Probing Dark Sectors with Neutron Stars

TL;DR

This paper explores how observations of neutron stars can constrain theories involving dark sectors and feebly interacting particles, linking astrophysical data to particle physics and dark matter models.

Contribution

It provides a focused overview of how neutron star observations limit dark sector particles and discusses the implications for dark matter and baryogenesis models.

Findings

Neutron star data constrains dark sector particles.

Impacts understanding of dark matter and baryogenesis.

Highlights flavor structure in constraints.

Abstract

Tensions in the measurements of neutron and kaon weak decays, such as of the neutron lifetime, may speak to the existence of new particles and dynamics not present in the Standard Model (SM). In scenarios with dark sectors, particles that couple feebly to those of the SM appear. We offer a focused overview of such possibilities and describe how the observations of neutron stars, which probe either their structure or dynamics, limit them. In realizing these constraints, we highlight how the assessment of particle processes within dense baryonic matter impacts the emerging picture -- and we emphasize both the flavor structure of the constraints and their broader connections to cogenesis models of dark matter and baryogenesis.