Detection of magnetized quark-nuggets, a candidate for dark matter

Abstract

Quark nuggets are theoretical objects composed of approximately equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks and are also called strangelets and nuclearites. They have been proposed as a candidate for dark matter, which constitutes about 85% of the universe's mass and which has been a mystery for decades. Previous efforts to detect quark nuggets assumed that the nuclear-density core interacts directly with the surrounding matter so the stopping power is minimal. Tatsumi found that quark nuggets could well exist as a ferromagnetic liquid with an approximately 10 trillion Tesla magnetic field. We find that the magnetic field produces a magnetopause with surrounding plasma, as the earth's magnetic field produces a magnetopause with the solar wind, and substantially increases their energy deposition rate in matter. We use the magnetopause model to compute the energy deposition as a function of quark-nugget mass and to analyze testing the quark-nugget hypothesis for dark matter by observations in the air, water, and land. We conclude the water option is most promising.

14 pages, 10 figures, This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy-edit version of an article published in Scientific Reports. The final authenticated version is available open source online at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-09087-3 or https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09087-3

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• Mass distribution of magnetized quark-nugget dark matter and comparison with observations
• Results of search for magnetized quark-nugget dark matter from radial impacts on Earth
• Radio frequency emissions from dark-matter-candidate magnetized quark nuggets interacting with matter
• Neutron stars with spin polarized self-interacting dark matter
• Limits on Magnetized Quark-Nugget Dark Matter from Episodic Natural Events
• The Glow of Axion Quark Nugget Dark Matter: (II) Galaxy Clusters
• Strange matter in compact stars
• A Search for Magnetized Quark Nuggets (MQNs), a Candidate for Dark Matter, Accumulating in Iron Ore
• Electric and magnetic axion quark nuggets, their stability and their detection
• To detect strong nugget with an acoustic array