No Arabic abstract
We present the complete history of structure formation in a simple dissipative dark-sector model. The model has only two particles: a dark electron, which is a subdominant component of dark matter, and a dark photon. Dark-electron perturbations grow from primordial overdensities, become non-linear, and form dense dark galaxies. Bremsstrahlung cooling leads to fragmentation of the dark-electron halos into clumps that vary in size from a few to millions of solar masses, depending on the particle model parameters. In particular, we show that asymmetric dark stars and black holes form within the Milky Way from the collapse of dark electrons. These exotic compact objects may be detected and their properties measured at new high-precision astronomical observatories, giving insight into the particle nature of the dark sector without the requirement of non-gravitational interactions with the visible sector.
We study the atomic physics and the astrophysical implications of a model in which the dark matter is the analog of hydrogen in a secluded sector. The self interactions between dark matter particles include both elastic scatterings as well as inelastic processes due to a hyperfine transition. The self-interaction cross sections are computed by numerically solving the coupled Schr{o}dinger equations for this system. We show that these self interactions exhibit the right velocity dependence to explain the low dark matter density cores seen in small galaxies while being consistent with all constraints from observations of clusters of galaxies. For a viable solution, the dark hydrogen mass has to be in 10--100 GeV range and the dark fine-structure constant has to be larger than 0.02. Precisely for this range of parameters, we show that significant cooling losses may occur due to inelastic excitations to the hyperfine state and subsequent decays, with implications for the evolution of low-mass halos and the early growth of supermassive black holes. Cooling from excitations to higher $n$ levels of dark hydrogen and subsequent decays is possible at the cluster scale, with a strong dependence on halo mass. Finally, we show that the minimum halo mass is in the range of $10^{3.5}$ to $10^7 M_odot$ for the viable regions of parameter space, significantly larger than the typical predictions for weakly-interacting dark matter models. This pattern of observables in cosmological structure formation is unique to this model, making it possible to rule in or rule out hidden sector hydrogen as a viable dark matter model.
The radiation emitted by horizonless exotic compact objects (ECOs), such as wormholes, 2-2-holes, fuzzballs, gravastars, boson stars, collapsed polymers, superspinars etc., is expected to be strongly suppressed when compared to the radiation of black holes. If large primordial curvature fluctuations collapse into such objects instead of black holes, they do not evaporate or evaporate much slower than black holes and could thus constitute all of the dark matter with masses below $M < 10^{-16}M_odot.$ We reevaluate the relevant experimental constraints for light ECOs in this mass range and show that very large new parameter space down to ECO masses $Msim 10,{rm TeV}$ opens up for light primordial dark matter. A new dedicated experimental program is needed to test this mass range of primordial dark matter.
We study for the first time the possibility of probing long-range fifth forces utilizing asteroid astrometric data, via the fifth force-induced orbital precession. We examine nine Near-Earth Object (NEO) asteroids whose orbital trajectories are accurately determined via optical and radar astrometry. Focusing on a Yukawa-type potential mediated by a new gauge field (dark photon) or a baryon-coupled scalar, we estimate the sensitivity reach for the fifth-force coupling strength and mediator mass in the mass range $m simeq 10^{-21}-10^{-15},{rm eV}$. Our estimated sensitivity is comparable to leading limits from torsion balance experiments, potentially exceeding these in a specific mass range. The fifth forced-induced precession increases with the orbital semi-major axis in the small $m$ limit, motivating the study of objects further away from the Sun. We discuss future exciting prospects for extending our study to more than a million asteroids (including NEOs, main-belt asteroids, Hildas, and Jupiter Trojans), as well as trans-Neptunian objects and exoplanets.
Dissipative dark matter self-interactions can affect halo evolution and change its structure. We perform a series of controlled N-body simulations to study impacts of the dissipative interactions on halo properties. The interplay between gravitational contraction and collisional dissipation can significantly speed up the onset of gravothermal collapse, resulting in a steep inner density profile. For reasonable choices of model parameters controlling the dissipation, the collapse timescale can be a factor of 10-100 shorter than that predicted in purely elastic self-interacting dark matter. The effect is maximized when energy loss per collision is comparable to characteristic kinetic energy of dark matter particles in the halo. Our simulations provide guidance for testing the dissipative nature of dark matter with astrophysical observations.
Black holes with masses of $rm 10^6-10^9~M_{odot}$ dwell in the centers of most galaxies, but their formation mechanisms are not well known. A subdominant dissipative component of dark matter with similar properties to the ordinary baryons, known as mirror dark matter, may collapse to form massive black holes during the epoch of first galaxies formation. In this study, we explore the possibility of massive black hole formation via this alternative scenario. We perform three-dimensional cosmological simulations for four distinct halos and compare their thermal, chemical and dynamical evolution in both the ordinary and the mirror sectors. We find that the collapse of halos is significantly delayed in the mirror sector due to the lack of $rm H_2$ cooling and only halos with masses above $ rm geq 10^7~ M_{odot}$ are formed. Overall, the mass inflow rates are $rm geq 10^{-2}~M_{odot}/yr$ and there is less fragmentation. This suggests that the conditions for the formation of massive objects, including black holes, are more favorable in the mirror sector.