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For three standard thermal relic mass eigenstates, each neutrino-antineutrino pair has number density $3n_{\gamma }/11$ after pair annihilation. Their rest-mass density is this common per-species abundance times the mass sum. Requiring it not to exceed the near-critical total density gives the displayed conservative bound. Dividing instead by the total abundance over three species bounds the mean mass. With $T_{\gamma 0}=2.725$ K and $H_0=72$ km s${}^{-1}$ Mpc${}^{-1}$ the instantaneous-decoupling estimate is about $49$ eV/$c^2$ for the sum, conditional on standard abundances and nonnegative other energy components.

In the specified dust model $H_0=2/(3t_0)$, so ${\rho }_{\mathrm{crit}}=m_{\mathrm{pl}}^2/(6\pi t_0^2)$ and $n_B={\Omega }_{B0}{\rho }_{\mathrm{crit}}/m_B$. Photons and the six neutrino/antineutrino helicity states giveUsing the supplied GeV estimates literally givesThe rounded time/temperature conversions are unusually crude: converting $10$ Gyr to $4.8\times 10^{41}{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}$ and $3$ K to $2.6\times 10^{-13}$ GeV instead gives $Y_B\sim 10^{-10}$. Either set gives the same order-of-magnitude mass conclusion below, but the numerical abundance should identify which supplied units are used.

For a stable relic, the relevant comparison is energy density, not merely particle number. The matter density left over after the baryons is at most nine times the baryon density here. ConsequentlyPut $x=(m_{Y\mathrm{nr}}/m_Y{)}^{1/3}$ and use $Y_Y\simeq C_Y{x}^{3/2}{e}^{-x}$ with $C_Y\simeq 10^{-3}$. The condition becomesFor the literal supplied numbers the right side is about $30.5$, giving $x\gtrsim 25.6$ and $m_Y\lesssim 40$–$50$ GeV. With the physically consistent conversions the estimate is about $60$ GeV. The intended rough conclusion is therefore a sufficiently suppressed branch with $m_Y$ no larger than order $10^2$ GeV, within the toy cosmological particle freeze-out law. Comparing the two number yields alone gives a similar rough scale but misses the mass weighting. This is a thermal relic density bound for a tunable fermion.

For $m_Y\gtrsim m_{Y\mathrm{nr}}$, relativistic decoupling would instead leave $Y_Y\simeq 135\zeta (3)g_Y/(8{\pi }^4{g}_{\ast s})\simeq 4\times 10^{-3}$, incompatible with the matter-density bound for such heavy stable particles. These are conditional bounds on a populated, stable thermal relic. A short lifetime or an initially suppressed nonthermal population can change the conclusion; the supplied information alone does not constrain every possible production and decay history.

Above the transition,for $g_{\ast }\sim 100$. The ratio increases during cooling, rather than at higher temperature. A GUT transition at $T_c\sim 10^{15}$–$10^{16}$ GeV occurs well above this scale, so the interaction is too slow to establish or maintain thermal equilibrium throughout $T>T_c$. In fact its integrated interaction probability from an arbitrarily high temperature down to $T_c$ is at most of order $T_{\mathrm{eq}}/T_c\ll 1$, since $dt=-dT/(HT)$.

An initial Fermi-Dirac distribution with zero chemical potential therefore cannot be assumed from this high-temperature rate alone. If imposed initially and collisionlessly redshifted while the particles are massless, its thermal-looking form can persist, but this is not dynamically maintained thermal equilibrium. Other initial states can remain nonthermal. This is the thermalization temperature for a massless gauge mediator.

The below-transition rate stipulated in the model has $\Gamma /H=(T/T_D{)}^3$. If $T_c\gg T_D$ and it includes efficient number-changing reactions, it can restore chemical equilibrium after the transition and erase the initial-state memory, making the estimates in a and b applicable. If it only equilibrates momenta, or if reheating never populates the relevant range, the thermal relic calculation must be reconsidered.

Particle candidate. A stable, electrically neutral weakly interacting massive particle can become nonrelativistic before cosmological particle freeze-out. Its annihilation rate per particle $\Gamma =n⟨\sigma v⟩$ eventually falls below the Hubble parameter; the surviving comoving number then remains approximately fixed. A weak-scale annihilation cross section can give a cosmologically significant thermal relic. This is a mechanism and a parameter-scale motivation, not a guarantee that every weakly interacting particle has the right abundance.

supersymmetry supplies neutralinos, mixtures of neutral electroweak gauginos and higgsinos. If a neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle and R-parity is conserved, it cannot decay solely into Standard Model particles and is stable. Its electroweak interactions can make it a WIMP. Conservation of R-parity and a neutral lightest state are additional assumptions; R-parity violation, coannihilation, composition and resonant annihilation can substantially change the conclusion.

