Astronomy:Dark star (dark matter)

Short description: Hypothetical astronomical object heated by dark-matter annihilation

A dark star is a hypothetical type of star that may have existed early in the universe before conventional stars were able to form and thrive.

Properties

The dark stars would be composed mostly of normal matter, like modern stars, but a high concentration of neutralino dark matter present within them would generate heat via annihilation reactions between the dark-matter particles. This heat would prevent such stars from collapsing into the relatively compact and dense sizes of modern stars and therefore prevent nuclear fusion among the 'normal' matter atoms from being initiated.

Under this model, a dark star is predicted to be an enormous cloud of molecular hydrogen and helium ranging between 1 and 960 astronomical units (AU) in radius and with a surface temperature and luminosity low enough that the emitted radiation would be invisible to the naked eye.

In the unlikely event that dark stars have endured to the modern era, they could be detectable by their emissions of gamma rays, neutrinos, and antimatter and would be associated with clouds of cold molecular hydrogen gas that normally would not harbor such energetic, extreme, and rare particles.

Possible dark star candidates

In April 2023, a study investigated four extremely redshifted objects discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope. Their study suggested that all of them, JADES-GS-z13-0, JADES-GS-z12-0, and JADES-GS-z11-0, are consistent with being point sources, and further suggested that the only point sources which could exist in this time and be bright enough to be observed at these phenomenal distances and redshifts (z = 10–13) were supermassive dark stars in the early universe, powered by dark matter annihilation. Their spectral analysis of the objects suggested that they were between 500,000 and 1 million solar masses (M_☉), as well as having a luminosity of billions of Suns (L_☉); they would also likely be huge, possibly with radii surpassing 10,000 solar radii (R_☉), far exceeding the size of the largest modern stars.

See also

• Population III star
• Supermassive star
• Quasi-star
• Primordial black hole

Further reading

• Freese, Katherine; Gondolo, Paolo; Spolyar, Douglas (15–20 July 2007). "The effect of dark matter on the first stars: A new phase of stellar evolution". First Stars II Conference. 990. Santa Fe, NM: American Institute of Physics (published 11 March 2008). pp. 42–44. doi:10.1063/1.2905656. Bibcode: 2008AIPC..990...42F. 
• Freese, Katherine; Bodenheimer, Peter; Gondolo, Paolo; Spolyar, Douglas (20–22 February 2008). "Dark stars: The first stars in the universe may be powered by dark matter heating". 8th UCLA Symposium. 1166. Marina del Rey, CA: American Institute of Physics (published 8 September 2009). pp. 33–38. doi:10.1063/1.3232192. Bibcode: 2009AIPC.1166...33F. 
• Freese, Katherine; Ilie, Cosmin; Spolyar, Douglas; Valluri, Monica; Bodenheimer, Peter (2010). "SUPERMASSIVE DARK STARS: DETECTABLE IN JWST". The Astrophysical Journal 716 (2): 1397–1407. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/716/2/1397. Bibcode: 2010ApJ...716.1397F. 
• Rindler-Daller, T.; Montgomery, M. H.; Freese, K.; Winget, D. E.; Paxton, B. (2015). "Dark Stars: Improved Models and First Pulsation Results". The Astrophysical Journal 799 (2): 210. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/799/2/210. Bibcode: 2015ApJ...799..210R. 
• Freese, Katherine; Bodenheimer, Peter; Gondolo, Paolo; Spolyar, Douglas (2009). "Dark stars: A new study of the first stars in the Universe". New Journal of Physics 11 (10). doi:10.1088/1367-2630/11/10/105014. Bibcode: 2009NJPh...11j5014F. 
• Ilie, Cosmin; Zhang, Saiyang (2019). "Multiscatter capture of superheavy dark matter by Pop III stars". Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2019 (12): 051. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2019/12/051. Bibcode: 2019JCAP...12..051I. 

External links

• Siegel, Lee (2 Dec 2007). "Were the first stars dark?" (Press release). University of Utah.
• "Dark stars: The seeds of supermassive black holes?". 19 July 2019. https://www.astronomy.com/science/dark-stars-the-seeds-of-supermassive-black-holes/. 
• "Webb May Have Spotted Supermassive Dark Stars | Sci.News". 15 July 2023. https://www.sci.news/astronomy/webb-supermassive-dark-stars-12096.html. 
• "Have We Seen the First Glimpse of Supermassive Dark Stars?". 28 July 2023. https://www.universetoday.com/162568/have-we-seen-the-first-glimpse-of-supermassive-dark-stars/. 
• "Nancy Grace Roman Could Detect Supermassive Dark Stars". 23 June 2023. https://www.universetoday.com/162063/nancy-grace-roman-could-detect-supermassive-dark-stars/. 
• "Webb may have spotted "dark stars" made of annihilating dark matter". 17 July 2023. https://newatlas.com/space/dark-stars-matter-annihilating-james-webb/. 
• "Dark matter power: James Webb telescope may have proven the existence of dark stars". 16 July 2023. https://www.salon.com/2023/07/16/dark-matter-power-james-webb-telescope-may-have-proven-the-existence-of-giant-dark-stars/.