Uranus's anomalously low excess heat constrains strongly interacting dark matter

2004/08/31 by Saibal Mitra · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.70.103517

published as Phys.Rev. D70 (2004) 103517 · 6 REVTeX pages, version accepted by PRD

arxiv created 2004/11/05 · openalex publication_date 2004/11/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Dark matter annihilations can generate significant amounts of internal heat inside planets if dark matter consists mainly of particles with nuclear cross sections in the microbarn range or larger (SIMPs). By considering a detailed model of Uranus's interior, we calculate upper limits on the S-wave annihilation cross section for these particles as a function of their mass. These upper limits, together with other experimental and theoretical constraints, rule out SIMPs with masses between 150 MeV and 10⁴ GeV.

Citations

• Review of mathematics, numerical factors, and corrections for dark matter experiments based on elastic nuclear recoil

Cited by

• Dark matter (h)eats young planets
• Towards closing the window on strongly interacting dark matter: Far-reaching constraints from Earth’s heat flow
• Dark matter from stable charged particles?
• Dark matter with invisible light from heavy double charged leptons of almost-commutative geometry?

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