within the standard ΛCDM cosmological model. We consistently implement the scenario at both the background and linear perturbation levels. We perform Bayesian parameter inference using Planck CMB measurements, DESI DR2 baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data, and Pantheon+ Type Ia supernovae to constrain the model parameter space. Our theoretical predictions show that lighter scalar-field masses produce increasingly strong scale-dependent suppression of matter fluctuations and more pronounced modifications to the CMB temperature power spectrum, whereas heavier masses progressively approach the cold dark matter limit. For the SFDM mass, we obtain a one-sided 95\% lower limit of log10(mϕ/eV)>−24.04 from our main joint analysis. We find that replacing the standard cold dark matter fluid with SFDM does not qualitatively alter the constraints on dynamical dark energy or the evidence for its evolution, including a phantom crossing at low redshifts.
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BibTeX
@misc{awais2026constraining,
title = {{Constraining Ultralight Dark Matter in Dynamical Dark Energy Cosmologies}},
author = {Muhammad Awais and Hafiz Inam Ullah and Rafael C. Nunes and Paula S. Ferreira and Tonatiuh Matos},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.33332},
eprint = {2610.33332},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33332},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Constraining Ultralight Dark Matter in Dynamical Dark Energy Cosmologies
AU - Muhammad Awais
AU - Hafiz Inam Ullah
AU - Rafael C. Nunes
AU - Paula S. Ferreira
AU - Tonatiuh Matos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.33332
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33332
AB - We investigate the cosmological implications of scalar-field dark matter (SFDM) in a dynamical dark energy framework, extending previous analyses that considered SFDM within the standard ΛCDM cosmological model. We consistently implement the scenario at both the background and linear perturbation levels. We perform Bayesian parameter inference using Planck CMB measurements, DESI DR2 baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data, and Pantheon+ Type Ia supernovae to constrain the model parameter space. Our theoretical predictions show that lighter scalar-field masses produce increasingly strong scale-dependent suppression of matter fluctuations and more pronounced modifications to the CMB temperature power spectrum, whereas heavier masses progressively approach the cold dark matter limit. For the SFDM mass, we obtain a one-sided 95\% lower limit of log_10(m_ϕ/eV)>−24.04 from our main joint analysis. We find that replacing the standard cold dark matter fluid with SFDM does not qualitatively alter the constraints on dynamical dark energy or the evidence for its evolution, including a phantom crossing at low redshifts.
ER -