Dark matter capture in compact objects: a window to BSM physics

by Dr Maura Elisabeth Ramirez Quezada (University of Tokyo)

Thursday 7 Jul 2022, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Berlin

Main/2-313 - 313 ("also" via Zoom: https://mppmu.zoom.us/j/99300254726) (Main)

"The scattering of dark matter from stellar constituents leads to gravitational capture, with important observational consequences. In particular, white dwarf /Neutron star heating occurs due to the energy transfer in the dark matter capture and thermalization processes, and the subsequent annihilation of captured dark matter. Here I discuss two main works: 

 I) the capture of dark matter by scattering on either the ion or the degenerate electron component of white dwarfs.  We apply this technique to observations of old white dwarfs in the globular cluster Messier 4, which we assume to be located in a DM subhalo.

II) Given that WIMPs are efficiently captured by NSs through DM-muon or spin-dependent DM-nucleon scattering, the temperature observation of neutron stars (NSs) is a promising way to probe models with weakly-interacting massive particles (WIMPs) coupled to muons.  I will discuss   two classes of representative models, where the DM couples or does not couple to the Higgs field at tree level, and show that the maximal DM heating is realized in both scenarios."