Stochastic dark matter: Covariant Brownian motion from Planckian discreteness

Quantum gravity has long remained elusive from an observational standpoint. Developing effective cosmological models motivated by the fundamental aspects of quantum gravity is crucial for bridging theory with observations. One key aspect is the granularity of spacetime, which suggests that free particles would deviate from classical geodesics by following a covariant Brownian motion. This notion is further supported by swerves models in causal set theory, a discrete approach to quantum gravity. At an effective level, such deviations are described by a stochastic correction to the geodesic equation. We show that the form of this correction is strictly restricted by covariance and the mass-shell condition. Under minimal coupling to curvature, the resulting covariant Brownian motion is unique. The process is equivalently described by a covariant diffusion equation for the distribution of massive particles in their relativistic phase space. When applied to dark matter particles, covariant Brownian motion results in spontaneous warming at late times, suppressing the matter power spectrum at small scales in a time-dependent manner. Using bounds on the diffusion rate from CMB and growth history measurements of $f\sigma_8$, we show that the model offers a resolution to the $S_8$ tension. Future studies on the model's behavior at non-linear cosmological scales will provide further constraints and, therefore, critical tests for the viability of stochastic dark matter.