Towards a more rigorous treatment of uncertainties on the velocity distribution of dark matter particles for capture in stars

Abstract

Dark matter (DM) capture in stars offers a rich phenomenology that makes it possible to probe a wide variety of particle DM scenarios in diverse astrophysical environments. In spite of decades of improvements to refine predictions of capture-related observables and better quantify astrophysical and particle-physics uncertainties, the actual impact of the Galactic phase-space distribution function of DM has been overlooked. In this work, we tackle this problem by making use of self-consistent equilibrium phase-space models based on the Eddington inversion formalism and an extension of this method to a DM halo with some degree of anisotropy in velocity space. We demonstrate that incorrectly accounting for the variation of the DM velocity distribution with position in the Galaxy leads to a systematic error between a factor two and two orders of magnitude, depending in particular on the target star, the DM candidate mass and the type of interaction involved. Moreover, we show that underlying phase-space properties, such as the anisotropy of the velocity tensor, actually play an important part -- previously disregarded -- and can have a sizable impact on predictions of capture rates and subsequent observables. We argue that Eddington-like methods, which self-consistently account for kinematic constraints on the components of the Galaxy, actually provide a reliable next-to-minimal approach to narrow down uncertainties from phase-space modeling on predictions of observables related to DM capture in stars.

arXiv comment44 pages, 7 figures, matches version published in JCAP

References in corpus (100)

