Getting a charge out of dark matter

Savas Dimopoulos, David Eichler, Rahim Esmailzadeh, and Glenn D. Starkman
Phys. Rev. D 41, 2388 – Published 15 April 1990
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Abstract

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 γ-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 103 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 mch. We indicate where one should consider looking for charged massive dark matter.

  • Received 6 November 1986

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.41.2388

©1990 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Savas Dimopoulos

  • Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

David Eichler

  • Department of Physics, Ben Gurion University, Beersheba, Israel
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

Rahim Esmailzadeh

  • Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720

Glenn D. Starkman

  • Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

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Vol. 41, Iss. 8 — 15 April 1990

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