Bayesian exploration of weakly interacting models of dark matter admixed neutron stars based on multi-density constraints
astro-ph.HE, hep-ph
Submitted: 2026-10-11
Updated: 2026-10-11
Comments: 19 pages, 6 figures
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: We present a unified Bayesian analysis of Higgs-portal, neutron-decay, and axion-like-particle (ALP)-mediated dark matter in neutron stars within the single-fluid approximation.
Abstract
We present a unified Bayesian analysis of Higgs-portal, neutron-decay, and axion-like-particle (ALP)-mediated dark matter in neutron stars within the single-fluid approximation. Using a common relativistic mean-field description of hadronic matter, we combine finite-nucleus and heavy-ion collision data, chiral effective field theory, NICER measurements of four pulsars, and GW170817. The individual dark-sector parameters remain weakly determined, while model-dependent shifts in nuclear skewness reveal the sensitivity of the inferred hadronic equation of state to the assumed dark-matter mechanism. The three scenarios yield substantially overlapping mass-radius and tidal-deformability predictions, with median maximum masses near 2.1,M. For 1.4,M stars, the Higgs-portal model predicts higher f-mode frequencies and shorter damping times than the neutron-decay and ALP models, although their credible regions overlap. Comparison with three consistently reanalysed two-fluid models gives the largest Bayesian evidence to neutron decay: under the adopted priors, its Bayes factors relative to the Higgs-portal and two-fluid alternatives are approximately 24 - 37, but only 2.2 relative to ALP. This ranking concerns complete dark-matter models and does not establish a general preference for either fluid description or evidence for a dark component itself. Improved nuclear constraints and future gravitational-wave asteroseismology could provide complementary information to disentangle the hadronic and dark-sector contributions.
Sources
- Results of Dark Matter Search using the Full PandaX-II Exposure
- The XENONnT Dark Matter Experiment
- The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment
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- Fermionic versus Bosonic Dark Matter in Neutron Stars: A Bayesian Study with Multi-Density Constraints
- Interpreting Mass and Radius Measurements of Neutron Stars with Dark Matter Halos
- Dark Matter Heating in Evolving Proto-Neutron Stars: A Two-Fluid Approach
- Gravitational wave asteroseismology of dark matter hadronic stars
- Impact of dark boson mediated feeble interaction between dark matter and hadronic matter on $f$-mode oscillation of neutron stars
- Effects of Dark Matter on $f$-mode oscillations of Neutron Stars
- Effect of Dark matter and $\sigma$-cut potential on radial and non-radial oscillation modes in neutron stars
- Probing Strange Dark Matter through $f$-mode Oscillations of Neutron Stars with Hyperons and Quark Matter
- Non-Radial Oscillation Modes in Hybrid Stars with Hyperons and Delta Baryons
- Axion-Like Particle Mediated Dark Matter and Neutron Star Properties in the QHD Model
- Measurement of the neutron lifetime using an asymmetric magneto- gravitational trap and in situ detection
- Improved Determination of the Neutron Lifetime
- Dark Matter Interpretation of the Neutron Decay Anomaly
- Neutron's Dark Secret
- QCD Axion-Mediated Dark Matter
- A Leptonic ALP Portal to the Dark Sector
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