Milky Way White Dwarfs as Sub-GeV to Multi-TeV Dark Matter Detectors

Abstract

We show that Milky Way white dwarfs are excellent targets for dark matter (DM) detection. Using Fermi and H.E.S.S. Galactic center gamma-ray data, we investigate sensitivity to DM annihilating within white dwarfs into long-lived or boosted mediators and producing detectable gamma rays. Depending on the Galactic DM distribution, we set new constraints on the spin-independent scattering cross section down to $10^{-45}-10^{-41}$ cm${}^2$ in the sub-GeV DM mass range, which is multiple orders of magnitude stronger than existing limits. For a generalized NFW DM profile, we find that our white dwarf constraints exceed spin-independent direct detection limits across most of the sub-GeV to multi-TeV DM mass range, achieving sensitivities as low as about $10^{-46}$ cm${}^2$. In addition, we improve earlier versions of the DM capture calculation in white dwarfs, by including the low-temperature distribution of nuclei when the white dwarf approaches crystallization. This yields smaller capture rates than previously calculated by a factor of a few up to two orders of magnitude, depending on white dwarf size and the astrophysical system.

29 pages, 5 figures, published in JCAP

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• Dark Kinetic Heating of Exoplanets and Brown Dwarfs
• Probing Superheavy Dark Matter with Exoplanets
• Neutrinos from captured dark matter in galactic stars
• Confronting the dark matter capture rate with a continuous gravitational wave probe of local neutron stars
• Bounds on ALP-Mediated Dark Matter Models from Celestial Objects
• Searching for dark matter annihilating into light long-lived mediators from stars inside dwarf spheroidal galaxies
• Impact of Sub-MeV Dark Matter on the Cooling of Pulsating White Dwarfs
• Can local White Dwarfs constrain Dark Matter interactions?