The Sun and stars: Giving light to dark matter

TL;DR

This paper discusses how modern astrophysical techniques like helioseismology and neutrino measurements are used to investigate dark matter properties through stellar observations.

Contribution

It highlights recent advances in using stellar diagnostics to test hypotheses about dark matter particles and their interactions.

Findings

Stellar observations constrain dark matter particle properties.

Helioseismology provides insights into the Sun's interior related to dark matter.

Neutrino flux measurements serve as probes for dark matter effects in stars.

Abstract

During the last century, with the development of modern physics in such diverse fields as thermodynamics, statistical physics, and nuclear and particle physics, the basic principles of the evolution of stars have been successfully well understood. Nowadays, a precise diagnostic of the stellar interiors is possible with the new fields of helioseismology and astroseismology. Even the measurement of solar neutrino fluxes, once a problem in particle physics, is now a powerful probe of the core of the Sun. These tools have allowed the use of stars to test new physics, in particular the properties of the hypothetical particles that constitute the dark matter of the Universe. Here we present recent results obtained using this approach.