SUPERMASSIVE DARK STARS: DETECTABLE IN JWST

Journal Article · Sun Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/716/2/1397· OSTI ID:21452909

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

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1. Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
2. Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States)
3. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)
4. UCO/Lick Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 (United States)

The first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe may be dark stars (DSs), powered by dark matter (DM) heating rather than by nuclear fusion. Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which may be their own antipartners, collect inside the first stars and annihilate to produce a heat source that can power the stars for millions to billions of years. In this paper, we show that these objects can grow to be supermassive dark stars (SMDSs) with masses {approx_gt}(10{sup 5}-10{sup 7}) M{sub sun}. The growth continues as long as DM heating persists, since DSs are large and cool (surface temperature {approx_lt}5 x 10{sup 4} K) and do not emit enough ionizing photons to prevent further accretion of baryons onto the star. The DM may be provided by two mechanisms: (1) gravitational attraction of DM particles on a variety of orbits not previously considered and (2) capture of WIMPs due to elastic scattering. Once the DM fuel is exhausted, the SMDS becomes a heavy main-sequence star; these stars eventually collapse to form massive black holes (BHs) that may provide seeds for supermassive BHs in the universe. SMDSs are very bright, with luminosities exceeding (10{sup 9}-10{sup 11}) L{sub sun}. We demonstrate that for several reasonable parameters, these objects will be detectable with the James Webb Space Telescope. Such an observational discovery would confirm the existence of a new phase of stellar evolution powered by DM.

• OSTI ID: 21452909
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 716, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/716/2/1397; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCRETION DISKS
BARYONS
BLACK HOLES
ELASTIC SCATTERING
HEAT SOURCES
LUMINOSITY
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
ORBITS
PHOTONS
STAR EVOLUTION
TELESCOPES
UNIVERSE
BOSONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EVOLUTION
FERMIONS
HADRONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATTER
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SCATTERING
STARS