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Spectral distortions in the decaying QCD dark matter scenario

Jorge Mastache*

Raúl Henriquez-Ortiz†

  • Facultad de Ciencias en Física y Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Carretera Emiliano Zapata Km. 8, Rancho San Francisco, Ciudad Universitaria, Terán, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, 29050, Mexico and Escuela de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemática, Universidad de El Salvador, final de Avenida Mártires y Héroes del 30 julio, San Salvador, CP 1101, El Salvador

  • *Contact author: jh.mastache@mctp.mx
  • †Contact author: raul.henriquez@ues.edu.sv
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 043526 – Published 13 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/npkw-tzk5

Abstract

We study a dark matter scenario with QCD-like confinement (QCD-DM), in which a confining non-Abelian gauge sector produces composite dark particles that can decay, injecting energy into the primordial plasma. We analyze the resulting cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectral distortions (SDs) generated by this energy release. We adopt a unified framework capable of describing both relativistic and nonrelativistic particles, as well as slow and fast decay regimes. Within this approach, we study exponential, power-law, oscillatory, and two-step decay processes, computing the resulting μ- and y-type distortions across the parameter space spanned by the confinement scale ac, decay rate Γχ, energy-transfer efficiency Σχ, and velocity dispersion vχc. We find that power-law, oscillatory, and cascade decays can be effectively mapped onto exponential models after appropriate rescaling. The dominant factors controlling SDs are the decay epoch and lifetime, with vχc only becoming relevant in the ultrarelativistic limit. FIRAS observations impose constraints on early energy injection, with μ-type distortions providing the tightest bounds on Σχ. Simultaneous matching of both μfiras and yfiras breaks the degeneracy between Γχ and Σχ, localizing preferred decay rates around Γχ≲(3.3–4.4)×10−3  yr−1 and Σχ≲8.5×10−4 for relativistic particles, and revealing that fast decays with Γχ≳6.5  yr−1 or large Σχ become observationally negligible. Our extended analysis confirms that steep power-law decays shift distortion epochs earlier and strengthen upper limits on Σχ. Overall, our results show that CMB spectral distortions are a powerful probe of dark-sector confinement and decay. Future missions, such as PIXIE and PRISM, could extend current sensitivity by several orders of magnitude and test regions of parameter space that are currently unconstrained, offering a direct observational window into nonstandard early-Universe dynamics.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 043526– Published 13 August, 2026
  • Received 11 November 2025
  • Accepted 16 July 2026
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