Diffuse Neutrino Signals from Dark Stars Seeding Super-Massive Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper explores how neutrino signals from dark stars, early universe objects powered by dark matter, could be detected by current and future neutrino experiments, offering new insights into the origins of supermassive black holes.

Contribution

It introduces the first constraints on dark stars and dark matter annihilations using neutrino data and discusses the potential of upcoming experiments to further probe these phenomena.

Findings

Diffuse neutrino flux from dark stars can be observed with existing detectors.

Constraints on dark star properties and dark matter annihilation are established.

Future experiments will significantly improve sensitivity to dark star signals.

Abstract

Dark stars (DSs) -- first stars powered by dark-matter (DM) heating rather than fusion -- could form in the early Universe. They can grow to $\gtrsim 10^5 M_{\odot}$ masses and collapse into seeds of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We demonstrate that diffuse neutrino flux generated by DSs can be observable in existing experiments and have energies reaching hundreds of MeV, providing novel window for probing SMBH progenitors. We establish first constraints on DSs and DM annihilations powering them using data from Super-Kamiokande and IceCube neutrino experiments, and consistent with James Webb Space Telescope observations. Upcoming experiments such as Hyper-Kamiokande, DUNE, JUNO will be able to explore DS properties with enhanced sensitivity.