Scattering searches for dark matter in subhalos: neutron stars, cosmic rays, and old rocks

Bramante, Joseph; Kavanagh, Bradley J.; Raj, Nirmal

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2109.04582

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 120 publications

(166 reference statements)

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“…Our study implies that NS warmer than 2600 K, in the local bubble, are observable with strategies requiring shorter exposure times than discussed here. Such scenarios can be realized in a particle physics model dependent way through 'Auger effect', if DM is charged under baryon number [75][76][77], or through DM capture from a clumpy halo with large boost factors [78], or due to other internal heating mechanisms [15,42]. Observation of such NS would not only shed light on late evolutionary stages, but also on their equation of state.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faint light of old neutron stars from dark matter capture and detectability at the James Webb Space Telescope

Chatterjee¹,

Garani²,

Jain³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Neutron stars (NS) of age > 10 9 yrs exhaust thermal and rotational energies and cool down to temperatures below O(100) K. Accretion of particle dark matter (DM) by such NS can heat them up through kinetic and annihilation processes. This increases the NS surface temperature to a maximum of ∼ 2600 K in the best case scenario. The maximum accretion rate depends on the DM ambient density and velocity dispersion, and on the NS equation of state and their velocity distributions. Upon scanning over these variables, we find that the effective surface temperature varies at most by ∼ 40%. Black body spectrum of such warm NS peak at near infrared wavelengths with magnitudes in the range potentially detectable by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Using the JWST exposure time calculator, we demonstrate that NS with surface temperatures 2400 K, located at a distance of 10 pc can be detected through the F150W2 (F322W2) filters of the NIRCAM instrument at SNR 10 (5) within 24 hours of exposure time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faint light of old neutron stars from dark matter capture and detectability at the James Webb Space Telescope

Chatterjee¹,

Garani²,

Jain³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Such probes have been explored using pulsar timing arrays (e.g., Refs. [159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170][171][172][173]) and some measurements of dark matter and dark-matter substructure have also been performed using astrometry data from the Gaia satellite (e.g., Refs. [171,[174][175][176][177]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrometric Gravitational-Wave Detection via Stellar Interferometry

Fedderke,

Graham,

Macintosh

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We evaluate the potential for gravitational-wave (GW) detection in the frequency band from 10 nHz to 1 µHz using extremely high-precision astrometry of a small number of stars. In particular, we argue that non-magnetic, photometrically stable hot white dwarfs (WD) located at ∼ kpc distances may be optimal targets for this approach. Previous studies of astrometric GW detection have focused on the potential for less precise surveys of large numbers of stars; our work provides an alternative optimization approach to this problem. Interesting GW sources in this band are expected at characteristic strains around hc ∼ 10 −17 × (µHz/fgw). The astrometric angular precision required to see these sources is ∆θ ∼ hc after integrating for a time T ∼ 1/fgw. We show that jitter in the photometric center of WD of this type due to starspots is bounded to be small enough to permit this high-precision, small-N approach. We discuss possible noise arising from stellar reflex motion induced by orbiting objects and show how it can be mitigated. The only plausible technology able to achieve the requisite astrometric precision is a space-based stellar interferometer. Such a future mission with few-meter-scale collecting dishes and baselines of O(100 km) is sufficient to achieve the target precision. This collector size is broadly in line with the collectors proposed for some formation-flown, space-based astrometer or optical synthetic-aperature imaging-array concepts proposed for other science reasons. The proposed baseline is however somewhat larger than the km-scale baselines discussed for those concepts, but we see no fundamental technical obstacle to utilizing such baselines. A mission of this type thus also holds the promise of being one of the few ways to access interesting GW sources in this band. CONTENTS

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“…A complementary method to probe heavy DM, down to smaller-than-electroweak scattering cross sections, is to observe the brightening of cold, isolated neutron stars (NS) via the transfer of DM kinetic energy during capture [173]. This may be done using upcoming infrared telescopes such as JWST, TMT and ELT [173] or telescopes operating at lower wavelengths if DM clusters into subhalos [174]; the possible presence of DM annihilations, a model-dependent issue, may boost the NS luminosity and help reduce telescope integration times. Various key particle and astrophysics implications of this probe have been investigated .…”

Section: Indirect Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier White Paper: Ultraheavy particle dark matter

Carney¹,

Raj²,

Yang³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We outline the unique opportunities and challenges in the search for "ultraheavy" dark matter candidates with masses between roughly 10 TeV and the Planck scale m pl ≈ 10 16 TeV. This mass range presents a wide and relatively unexplored dark matter parameter space, with a rich space of possible models and cosmic histories. We emphasize that both current detectors and new, targeted search techniques, via both direct and indirect detection, are poised to contribute to searches for ultraheavy particle dark matter in the coming decade. We highlight the need for new developments in this space, including new analyses of current and imminent direct and indirect experiments targeting ultraheavy dark matter and development of new, ultra-sensitive detector technologies like next-generation liquid noble detectors, neutrino experiments, and specialized quantum sensing techniques.

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Scattering searches for dark matter in subhalos: neutron stars, cosmic rays, and old rocks

Cited by 6 publications

References 120 publications

Faint light of old neutron stars from dark matter capture and detectability at the James Webb Space Telescope

Faint light of old neutron stars from dark matter capture and detectability at the James Webb Space Telescope

Astrometric Gravitational-Wave Detection via Stellar Interferometry

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier White Paper: Ultraheavy particle dark matter

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