Constraining bosonic asymmetric dark matter with neutron star mass-radius measurements

2022/08/05 by Nathan Rutherford, Geert Raaijmakers, G. Raaijmakers +3 · 1 voice · 7 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph.HE #hep-ph #nucl-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.107.103051

openalex publication_date 2023/05/30 · openalex created_date 2023/06/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Neutron stars can accumulate asymmetric dark matter (ADM) in their interiors, which affects the neutron star's measurable properties and makes compact objects prime targets to search for ADM. In this work, we use Bayesian inference to explore potential neutron star mass-radius measurements, from current and future x-ray telescopes, to constrain the bosonic ADM parameters for the case where bosonic ADM has accumulated in the neutron star interior. We find that the current uncertainties in the baryonic equation of state do not allow for constraints on the ADM parameter space to be made. However, we also find that ADM cannot be excluded and the inclusion of bosonic ADM in neutron star cores relaxes the constraints on the baryonic equation of state space. If the baryonic equation of state were more tightly constrained independent of ADM, we find that statements about the ADM parameter space could be made. In particular, we find that the high bosonic ADM particle mass (m_\ensuremathχ) and low effective self-interaction strength (g_\ensuremathχ/m_\ensuremathφ) regime is disfavored due to the observationally and theoretically motivated constraint that neutron stars must have at least a mass of 1M_\ensuremath\bigodot. However, within the remaining parameter space, m_\ensuremathχ and g_\ensuremathχ/m_\ensuremathφ are individually unconstrained. On the other hand, the ADM mass-fraction, i.e., the fraction of ADM mass inside the neutron star, can be constrained by such neutron star measurements.

Citations

• Two Efficient Algorithms with Guaranteed Convergence for Finding a Zero of a Function
• On Massive Neutron Cores
• Static Solutions of Einstein's Field Equations for Spheres of Fluid
• Equations of state for supernovae and compact stars
• Refined Mass and Geometric Measurements of the High-mass PSR J0740+6620
• A NICER View of the Massive Pulsar PSR J0740+6620 Informed by Radio Timing and XMM-Newton Spectroscopy

Cited by

• General relativistic study of f-mode oscillations in neutron stars with gravitationally bound dark matter
• Probing Strange Dark Matter through f-mode Oscillations of Neutron Stars with Hyperons and Quark Matter
• Bulk viscosity from neutron decays to dark baryons in neutron star matter
• Amplified capture rate of dark matter in compact binaries and constraints on bosonic dark matter from GW170817
• Rotating Neutron Stars with Dark Matter Halos
• Cooling of dark neutron stars
• Rotating Proto-Neutron Stars Admixed with Mirror Dark Matter: A two fluid approach

Discussions

• 2. Here’s a paper led by my student Nathan Rutherford that focuses on using NICER to look for bosonic asymmetric dark matter in neutron stars. arxiv.org/abs/2208.03282 [bsky, 6 points, 1 comments]

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