Dark Stars: Dark matter in the first stars leads to a new phase of stellar evolution
Abstract
The first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe may be Dark Stars, powered by dark matter heating rather than by fusion. Weakly interacting massive particles, which are their own antiparticles, can annihilate and provide an important heat source for the first stars in the the universe. This talk presents the story of these Dark Stars. We make predictions that the first stars are very massive (~800M⊙), cool (6000 K), bright (~106L⊙), long-lived (~106 years), and probable precursors to (otherwise unexplained) supermassive black holes. Later, once the initial DM fuel runs out and fusion sets in, DM annihilation can predominate again if the scattering cross section is strong enough, so that a Dark Star is born again.
- Publication:
-
Low-Metallicity Star Formation: From the First Stars to Dwarf Galaxies
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921308024575
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0808.0472
- Bibcode:
- 2008IAUS..255...56F
- Keywords:
-
- cosmology: dark matter;
- stars: evolution;
- stars: fundamental parameters;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, Conference Proceeding for IAU Symposium 255: Low-Metallicity Star Formaion: From the First Stars to Dwarf Galaxies