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Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
Main sequence stars with asymmetric dark matter.
Fabio Iocco1, Marco Taoso, Florent Leclercq
1Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, UPMC Université Paris 06, Paris, France.
Physical Review Letters
|March 10, 2012
Summary
Weakly interacting dark matter (DM) can alter star cores in dense environments. This study shows how these effects can probe DM properties, like mass and scattering cross-section, using solar-mass stars.
Area of Science:
- Astrophysics
- Particle Physics
- Cosmology
Background:
- Dark matter (DM) constitutes a significant portion of the universe's mass.
- Understanding DM particle properties is a major challenge in modern physics.
- Stars in dense DM environments offer a unique laboratory for indirect DM detection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of feebly or nonannihilating weakly interacting dark matter (DM) on main sequence stars.
- To explore how DM-induced energy transport in stellar cores can reveal DM properties.
- To identify parameter spaces for DM properties accessible through stellar observations.
Main Methods:
- Simulating stellar evolution under varying DM densities.
- Analyzing the effects of DM particle scattering and annihilation on stellar core conditions.
- Calculating the sensitivity of solar-mass stars to DM properties in dense environments.
Main Results:
- DM particles induce an energy transport mechanism altering stellar cores.
- Solar-mass stars in DM densities ≥10(2) GeV/cm(3) are sensitive to DM.
- The study probes spin-dependent scattering cross sections ≥10(-37) cm(2) and DM particle masses as low as 5 GeV.
Conclusions:
- Stellar interiors in dense DM environments provide a novel probe for weakly interacting dark matter.
- The proposed method accesses a parameter range weakly constrained by current direct detection experiments.
- Future observations of stars could significantly constrain dark matter properties.
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