Supermassive Dark Stars: Detectable in JWST and HST

Conference · Mon Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · AIP Conf.Proc.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3518889· OSTI ID:1985108

Freese, Katherine ^[1]; Ruiz, Eduardo ^[1]; Valluri, Monica ^[2]; Ilie, Cosmin  ^[1]; Spolyar, Douglas ^[3]; Bodenheimer, Peter ^[4]

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1. Michigan U., MCTP
2. Michigan U.
3. Fermilab
4. Lick Observ.

The first stars in the universe may have been powered by dark matter annihilation rather than by fusion. This novel kind of stellar evolution may have lasted millions or billions of years. Such “dark stars” can grow to be very massive, >105M⊙, and are relatively cool (~104 K). They are also very bright and may be detectable by the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope or even by the Hubble Space Telescope. Once their dark matter fuel is expended, dark stars have a short fusion phase before collapsing into black holes (BH). These BH could be the seeds of the supermassive black holes found at the centers of massive galaxies at high redshift.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1985108
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-CONF-10-638-A; arXiv:1006.5246; oai:inspirehep.net:859683
• Journal Information: AIP Conf.Proc., Vol. 1294, Issue 1; Conference: AIP Conf.Proc.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS