Related papers: Sterile dark matter and reionization
Neutron stars offer powerful astrophysical laboratories to probe the properties of dark matter. Gradual accumulation of heavy, non-annihilating dark matter in neutron stars can lead to the formation of comparable-mass black holes, and…
We investigate galaxy formation in models with dark matter (DM) constituted by sterile neutrinos. Given their large parameter space, defined by the combinations of sterile neutrino mass $m_{\nu}$ and mixing parameter $\sin^2(2\theta)$ with…
If sterile neutrinos exist and form halos in galactic centers, they can give rise to observational consequences. In particular, the sterile neutrinos decay radiatively and heat up the gas in the protogalaxy to achieve hydrostatic…
We determine constraints on sterile neutrino warm dark matter through direct detection experiments, taking XENON100, XENON1T and DARWIN as examples. If keV-scale sterile neutrinos scatter inelastically with bound electrons of the target…
Sterile neutrino dark matter, a popular alternative to the WIMP paradigm, has generally been studied in non-supersymmetric setups. If the underlying theory is supersymmetric, we find that several interesting and novel dark matter features…
The first stars in the Universe form when chemically pristine gas heats as it falls into dark matter potential wells, cools radiatively due to the formation of molecular hydrogen, and becomes self-gravitating. We demonstrate with…
The hypothesis that neutrons might decay into dark matter is explored using neutron stars as a testing ground. It is found that in order to obtain stars with masses at the upper end of those observed, the dark matter must experience a…
Self-annihilation of dark matter accreted from the galactic halo in the inner regions of neutron stars may affect their kinematical properties, namely velocity kicks and rotation patterns. We find that if a stable long-lived single or…
We review the status of sterile neutrino dark matter and discuss astrophysical and cosmological bounds on its properties as well as future prospects for its experimental searches. We argue that if sterile neutrinos are the dominant fraction…
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…
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…
Sterile right-handed neutrinos can be naturally embedded in a low scale gauged $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of the standard model. We show that, within a low reheating scenario, such a neutrino is an interesting candidate for dark matter. We…
Sterile neutrino dark matter of mass O(1-10) keV decays into an active neutrino and an X-ray photon, and the non-observation of the corresponding X-ray line requires the sterile neutrino to be more long-lived than estimated based on the…
We investigate the process of reionisation in a model in which the dark matter is a warm elementary particle such as a sterile neutrino. We focus on models that are consistent with the dark matter decay interpretation of the recently…
The cosmic dark ages are the mysterious epoch during which the pristine gas began to condense and ultimately form the first stars. Although these beginnings have long been a topic of theoretical interest, technology has only recently…
The very first stars likely formed from metal-free, molecular hydrogen-cooled gas at the centers of dark matter minihalos. Prior to nuclear fusion, these stars may have been supported by dark matter heating from annihilations in the star,…
A mechanism of creation of stellar-like objects in the very early universe, from the QCD phase transition till BBN and somewhat later, is studied. It is argued that in the considered process primordial black holes with masses above a few…
The observed velocities of pulsars suggest the possibility that sterile neutrinos with mass of several keV are emitted from a cooling neutron star. The same sterile neutrinos could constitute all or part of cosmological dark matter. The…
We investigate the sensitivities of upcoming MeV gamma-ray telescopes to sterile neutrino dark matter in the mass range $(0.2-100)\,{\rm MeV}$. Sterile neutrinos in this regime can produce observable photon signals through radiative…
We have explored the impact of sterile neutrino dark matter on core-collapse supernova explosions. We have included oscillations between electron neutrinos or mixed $\mu,\tau$ neutrinos and right-handed sterile neutrinos into a supernova…