micrOMEGAs 7: Beyond standard cosmology
Pith reviewed 2026-06-28 00:11 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
micrOMEGAs7 now solves the Boltzmann equations with arbitrary user modifications to the Hubble rate and entropy to compute relic densities outside standard radiation-dominated cosmology.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
By allowing user-defined modifications to the Hubble expansion rate, entropy evolution, and non-thermal dark matter production from late-decaying components, the updated code solves the Boltzmann equations beyond the standard radiation-dominated universe and thereby computes relic densities in low-temperature reheating, early matter domination, and kination scenarios.
What carries the argument
A generalized Boltzmann solver that accepts arbitrary user-specified functions for the Hubble parameter and entropy density while tracking non-thermal production terms.
If this is right
- Relic density results become available for any early-universe expansion history supplied by the user.
- Non-thermal dark matter injection from late decays can be included without rewriting the core equations.
- Direct detection and indirect detection rates can be evaluated consistently with the new cosmological histories.
- Updated spectra for light-meson final states improve predictions for sub-GeV dark matter annihilation.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- The same interface could be used to explore dark matter production tied to specific models of entropy injection during the QCD phase transition.
- Users might link the modified expansion histories to constraints from primordial gravitational waves or baryon asymmetry.
- The framework opens a route to systematic scans over reheating temperatures while keeping the particle physics model fixed.
Load-bearing premise
The numerical integration remains stable and accurate when the Hubble rate and entropy are replaced by arbitrary user functions that differ strongly from standard radiation domination.
What would settle it
An independent analytic or numerical calculation of the relic density for a concrete early-matter-domination scenario with given reheating temperature and decay width that matches or deviates from the code output within stated precision.
read the original abstract
We present micrOMEGAs7, a major upgrade of the micrOMEGAs package for the computation of dark matter observables in generic models. This release introduces a generalized treatment of the Boltzmann equations, allowing for user-defined modifications of the Hubble expansion rate, entropy evolution, and non-thermal dark matter production from late-decaying cosmological components, thereby extending the framework beyond the standard radiation-dominated cosmology. The relic density can now be computed in scenarios such as low-temperature reheating, early matter domination, and kination. The new version also improves the treatment of sub-GeV dark matter, in particular annihilation into light mesons through scalar mediators, and provides updated spectra for indirect detection. Several experimental and observational constraints have been implemented or revised, including CMB bounds from Planck on energy injection during recombination and Fermi-LAT limits from dwarf spheroidal galaxies. For direct detection, a recast of recent LZ results has been included, and the code now takes into account effective electromagnetic couplings of spin-$1/2$ and spin-1 dark matter. Collider observables have also been extended through the implementation of CMS dilepton resonance constraints on $Z'$ mediators. Additional improvements include a more flexible treatment of effective relativistic degrees of freedom and an updated LHAPDF interface.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript describes the release of micrOMEGAs 7, which extends the micrOMEGAs package with a generalized treatment of the Boltzmann equations. This allows user-defined modifications to the Hubble expansion rate, entropy evolution, and non-thermal dark matter production, enabling relic density computations in non-standard cosmologies such as low-temperature reheating, early matter domination, and kination. Additional updates cover sub-GeV DM annihilation into light mesons, updated indirect detection spectra, revised constraints from Planck, Fermi-LAT, LZ, and CMS, a more flexible treatment of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an updated LHAPDF interface.
Significance. If the numerical implementation is robust, the extension to non-standard cosmologies would be significant for dark matter phenomenology, as it permits calculations in scenarios where the standard radiation-dominated expansion does not apply and could affect relic density predictions and experimental interpretations. The updated constraints and sub-GeV improvements would further increase the package's utility for model scans and data comparison.
major comments (1)
- [Abstract] Abstract: the central claim that relic densities can now be reliably computed via the generalized Boltzmann solver in scenarios such as early matter domination and kination is not supported by any validation tests, analytic limit comparisons, convergence checks, or stability analysis for arbitrary user-specified H(t) or entropy modifications; this is load-bearing for the advertised functionality.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for their detailed review and for recognizing the potential significance of the generalized Boltzmann solver in micrOMEGAs 7. We address the single major comment below.
read point-by-point responses
-
Referee: [Abstract] Abstract: the central claim that relic densities can now be reliably computed via the generalized Boltzmann solver in scenarios such as early matter domination and kination is not supported by any validation tests, analytic limit comparisons, convergence checks, or stability analysis for arbitrary user-specified H(t) or entropy modifications; this is load-bearing for the advertised functionality.
Authors: We agree that explicit validation strengthens the central claim. The current manuscript presents the implementation and illustrates its use through example scenarios, but does not include dedicated analytic-limit comparisons, convergence tests, or stability analysis for arbitrary user-specified modifications. In the revised version we will add a new subsection (or appendix) containing: (i) recovery of the standard radiation-dominated result for H(t) and entropy evolution matching the usual case, (ii) comparison against known analytic solutions for early matter domination and kination, and (iii) numerical convergence and stability checks for representative user-defined H(t) and entropy profiles. These additions will be referenced from the abstract. revision: yes
Circularity Check
No circularity: software release note with no derivation chain
full rationale
The document is a release note describing added numerical functionality in micrOMEGAs7 for generalized Boltzmann solvers under user-specified H(t), entropy, and non-thermal production. No theoretical derivation, fitted parameter, or prediction is presented that could reduce to its own inputs by construction. The text lists features and constraints implemented but contains no equations, ansatze, or self-citations invoked as load-bearing uniqueness theorems. The central claim is simply that the code now supports these extensions; correctness is an implementation and validation matter outside the scope of circularity analysis. No steps meet the criteria for any enumerated circularity pattern.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
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