Constraints on asymmetric dark matter from asteroseismology

TL;DR

This paper investigates how asymmetric dark matter affects low-mass stars, showing that DM can suppress convective cores and alter stellar properties, enabling constraints on DM characteristics through asteroseismic data.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of asymmetric dark matter on stellar structure and derives new limits on DM properties using asteroseismology of nearby stars.

Findings

DM suppresses convective core in 1.1-1.3 Msun stars.

Stars below 1 Msun are more affected by DM than the Sun.

Constraints on DM mass and scattering cross section from stellar modeling.

Abstract

We report recent results on the impact of asymmetric dark matter (DM) particles on low-mass stars. First, we found that the small convective core expected in stars with masses between 1.1 and 1.3 Msun is suppressed due to DM cooling. Moreover, stars with masses below 1 Msun have their central temperatures and densities more strongly influenced by DM than in the solar case. We were able to put limits to the DM mass and spin-dependent DM-proton scattering cross section by comparing the modelling of the nearby star Alpha Cen B with photometric, spectroscopic and asteroseismic observations.