The exotic black hole-neutron star binaries in our Galaxy

TL;DR

This paper proposes the existence of exotic black hole-neutron star binaries with dark matter effects, which could explain their elusive nature and provide insights into dark matter properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel concept of dark matter-induced phenomena in BH-NS binaries, suggesting a new search avenue for these elusive systems.

Findings

High surface temperatures (~10^6 K) on neutron stars due to dark matter capture.

Potential to improve dark matter scattering cross section limits.

A new theoretical framework for detecting exotic BH-NS binaries.

Abstract

It has been suggested that there are $\sim 10^5$ black hole-neutron star (BH-NS) binaries in our Galaxy. However, despite the effort of intensive radio search for decades, none of these binaries has been found to date. These binaries are regarded as a holy grail of astronomy because they can greatly improve our understanding about relativistic systems of compact objects and fundamental physics. In this article, we propose the existence of exotic BH-NS binaries which can open a new way in searching the missing BH-NS binaries in our Galaxy. By considering the possible dark matter density spikes formed around the primordial black holes in the BH-NS binaries, we show that extremely high temperature ($\sim 10^6$ K) could be maintained on the surface of the neutron stars due to effective dark matter capture. This interesting feature can also help reveal the nature of dark matter and possibly further improve the upper limit of dark matter scattering cross section well below $10^{-47}$ cm$^2$.