Related papers: Observational constraints on supermassive dark sta…
We propose a way to constrain the primordial black hole (PBH) abundance in the range of PBH masses $m$ around $10^{20}$g based on their capture by Sun-like stars in dwarf galaxies, with subsequent star destruction. We calculate numerically…
High precision planet orbital data extracted from direct observation, spacecraft explorations and laser ranging techniques enable to put a strong constraint on the maximal dark matter density of a spherical halo centered around the Sun. The…
We show that the disruption of a star by a 10^6 solar mass black hole in a galactic nucleus could under favorable circumstances produce an optically-thick envelope that radiates with a thermal spectrum at the Eddington limit, 10^{44} erg/s,…
Luminous stars in background galaxies straddling the lensing caustic of a foreground galaxy cluster can be individually detected due to extreme magnification factors of $\sim 10^2$--$10^3$, as recently observed in deep HST images. We…
Supermassive primordial stars in hot, atomically-cooling haloes at $z \sim$ 15 - 20 may have given birth to the first quasars in the universe. Most simulations of these rapidly accreting stars suggest that they are red, cool hypergiants,…
One of the possible explanations for dark matter is that of compact dark objects of baryonic origin, such as black holes or even planets. Accumulating evidence, including the discovery of merging stellar mass black holes through…
We constrain the warm dark matter (WDM) particle mass with the observations of cosmic reionization and CMB optical depth. We suggest that the GWs from stellar mass black holes (BHs) could give a further constraint on WDM particle mass for…
Light dark matter is a compelling experimental target in light of stringent constraints on heavier WIMPs. However, for a sub-MeV WIMP, the universe is sufficiently well understood at temperatures below 10 MeV that there is no room for it to…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has recently conducted observations of massive galaxies at high redshifts, revealing a notable anomaly in their star formation efficiency (SFE). Motivated by the recent identification of three $\sim…
Dark Stars are the very first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe: the first stars to form (typically at redshifts $z \sim 10-50$) are powered by heating from dark matter (DM) annihilation instead of fusion (if the DM…
Supermassive stars have been proposed as the progenitors of the massive ($\sim 10^{9}\,\rm{M}_{\odot}$) quasars observed at $z\sim7$. Prospects for directly detecting supermassive stars with next-generation facilities depend critically on…
Dark Stars are stellar objects made (almost entirely) of hydrogen and helium, but powered by the heat from Dark Matter annihilation, rather than by fusion. They are in hydrostatic and thermal equilibrium, but with an unusual power source.…
This work considers the idea of massive black holes being the constituents of the Galactic dark matter halo. It constrains the maximum black hole mass to $\mbh \sil 5 \times 10^4 \msun$ by examining their influence on the population of…
The extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths originates from optically-faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies in the universe with star-formation rates at the level of a few hundred solar masses per year. Due to the…
Accurate determinations of masses and radii in binary stars, along with estimates of the effective temperatures, metallicities, and other properties, have long been used to test models of stellar evolution. As might be expected,…
Precision astrometry offers a way to probe new physics. By measuring the angular position of light sources at unprecedented precision, astrometry could probe minuscule fluctuations of underlying spacetime. This work explores the possibility…
Stupendously large black holes exceeding $10^{11} M_\odot$ could exist, supported by recent observations of unexpectedly massive black holes at high redshifts. These objects may constitute a part of dark matter or even dark energy. One…
We have proposed that the first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the Universe may be Dark Stars (DS), powered by dark matter heating rather than by nuclear fusion. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, which may be their own…
We show that primordial (nearly) extremal black holes with a wide range of masses from the Planck scale to around $10^9$ g could be cosmologically stable and explain dark matter, given a dark electromagnetism and a heavy dark electron. For…
We examine the status of the threat posed to stellar-mass black hole candidates by the possible existence of Q-stars (compact objects with an exotic equation of state which might have masses well above the normally-accepted maximum for…