Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Undergraduate
Project Type
individual
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Skylar Butler, Senior
Lead Presenter's Name
Skylar Butler
Lead Presenter's College
DB College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Mentor Name
Ted von Hippel
Abstract
We investigate how the internal structure of the Sun would change if dark matter particles were present at densities predicted by Galactic halo models. Dark matter capture rates were computed using the Python code Asteria, which implements the multi-element capture formalism of Gould (1987) to determine the rate at which dark matter particles scatter and become gravitationally bound inside the Sun. Because Asteria calculates only the capture rate, we developed a post-processing Python-based analysis to estimate the resulting physical effects using analytic scaling relations from previous solar dark matter studies. These relations were used to compute the effective dark matter luminosity, conductive energy transport, changes in the solar core temperature, and the corresponding changes in solar neutrino fluxes. We evaluated benchmark particles representing asymmetric dark matter and annihilating WIMP scenarios with masses between 5 and 500 GeV and scattering cross sections between 10 to the minus 36 and 10 to the minus 42 square centimeters. Results show that low-mass, strongly interacting asymmetric dark matter produces the largest change in solar properties, including percent-level decreases in the core temperature and large reductions in the predicted boron-8 neutrino flux, while heavier and weakly interacting WIMP models produce negligible effects. Neutrino changes were estimated using standard solar scaling relations, where the proton-proton neutrino flux scales approximately with the fourth power of the core temperature, while the boron-8 flux scales roughly with the twenty-fifth power, making it highly sensitive to dark-matter-induced cooling. These results demonstrate that combining Asteria capture calculations with analytic stellar-response scaling provides a fast method for evaluating solar constraints on dark matter without requiring full stellar evolution simulations.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
Yes, Spark Grant
Included in
Physical Processes Commons, Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy Commons, The Sun and the Solar System Commons
Estimating the Effects of Dark Matter Capture on the Sun Using Asteria and Analytic Stellar Scaling
We investigate how the internal structure of the Sun would change if dark matter particles were present at densities predicted by Galactic halo models. Dark matter capture rates were computed using the Python code Asteria, which implements the multi-element capture formalism of Gould (1987) to determine the rate at which dark matter particles scatter and become gravitationally bound inside the Sun. Because Asteria calculates only the capture rate, we developed a post-processing Python-based analysis to estimate the resulting physical effects using analytic scaling relations from previous solar dark matter studies. These relations were used to compute the effective dark matter luminosity, conductive energy transport, changes in the solar core temperature, and the corresponding changes in solar neutrino fluxes. We evaluated benchmark particles representing asymmetric dark matter and annihilating WIMP scenarios with masses between 5 and 500 GeV and scattering cross sections between 10 to the minus 36 and 10 to the minus 42 square centimeters. Results show that low-mass, strongly interacting asymmetric dark matter produces the largest change in solar properties, including percent-level decreases in the core temperature and large reductions in the predicted boron-8 neutrino flux, while heavier and weakly interacting WIMP models produce negligible effects. Neutrino changes were estimated using standard solar scaling relations, where the proton-proton neutrino flux scales approximately with the fourth power of the core temperature, while the boron-8 flux scales roughly with the twenty-fifth power, making it highly sensitive to dark-matter-induced cooling. These results demonstrate that combining Asteria capture calculations with analytic stellar-response scaling provides a fast method for evaluating solar constraints on dark matter without requiring full stellar evolution simulations.