Signatures of Dark Star Remnants in the Galactic Halo

2010 
The very first stars likely formed from metal-free, molecular hydrogen-cooled gas at the centers of dark matter minihalos. Prior to nuclear fusion, these stars may have been supported by dark matter heating from annihilations in the star, in which case they could have grown to be quite massive before collapsing to black holes. Many remnant black holes and their surrounding dark matter density spikes may be part of our Milky Way halo today. Here we explore the gamma-ray signatures of dark matter annihilations in the dark matter spikes surrounding these black holes for a range of star formation scenarios, black hole masses, and dark matter annihilation modes. Data from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope are used to constrain models of dark matter annihilation and the formation of the first stars.
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