Getting a charge out of dark matter

We consider the possibility that dark matter is in the form of charged massive particles. Several constraints are discussed: (a) the absence of heavy-hydrogen-like atoms in water; (b) the agreement between the observed cosmic abundance of the elements and standard big-bang nucleosynthesis prediction...

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Veröffentlicht in:Physical review. D, Particles and fields Particles and fields, 1990-04, Vol.41 (8), p.2388-2397
Hauptverfasser: DIMOPOULOS, S, EICHLER, D, ESMAILZADEH, R, STARKMAN, G. D
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We consider the possibility that dark matter is in the form of charged massive particles. Several constraints are discussed: (a) the absence of heavy-hydrogen-like atoms in water; (b) the agreement between the observed cosmic abundance of the elements and standard big-bang nucleosynthesis predictions; (c) the observed properties of galaxies, stars, and planets; (d) their nonobservation in {gamma}-ray and cosmic-ray detectors, and the lack of radiation damage to space-borne electronic components. We find that integer-charged particles less massive than 10{sup 3} TeV are probably ruled out as dark matter; but note briefly that there is a slim chance they could be blown out of the halo by supernovae. Above this mass the freeze-out abundance of these particles would overclose the Universe; thus their discovery would be evidence for inflation (or other late-time entropy dumping) below {ital m}{sub ch}. We indicate where one should consider looking for charged massive dark matter.
ISSN:0556-2821
1089-4918
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.41.2388