# Dark matter interactions with muons in neutron stars

## TL;DR

This paper explores how neutron stars can serve as unique detectors for muon-specific dark matter, which could be indirectly observed through star heating effects and linked to anomalies in muon physics.

## Contribution

It introduces the idea that neutron stars can detect muonphilic dark matter and connects this to models addressing muon sector anomalies.

## Key findings

- Neutron stars can capture muonphilic dark matter due to their muon content.
- Dark matter interactions can heat neutron stars, potentially observable with future telescopes.
- Models with dark matter charged under $U(1)_{L__ au}$ are relevant for these phenomena.

## Abstract

Neutron stars contain a significant number of stable muons due to the large chemical potential and degenerate electrons. This makes them the unique vessel to capture muonphilic dark matter, which does not interact with other astrophysical objects, including Earth and its direct-detection experiments. The infalling dark matter can heat up the neutron star both kinetically and via annihilations, which is potentially observable with future infrared telescopes. New physics models for muonphilic dark matter can easily be motivated by, and connected to, existing anomalies in the muon sector, e.g., the anomalous magnetic moment or LHCb's recent hints for lepton-flavor non-universality in $B\to K\mu^+\mu^-$ decays. We study the implications for a model with dark matter charged under a local $U(1)_{L_\mu-L_\tau}$.