• Gaia Data Release 2. Summary of the contents and survey properties
• The Gaia mission
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• Supersymmetric Dark Matter
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Giant Planets, Oscillations, Rotation, and Massive Stars
• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA): Binaries, Pulsations, and Explosions
• The mass distribution and gravitational potential of the Milky Way
• Asymmetric Dark Matter
• Analytical Models For Galactic Nuclei
• The Effective Field Theory of Dark Matter Direct Detection
• A novel determination of the local dark matter density
• The dark matter density at the Sun's location
• Dynamical modelling of the Galactic bulge and bar: the Milky Way's bar pattern speed, stellar, and dark matter mass distribution
• The Dark Matter Halo of the Milky Way, AD 2013
• WIMP Annihilation and Cooling of Neutron Stars
• The Milky Way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2
• Compact Stars as Dark Matter Probes
• Search for dark matter annihilations in the Sun with the 79-string IceCube detector
• Neutron Stars as Dark Matter Probes
• Can Neutron stars constrain Dark Matter?
• Equilibrium Disk-Bulge-Halo Models for the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies
• Generating Equilibrium Dark Matter Halos: Inadequacies of the Local Maxwellian Approximation
• Constraints on Scalar Asymmetric Dark Matter from Black Hole Formation in Neutron Stars
• Dark matter and the first stars: a new phase of stellar evolution
• Phase-space structure in the local dark matter distribution and its signature in direct detection experiments
• The old nuclear star cluster in the Milky Way: dynamics, mass, statistical parallax, and black hole mass
• Search for annihilating dark matter in the Sun with 3 years of IceCube data
• An Indirect Search for WIMPs in the Sun using 3109.6 days of upward-going muons in Super-Kamiokande
• Realistic neutron star constraints on bosonic asymmetric dark matter
• Large scale kinematics and dynamical modelling of the Milky Way nuclear star cluster
• Dark Matter Thermalization in Neutron Stars
• Multiscatter stellar capture of dark matter
• Constraints on Bosonic Dark Matter From Observations of Old Neutron Stars
• Detecting Dark Matter with Imploding Pulsars in the Galactic Center
• Dark Matter Direct Detection Signals inferred from a Cosmological N-body Simulation with Baryons
• Asymmetric Dark Stars and Neutron Star Stability
• A review of action estimation methods for galactic dynamics
• Dark stars at the Galactic centre - the main sequence
• Halo-to-Halo Similarity and Scatter in the Velocity Distribution of Dark Matter
• The phase-space structure of a dark-matter halo: Implications for dark-matter direct detection experiments
• Bounds on self-interacting fermion dark matter from observations of old neutron stars
• Simulated Milky Way analogues: implications for dark matter direct searches
• The Distribution of Dark Matter in the Milky Way's Disk
• Dark matter in the Sun: scattering off electrons vs nucleons
• The local dark matter phase-space density and impact on WIMP direct detection
• Effect of low mass dark matter particles on the Sun
• Stellar Structure of Dark Stars: a first phase of Stellar Evolution due to Dark Matter Annihilation
• Disassembling the Galaxy with angle-action coordinates
• Relativistic capture of dark matter by electrons in neutron stars
• Velocity distributions and annual-modulation signatures of weakly-interacting massive particles
• Action-based distribution functions for spheroidal galaxy components
• Dark Kinetic Heating of Neutron Stars from Contact Interactions with Relativistic Targets
• Searching for Dark Matter with Neutron Star Mergers and Quiet Kilonovae
• The distribution function of dark matter in massive haloes
• First Search for Dark Matter Annihilation in the Sun Using the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope
• PPPC 4 DM$\nu$: A Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for Neutrinos from DM annihilations in the Sun
• Simulated Milky Way analogues: implications for dark matter indirect searches
• Dark matter annihilation effects on the first stars
• Dark matter burners
• A Dark Matter Hurricane: Measuring the S1 Stream with Dark Matter Detectors
• On the Minimum Dark Matter Mass Testable by Neutrinos from the Sun
• Dark Matter annihilations in Pop III stars
• Dark matter in the solar system II: WIMP annihilation rates in the Sun
• New Sensitivity to Solar WIMP Annihilation using Low-Energy Neutrinos
• Dark Shards: velocity substructure from Gaia and direct searches for dark matter
• A novel way of constraining WIMPs annihilations in the Sun: MeV neutrinos
• A possible indication of momentum-dependent asymmetric dark matter in the Sun
• Anisotropic dark matter distribution functions and impact on WIMP direct detection
• The Zero Age Main Sequence of WIMP burners
• A centrally heated dark halo for our Galaxy
• The distribution function of the Galaxy's dark halo
• Evolution of the First Stars with Dark Matter Burning
• Empirical Determination of Dark Matter Velocities using Metal-Poor Stars
• Sommerfeld-Enhanced $J$-Factors For Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• First asteroseismic limits on the nature of dark matter
• Main sequence stars with asymmetric dark matter
• The impact of the phase-space density on the indirect detection of dark matter
• A self-consistent phase-space distribution function for the anisotropic Dark Matter halo of the Milky Way
• The dark matter assembly of the Local Group in constrained cosmological simulations of a LambdaCDM universe
• Taming astrophysical bias in direct dark matter searches
• Deriving the velocity distribution of Galactic Dark Matter particles from rotation curve data
• On velocity-dependent dark matter annihilations in dwarf satellites
• Neutrino Fluxes from CMSSM LSP Annihilations in the Sun
• Made-to-Measure Dark Matter Haloes, Elliptical Galaxies and Dwarf Galaxies in Action Coordinates
• The capture of dark matter particles through the evolution of low-mass stars
• How reliable is the kinematical evidence for dark matter: the effects of non-sphericity, substructure and streaming motions
• The Metal-Poor Stellar Halo in RAVE-TGAS and its Implications for the Velocity Distribution of Dark Matter
• Enhanced Sensitivity to Dark Matter Self-annihilations in the Sun using Neutrino Spectral Information
• Signatures of dark matter burning in nuclear star clusters
• Bracketing the impact of astrophysical uncertainties on local dark matter searches
• Might we eventually understand the origin of the dark matter velocity anisotropy?
• Predicting the dark matter velocity distribution in galactic structures: tests against hydrodynamic cosmological simulations
• Making sense of the local Galactic escape speed estimates in direct dark matter searches
• Antimatter cosmic rays from dark matter annihilation: First results from an N-body experiment
• Two-integral distribution functions in axisymmetric galaxies: implications for dark matter searches
• The Merging History of the Milky Way Disk
• How to calculate dark matter direct detection exclusion limits that are consistent with gamma rays from annihilation in the Milky Way halo
• SHM${}^{++}$: A Refinement of the Standard Halo Model for Dark Matter Searches in Light of the Gaia Sausage
• Estimating the dark matter velocity anisotropy to the cluster edge
• Modelling our Galaxy

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Impact of galactic distributions in celestial capture of dark matter
• Dark matter capture and annihilation in stars: Impact on the red giant branch tip
• Improved bounds on the bosonic dark matter with pulsars in the Milky Way
• Halo-independent bounds on the non-relativistic effective theory of WIMP-nucleon scattering from direct detection and neutrino observations
• Halo-independent bounds on Inelastic Dark Matter
• Analytical insight into dark matter subhalo boost factors for Sommerfeld-enhanced $s$- and $p$-wave $\gamma$-ray signals
• Testing the predictions of axisymmetric distribution functions of galactic dark matter with hydrodynamical simulations
• Sensitivity of WIMP bounds on the velocity distribution in the limit of a massless mediator
• Dark Matter in Stars
• Heavy dark matter in rapidly evolving massive stars