Abstract
Dark matter that is capable of sufficiently heating a local region in a white dwarf will trigger runaway fusion and ignite a type Ia supernova. This was originally proposed in Graham et al. (2015) and used to constrain primordial black holes which transit and heat a white dwarf via dynamical friction. In this paper, we consider dark matter (DM) candidates that heat through the production of high-energy standard model (SM) particles, and show that such particles will efficiently thermalize the white dwarf medium and ignite supernovae. Based on the existence of long-lived white dwarfs and the observed supernovae rate, we derive new constraints on ultra-heavy DM which produce SM particles through DM-DM annihilations, DM decays, and DM-SM scattering interactions in the stellar medium. As a concrete example, we rule out supersymmetric Q-ball DM in parameter space complementary to terrestrial bounds. We put further constraints on DM that is captured by white dwarfs, considering the formation and self-gravitational collapse of a DM core which heats the star via decays and annihilations within the core. It is also intriguing that the DM-induced ignition discussed in this work provide an alternative mechanism of triggering supernovae from sub-Chandrasekhar, non-binary progenitors.
Highlights
Identifying the nature of dark matter (DM) remains one of the clearest paths beyond the standard model (SM) and it is fruitful to study the observable signatures of any yetallowed DM candidate
We demonstrate these constraints for generic classes of DM models that produce SM particles via DM-SM scattering, DM-DM collisions, or DM decays, and consider the significantly enhanced constraints for DM that is captured in the star
The detection of ultraheavy DM is an open problem which will likely require a confluence of astrophysical probes
Summary
Identifying the nature of dark matter (DM) remains one of the clearest paths beyond the standard model (SM) and it is fruitful to study the observable signatures of any yetallowed DM candidate. The WD detector excels in this regime due to its large surface area ∼ð104 kmÞ2, long lifetime ∼Gyr, and high density We demonstrate these constraints for generic classes of DM models that produce SM particles via DM-SM scattering, DM-DM collisions, or DM decays, and consider the significantly enhanced constraints for DM that is captured in the star. For these cases, we are able to place new bounds on DM interactions for masses greater than mχ ≳ 1016 GeV.
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