Asymmetric dark matter and the Sun

Abstract

Cold dark matter particles with an intrinsic matter-antimatter asymmetry do not annihilate after gravitational capture by the Sun and can affect its interior structure. The rate of capture is exponentially enhanced when such particles have self-interactions of the right order to explain structure formation on galactic scales. A `dark baryon' of mass 5 GeV is a natural candidate and has the required relic abundance if its asymmetry is similar to that of ordinary baryons. We show that such particles can solve the `solar composition problem'. The predicted small decrease in the low energy neutrino fluxes may be measurable by the Borexino and SNO+ experiments.

Comments: 4 pages, 3 figures (RevTex); Capture rate corrected to obey the geometrical bound; Changes in adopted cross-sections and particle physics motivation; Conclusions concerning helioseismology and solar neutrino fluxes unchanged