Dark Matter (H)eats Young Planets

Abstract

We study the effect of dark matter annihilation on the formation of Jovian planets. We show that dark matter heat injections can slow or halt Kelvin-Helmholtz contraction, preventing the accretion of hydrogen and helium onto the solid core. The existence of Jupiter in our solar system can therefore be used to infer constraints on dark matter with relatively strong interaction cross sections. We derive novel constraints on the cross section for both spin-dependent and spin-independent dark matter. We highlight the possibility of a positive detection using future observations by JWST, which could reveal strongly varying planet morpholoiges close to our Galactic Center.

8 pages, 4 figures, includes astronomical observations made with the naked eye. V2: improved analysis, updated constraints. V3: version published in JCAP

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Optimal Celestial Bodies for Dark Matter Detection
• Probing Superheavy Dark Matter with Exoplanets
• Super-Kamiokande Strongly Constrains Leptophilic Dark Matter Capture in the Sun
• Dark Dwarfs: Dark Matter-Powered Sub-Stellar Objects Awaiting Discovery at the Galactic Center
• Supermassive Dark Stars and their remnants as a possible solution to three recent cosmic dawn puzzles