Gravitationally Misaligned Ultralight Dark Matter and Implications for Neutron Stars

TL;DR

This paper explores how ultralight scalar dark matter, misaligned through gravity, could influence neutron stars, providing new bounds on dark matter properties without requiring direct interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a model where ultralight scalar dark matter interacts gravitationally with neutron stars, deriving constraints on dark matter parameters from astrophysical observations.

Findings

Gravitational effects in neutron stars can constrain ultralight dark matter properties.

Non-minimal gravitational coupling affects dark matter distribution in neutron stars.

Potential bounds on dark matter mass and coupling strength derived from neutron star data.

Abstract

We examine the possibility that dark matter (DM) may be an ultralight scalar that was misaligned via non-minimal coupling to gravity, in the early Universe. For a certain regime of scalar masses, gravitational effects in neutron stars could place interesting bounds on the viable parameter space of the model, even in the absence of non-gravitational interactions between DM and ordinary matter.