Dark Stars: A Review

TL;DR

Dark stars are hypothetical stellar objects powered by dark matter annihilation, potentially forming the first stars in the universe, growing to supermassive sizes, and possibly seeding supermassive black holes, with ongoing research into their properties and evolution.

Contribution

This review synthesizes current knowledge on dark stars, highlighting their formation, evolution, and potential role in cosmic history, using both polytropic models and the MESA stellar evolution code.

Findings

Dark stars can grow to supermassive sizes exceeding 10^6 solar masses.

They are large, cool, and luminous, making them detectable by future telescopes.

Dark stars may collapse into black holes, seeding supermassive black holes in the universe.

Abstract

Dark Stars are stellar objects made (almost entirely) of hydrogen and helium, but powered by the heat from Dark Matter annihilation, rather than by fusion. They are in hydrostatic and thermal equilibrium, but with an unusual power source. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), among the best candidates for dark matter, can be their own antimatter and can annihilate inside the star, thereby providing a heat source. Although dark matter constitutes only $\lesssim 0.1\%$ of the stellar mass, this amount is sufficient to power the star for millions to billions of years. Thus, the first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the Universe may have been dark stars. We review how dark stars come into existence, how they grow as long as dark matter fuel persists, and their stellar structure and evolution. The studies were done in two different ways, first assuming polytropic interiors and more recently using the MESA stellar evolution code; the basic results are the same. Dark stars are giant, puffy ($\sim$ 10 AU) and cool (surface temperatures $\sim$10,000 K) objects. We follow the evolution of dark stars from their inception at $\sim 1 M_\odot$ as they accrete mass from their surroundings to become supermassive stars, some even reaching masses $> 10^6 M_\odot$ and luminosities $>10^{10} L_\odot$, making them detectable with the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. Once the dark matter runs out and the dark star dies, it may collapse to a black hole; thus dark stars may provide seeds for the supermassive black holes observed throughout the Universe and at early times. Other sites for dark star formation may exist in the Universe today in regions of high dark matter density such as the centers of galaxies. The current review briefly discusses dark stars existing today, but focuses on the early generation of dark stars.