Detecting Dark Matter with Imploding Pulsars in the Galactic Center

TL;DR

This paper explores how dark matter accumulation in neutron stars near the galactic center could lead to their collapse into black holes, explaining the scarcity of old pulsars in that region and providing constraints on dark matter properties.

Contribution

It identifies dark matter parameter regions that cause pulsar destruction, linking dark matter properties to pulsar lifespan and distribution in the Milky Way.

Findings

Dark matter accumulation can cause pulsar collapse in the galactic center.

Pulsar collapse age depends on local dark matter density and velocity dispersion.

Spatial variation in pulsar age can serve as a probe for dark matter properties.

Abstract

The paucity of old millisecond pulsars observed at the galactic center of the Milky Way could be the result of dark matter accumulating in and destroying neutron stars. In regions of high dark matter density, dark matter clumped in a pulsar can exceed the Schwarzschild limit and collapse into a natal black hole which destroys the pulsar. We examine what dark matter models are consistent with this hypothesis and find regions of parameter space where dark matter accumulation can significantly degrade the neutron star population within the galactic center while remaining consistent with observations of old millisecond pulsars in globular clusters and near the solar position. We identify what dark matter couplings and masses might cause a young pulsar at the galactic center to unexpectedly extinguish. Finally, we find that pulsar collapse age scales inversely with the dark matter density and linearly with the dark matter velocity dispersion. This implies that maximum pulsar age is spatially dependent on position within the dark matter halo of the Milky Way. In turn, this pulsar age spatial dependence will be dark matter model dependent.