Dark matter with momentum- or velocity-dependent interactions with nuclei has shown significant promise for explaining the so-called Solar Abundance Problem, a longstanding discrepancy between solar spectroscopy and helioseismology. The best-fit models are all rather light, typically with masses in the range of 3-5 GeV. This is exactly the mass range where dark matter evaporation from the Sun can be important, but to date no detailed calculation of the evaporation of such models has been performed. Here we carry out this calculation, for the first time including arbitrary velocity- and momentum-dependent interactions, thermal effects, and a completely general treatment valid from the optically thin limit all the way through to the optically thick regime. We find that depending on the dark matter mass, interaction strength and type, the mass below which evaporation is relevant can vary from 1 to 4 GeV. This has the effect of weakening some of the better-fitting solutions to the Solar Abundance Problem, but also improving a number of others. As a by-product, we also provide an improved derivation of the capture rate that takes into account thermal and optical depth effects, allowing the standard result to be smoothly matched to the well-known saturation limit.
The Sun Can Strongly Constrain Spin-Dependent Dark Matter Nucleon Scattering Below the Evaporation Limit
Stockholm University(斯德哥尔摩大学);The Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics(奥斯卡·克莱因宇宙粒子物理中心);Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg(埃尔朗根-纽伦堡弗里德里希-亚历山大大学)
Impact of Evaporation Barriers on Solar-Captured Dark Matter Distributions and Evaporation Mass
School of Fundamental Physics and Mathematical Sciences, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS(基础物理与数学科学学院,杭州高等研究院,中国科学院大学);Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院理论物理研究所);University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS)(中国科学院大学)