Spectroscopic Supermassive Dark Star candidates

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Ilie, Cosmin, Mahmud, Sayed Shafaat, Paulin, Jillian, Freese, Katherine
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866912367989751808
author Ilie, Cosmin
Mahmud, Sayed Shafaat
Paulin, Jillian
Freese, Katherine
author_facet Ilie, Cosmin
Mahmud, Sayed Shafaat
Paulin, Jillian
Freese, Katherine
contents Dark Stars, i.e. early stars composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium but powered by Dark Matter, could form in zero metallicity clouds located close to the center of high redshift Dark Matter halos. In 2023 three of us identified (in a PNAS work) the first three photometric Dark Star candidates: JADES-GS-z11-0, JADES-GS-z12-0, and JADES-GS-z13-0. We report here our results of a followup analysis based on available NIRSpec JWST data. We find that JADES-GS-z11-0 and JADES-GS-z-13-0 are spectroscopically consistent with a Dark Star interpretation. Moreover, we find two additional spectroscopic Dark Star candidates: JADES-GS-z14-0 and JADES-GS-z-14-1, with the former being the most distant luminous object ever observed. We furthermore identify a feature in its spectrum indicative of the smoking gun signature of Dark Stars: the He II$λ$1640 absorption line. In view ALMA's recent identification of a probable OIII nebular emission line in the spectrum of JADES-GS-z14-0, the simple interpretation of this object as an isolated Dark Star is unlikely. If both spectral features survive follow-up observations it would imply a Dark Star embedded in a metal rich environment, requiring theoretical refinements of the formation of evolution of Dark Stars, which in previous studies were assumed to form in isolation, without any companions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_06101
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spectroscopic Supermassive Dark Star candidates
Ilie, Cosmin
Mahmud, Sayed Shafaat
Paulin, Jillian
Freese, Katherine
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Dark Stars, i.e. early stars composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium but powered by Dark Matter, could form in zero metallicity clouds located close to the center of high redshift Dark Matter halos. In 2023 three of us identified (in a PNAS work) the first three photometric Dark Star candidates: JADES-GS-z11-0, JADES-GS-z12-0, and JADES-GS-z13-0. We report here our results of a followup analysis based on available NIRSpec JWST data. We find that JADES-GS-z11-0 and JADES-GS-z-13-0 are spectroscopically consistent with a Dark Star interpretation. Moreover, we find two additional spectroscopic Dark Star candidates: JADES-GS-z14-0 and JADES-GS-z-14-1, with the former being the most distant luminous object ever observed. We furthermore identify a feature in its spectrum indicative of the smoking gun signature of Dark Stars: the He II$λ$1640 absorption line. In view ALMA's recent identification of a probable OIII nebular emission line in the spectrum of JADES-GS-z14-0, the simple interpretation of this object as an isolated Dark Star is unlikely. If both spectral features survive follow-up observations it would imply a Dark Star embedded in a metal rich environment, requiring theoretical refinements of the formation of evolution of Dark Stars, which in previous studies were assumed to form in isolation, without any companions.
title Spectroscopic Supermassive Dark Star candidates
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.06101