A Particle Dark Matter Footprint on the First Generation of Stars

Abstract

Dark matter particles with properties identical to dark matter candidates that are hinted at by several international collaborations dedicated to experimental detection of dark matter (DAMA, CO-GENT, CRESST and CDMS-II, although not, most notably, by LUX), and which also have a dark matter asymmetry identical to the observed baryon asymmetry (Planck and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe), may produce a significant impact on the evolution of the first generation of lowmetallicity stars. The lifetimes of these stars in different phases of stellar evolution are significantly extended, namely, in the pre-main sequence, main sequence, and red giant phases. In particular, intermediate-mass stars in the red giant phase experience significant changes in their luminosity and chemical composition. The annihilations of dark matter particles affect the interior of the star in such a way that the 3α−reaction becomes less efficient in the production of carbon and oxygen. This dark matter effect contradicts the excess of carbon and other metals observed today in stars of low mass and low metallicity. Hence, we can impose an upper limit on the dark matter halo density, and therefore on the redshift, at which the first generation of low-metallicity stars formed.

Gravitational effects of condensed dark matter on strange stars

“…We have chosen these values in agreement with the current dark matter constraints obtained from stars like the Sun. Actually, as shown by several authors, even smaller amounts of DM (as a percentage of the total mass of the star) can have a quite visible impact on the structure of these stars [29][30][31]. As we discuss in this work even such small amounts of DM can change the M − R relation of neutron stars.…”

Constraining the parameter space of branon dark matter using white dwarf stars

“…The branons once trapped inside the star interact with the nuclei and eventually thermalize, and since they are non-relativistic they are described by the MaxwellBoltzmann distribution [22,26,37]. If a large number of them is accreted during the lifetime of a white dwarf, they may collapse and form a small black hole (BH) inside the star that eventually destroy the compact object [38].…”

“…These direct detection experiments have put limits on the nucleon-dark matter candidate cross section for a given mass of the dark matter particle [18][19][20], while the prospects of branon direct detection have been presented in [21]. During the last 15 years or so observational data from astrophysical objects, such as the Sun [22][23][24], solar-like stars [25][26][27], white dwarfs and neutron stars [28][29][30], have been employed to offer us complementary bounds on the WIMP-nucleon cross section, see e.g. [31] and references therein.…”

Stars as resonant absorbers of gravitational waves

“…More sophisticated stellar modelling is needed to compute the overlap for g-modes, and also for non-solar type giant stars, where GW wavelength is closer to the stellar radius and where higher-order modes may have substantially greater overlap integrals. (Lopes & Silk 2014) calculate Solar models beyond a simple polytrope and find that values of Mm (Ξn from their eqn. 9) for p-modes and f-modes are supressed by 1 − 2 orders of magnitude relative to the values in Khosroshahi & Sobouti (1997) because of the rapid change in density profile.…”

“…Fabian & Gough 1984;Kojima & Tanimoto 2005). After this manuscript was submitted, a pre-print appeared on arXiv.org by (Lopes & Silk 2014), considering the resonant interaction of GWs with stars, as well as assessing the feasibility of detecting the induced stellar oscillations through astroseismological measurements. In this Letter, we discuss the possibility of GW absorption lines at resonant frequencies in stars, eclipses of GW sources by foreground stars (including the Sun) and the possible use of stars in galactic nuclei as electromagnetic detectors of resonating GW from nearby massive black hole binaries.…”