Electromagnetic Signatures of Mirror Stars
Mirror stars are a generic prediction of dissipative dark matter (DM) models, including minimal atomic DM and twin baryons in the mirror twin Higgs model. Mirror stars can capture regular matter from the interstellar medium through extremely suppressed kinetic mixing interactions between the regular...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad283c |
| _version_ | 1827295230659919872 |
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| author | Isabella Armstrong Berkin Gurbuz David Curtin Christopher D. Matzner |
| author_facet | Isabella Armstrong Berkin Gurbuz David Curtin Christopher D. Matzner |
| author_sort | Isabella Armstrong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mirror stars are a generic prediction of dissipative dark matter (DM) models, including minimal atomic DM and twin baryons in the mirror twin Higgs model. Mirror stars can capture regular matter from the interstellar medium through extremely suppressed kinetic mixing interactions between the regular and the dark photon. This accumulated “nugget” will draw heat from the mirror star core and emit highly characteristic X-ray and optical signals. In this work, we devise a general parameterization of mirror star nugget properties that is independent of the unknown details of mirror star stellar physics, and use the Cloudy spectral synthesis code to obtain realistic and comprehensive predictions for the thermal emissions from optically thin mirror star nuggets. We find that mirror star nuggets populate an extremely well-defined and narrow region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram that only partially overlaps with the white dwarf population. Our detailed spectral predictions, which we make publicly available, allow us to demonstrate that optically thin nuggets can be clearly distinguished from white dwarf stars by their continuum spectrum shape, and from planetary nebulae and other optically thin standard sources by their highly exotic emission-line ratios. Our work will enable realistic mirror star telescope searches, which may reveal the detailed nature of DM. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T14:16:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5cc665889e594960b4a01fba2a778880 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T14:16:07Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-5cc665889e594960b4a01fba2a7788802024-04-03T08:30:47ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572024-01-0196514210.3847/1538-4357/ad283cElectromagnetic Signatures of Mirror StarsIsabella Armstrong0https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1587-719XBerkin Gurbuz1https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4150-4625David Curtin2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0263-6195Christopher D. Matzner3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9732-2281Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON, M5S 1A7, CanadaDepartment of Physics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON, M5S 1A7, CanadaDepartment of Physics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON, M5S 1A7, CanadaDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON, M5S 1A7, CanadaMirror stars are a generic prediction of dissipative dark matter (DM) models, including minimal atomic DM and twin baryons in the mirror twin Higgs model. Mirror stars can capture regular matter from the interstellar medium through extremely suppressed kinetic mixing interactions between the regular and the dark photon. This accumulated “nugget” will draw heat from the mirror star core and emit highly characteristic X-ray and optical signals. In this work, we devise a general parameterization of mirror star nugget properties that is independent of the unknown details of mirror star stellar physics, and use the Cloudy spectral synthesis code to obtain realistic and comprehensive predictions for the thermal emissions from optically thin mirror star nuggets. We find that mirror star nuggets populate an extremely well-defined and narrow region of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram that only partially overlaps with the white dwarf population. Our detailed spectral predictions, which we make publicly available, allow us to demonstrate that optically thin nuggets can be clearly distinguished from white dwarf stars by their continuum spectrum shape, and from planetary nebulae and other optically thin standard sources by their highly exotic emission-line ratios. Our work will enable realistic mirror star telescope searches, which may reveal the detailed nature of DM.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad283cDark matterPlanetary nebulaeWhite dwarf stars |
| spellingShingle | Isabella Armstrong Berkin Gurbuz David Curtin Christopher D. Matzner Electromagnetic Signatures of Mirror Stars The Astrophysical Journal Dark matter Planetary nebulae White dwarf stars |
| title | Electromagnetic Signatures of Mirror Stars |
| title_full | Electromagnetic Signatures of Mirror Stars |
| title_fullStr | Electromagnetic Signatures of Mirror Stars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Electromagnetic Signatures of Mirror Stars |
| title_short | Electromagnetic Signatures of Mirror Stars |
| title_sort | electromagnetic signatures of mirror stars |
| topic | Dark matter Planetary nebulae White dwarf stars |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad283c |
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