An underground test. XENON100 at Gran Sasso used a liquid-xenon target in a two-phase time projection chamber. A WIMP scattering elastically from a xenon nucleus could produce a low-energy nuclear recoil. The interaction makes prompt particle scintillation, S1, and ionization electrons. An electric field drifts the electrons upward; their extraction into xenon gas produces delayed electroluminescence, S2. The delay measures depth, while the S2 light pattern determines the transverse position. An inner fiducial volume suppresses surface backgrounds through xenon self-shielding; underground overburden reduces cosmic-ray muons, and shielding and material selection reduce radioactivity.^[ref]

The S2/S1 ratio separates most electron recoils from nuclear recoils. Gamma-source calibration maps the electron-recoil leakage; an americium–beryllium neutron source calibrates nuclear-recoil response and cut acceptance. Purity and position corrections must be measured, and selection fixed before unblinding the search region. neutrons can themselves produce single nuclear recoils, so discrimination is not perfect; material assays and transport simulations constrain this background. In the 224.6-live-day, 34-kg analysis, two candidate events were compatible with the expected $1.0\pm 0.2$ background events. The result constrained scattering cross sections rather than establishing a discovery.^[ref]

A predicted count also depends on the local dark matter halo density, distribution of velocities, recoil threshold and nuclear response. Thus a null result constrains a particle model under stated astrophysical assumptions; it does not exclude all dark matter. A collider missing-momentum signal would likewise need independent evidence for a cosmological lifetime.

Relic energy density in the stipulated freeze-out approximation. Let $M=m{c}^2=1900\mathrm{GeV}$ and $\theta =k_{B}T$. Writing the given distribution in energy units givesBy sharp-freeze-out relic dilution, after cosmological particle freeze-out conserve particle number, $n{a}^3=\mathrm{constant}$. In the approximation $aT=\mathrm{constant}$ for the background bath,Inserting the printed inputs yieldsand henceThis is approximately $93\%$ of the stipulated dark-matter energy density, $0.2\times 5=1\mathrm{GeV}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$, so the toy calculation gives the right order and is close to the target. At fixed $P$ the cancellation of $M$ in $n_0$ is exact for the given prefactor, while the present energy density remains proportional to $M$.

The equilibrium exponential must be evaluated at freeze-out, not at today's temperature: equilibrium no longer maintains the particle number afterward. More accurately, comoving entropy conservation gives $a^3{g}_{\ast s}{T}^3=\mathrm{constant}$ and multiplies the displayed $n_0$ by $g_{\ast s,0}/g_{\ast s,f}$, when both counts use the same bath-temperature convention. Thus $0.185$ is the constant-$g_{\ast s}$ estimate supported by the supplied toy model. A refined abundance would require additional entropy degrees of freedom and annihilation history: realistic entropy release, gradual freeze-out and the model's annihilation channels matter.

A thermal relic is a surviving particle population whose earlier abundance was set by chemical thermal equilibrium with the cosmic plasma. After number-changing reactions cease and cosmic entropy is conserved, its comoving abundance is described by the yield $Y=n/s$. A relativistically decoupled species can retain an appreciable yield, whereas a species remaining in thermal equilibrium after becoming nonrelativistic is subject to Boltzmann suppression. Its later mass density, lifetime and momentum distribution determine its cosmological effects.

For a stable nonrelativistic thermal relic, compare energy densities rather than number densities. If $m_Y=m_{\mathrm{nr}}/x^3$ and $Y_Y=C{x}^{3/2}{e}^{-x}$, its density relative to baryons is $(C{m}_{\mathrm{nr}}/m_B{Y}_B)x^{-3/2}{e}^{-x}$. Requiring this ratio below an allowed dark-matter-to-baryon ratio $R$ means $x+\frac{3}{2}\log x\ge \log [C{m}_{\mathrm{nr}}/(R{m}_B{Y}_B)]$. With fixed rate parameters this excludes the weakly interacting large-mass branch, while the sufficiently Boltzmann-suppressed smaller-mass branch can satisfy the density bound. Decay or a nonthermal initial abundance requires a different constraint.