Asteroseismological constraints on--and hints of--dark matter interactions

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Hauptverfasser: Beram, Stephanie, Vincent, Aaron C.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Beram, Stephanie
Vincent, Aaron C.
author_facet Beram, Stephanie
Vincent, Aaron C.
contents If dark matter interacts with nuclei or electrons, then elastic collisions with constituents of stars will cause some of the galactic dark matter to fall below the escape velocity and become gravitationally bound. For asymmetric dark matter (which does not self-annihilate), the large accumulated population of dark matter can act as an additional source of heat transport, altering stellar structure and evolution. These effects can be probed by the use of asteroseismology. Here, we demonstrate this effect via numerical simulations. We use Monte Carlo-calibrated heat transport calculations, with a focus on the erasure of the convective core in stars that are slightly more massive than the Sun. We find limits on spin-dependent dark matter-nucleon and dark matter-electron interactions using asteroseismological data from a nearby sub-giant star. More tantalizingly, we find a $\gtrsim 4 σ$ preference for dark matter-electron interactions for dark matter masses $\lesssim 3.5$ GeV and cross sections $σ_{χ-e} \sim 10^{-34.5}$ cm$^2$, albeit in strong tension with limits from Earth-based direct detection experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_07948
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Asteroseismological constraints on--and hints of--dark matter interactions
Beram, Stephanie
Vincent, Aaron C.
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
If dark matter interacts with nuclei or electrons, then elastic collisions with constituents of stars will cause some of the galactic dark matter to fall below the escape velocity and become gravitationally bound. For asymmetric dark matter (which does not self-annihilate), the large accumulated population of dark matter can act as an additional source of heat transport, altering stellar structure and evolution. These effects can be probed by the use of asteroseismology. Here, we demonstrate this effect via numerical simulations. We use Monte Carlo-calibrated heat transport calculations, with a focus on the erasure of the convective core in stars that are slightly more massive than the Sun. We find limits on spin-dependent dark matter-nucleon and dark matter-electron interactions using asteroseismological data from a nearby sub-giant star. More tantalizingly, we find a $\gtrsim 4 σ$ preference for dark matter-electron interactions for dark matter masses $\lesssim 3.5$ GeV and cross sections $σ_{χ-e} \sim 10^{-34.5}$ cm$^2$, albeit in strong tension with limits from Earth-based direct detection experiments.
title Asteroseismological constraints on--and hints of--dark matter interactions
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.07948