First asteroseismic limits on the nature of dark matter

TL;DR

This study uses asteroseismology to set the first constraints on low-mass dark matter particles by analyzing their impact on stellar structure and oscillations, excluding certain dark matter properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of constraining dark matter properties through asteroseismic observations of specific stars, linking stellar physics with dark matter particle characteristics.

Findings

Excluded a region of dark matter parameter space based on stellar oscillation data.

Demonstrated that dark matter affects stellar core temperature and convective zones.

Provided constraints comparable to current experimental limits on dark matter interactions.

Abstract

We report the first constraints on the properties of weakly interacting low-mass dark matter (DM) particles using asteroseismology. The additional energy transport mechanism due to accumulated asymmetric DM particles modifies the central temperature and density of low-mass stars and suppresses the convective core expected in 1.1-1.3 Ms stars even for an environmental DM density as low as the expected in the solar neighborhood. An asteroseismic modeling of the stars KIC 8006161, HD 52265 and Alpha Cen B revealed small frequency separations significantly deviated from the observations, leading to the exclusion of a region of the DM parameter space mass versus spin-dependent DM-proton scattering cross section comparable with present experimental constraints.