Can Neutron stars constrain Dark Matter?

TL;DR

This paper proposes that observations of old neutron stars can provide new constraints on dark matter properties, especially in regions near the galactic center, by analyzing their surface temperatures influenced by dark matter interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of constraining dark matter candidates using neutron star temperature observations, effective even with very small interaction cross sections.

Findings

Old neutron stars can maintain detectable surface temperatures influenced by dark matter.

Neutron stars can efficiently capture WIMPs despite current direct detection limits.

Neutron star observations can constrain a wide range of dark matter models.

Abstract

We argue that observations of old neutron stars can impose constraints on dark matter candidates even with very small elastic or inelastic cross section, and self-annihilation cross section. We find that old neutron stars close to the galactic center or in globular clusters can maintain a surface temperature that could in principle be detected. Due to their compactness, neutron stars can acrete WIMPs efficiently even if the WIMP-to-nucleon cross section obeys the current limits from direct dark matter searches, and therefore they could constrain a wide range of dark matter candidates.