Related papers: The DarkStars code: a publicly available dark stel…
Recent theoretical studies have revealed the possibly important role of the capture and annihilation process of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) for the first stars. Using new evolutionary models of metal-free massive stars, we…
Stars that evolve near the Galactic massive black hole show strange behaviors. The spectroscopic features of these stars show that they must be old. But their luminosities are much higher than the amounts that are predicted by the current…
We introduce version two of the fast star cluster evolution code Evolve Me A Cluster of StarS (EMACSS). The first version (Alexander & Gieles) assumed that cluster evolution is balanced for the majority of the life-cycle, meaning that the…
Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are one of the leading candidates for dark matter. Currently, the most promising method to detect many different WIMP candidates is the direct detection of the recoil energy deposited in a…
We put constraints on asymmetric dark matter candidates with spin-dependent interactions based on the simple existence of white dwarfs and neutron stars in globular clusters. For a wide range of the parameters (WIMP mass and WIMP-nucleon…
The nature of dark matter remains one of the key science questions. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are among the best motivated particle physics candidates, allowing to explain the measured dark matter density by employing…
We present a new method for determining Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) properties in future tonne scale direct detection experiments which accounts for uncertainties in the Milky Way (MW) smooth dark matter distribution. Using…
Direct detection experiments searching for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter typically use a simplified model of the Galactic halo to derive parameter constraints. However, there is strong evidence that this Standard…
Astrophysical observations indicate that about 23% of the energy density of the universe is in the form of non-baryonic particles beyond the standard model of particle physics. One exciting and well motivated candidate is the lightest…
The differential event rate in Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) direct detection experiments depends on the local dark matter density and velocity distribution. Accurate modelling of the local dark matter distribution is therefore…
We explore the possible signatures of dark matter (DM) pair annihilations in the nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxy Draco. After investigating the mass models for Draco in the light of available observational data, we carefully model the DM…
We introduce the star cluster evolution code Evolve Me A Cluster of StarS (EMACSS), a simple yet physically motivated computational model that describes the evolution of some fundamental properties of star clusters in static tidal fields.…
I discuss an idea which could lead to a methodology for testing the effects of WIMP DM scattering and capture onto primordial stars. It relies on the effects of "life-prolongation" of affected Population III stars, that can slow down…
The WIMP "miracle" suggests a new physics threshold ranging from the weak scale up to several tens of TeVs. Obtaining the correct dark matter density in many theories aiming to solve the hierarchy problem may thus require some amount of…
The first bright objects to form in the Universe might not have been "ordinary" fusion-powered stars, but "Dark Stars" (DSs) powered by the annihilation of dark matter (DM) in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). If…
We derive solutions to transit light curves of exoplanets orbiting rapidly-rotating stars. These stars exhibit significant oblateness and gravity darkening, a phenomenon where the poles of the star have a higher temperature and luminosity…
Stellar evolution models are a cornerstone of young star astrophysics, which necessitates that they yield accurate and reliable predictions of stellar properties. Here, I review the current performance of stellar evolution models against…
Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) direct detection experiments are just reaching the sensitivity required to detect Galactic dark matter in the form of neutralinos (or indeed any stable weakly interacting particle). Detection…
In this paper we present the public release of the Yale Rotating Evolution Code (YREC). YREC is a stellar evolution code that covers brown dwarfs and stars across a wide range of masses, and evolutionary states from the pre-MS through…
The White Dwarf Evolution Code (WDEC), written in Fortran, makes models of white dwarf stars. It is fast, versatile, and includes the latest physics. The code evolves hot (~ 100,000 K) input models down to a chosen effective temperature by…