Constraints on Bosonic Dark Matter From Observations of Old Neutron Stars

Abstract

Baryon interactions with bosonic dark matter are constrained by the potential for dark matter-rich neutron stars to collapse into black holes. We consider the effect of dark matter self-interactions and dark matter annihilation on these bounds, and treat the evolution of the black hole after formation. We show that, for non-annihilating dark matter, these bounds extend up to $m_X \sim 10^{5-7}$ GeV, depending on the strength of self-interactions. However, these bounds are completely unconstraining for annihilating bosonic dark matter with an annihilation cross-section of $<\sigma_a v> \gtrsim 10^{-38} {\rm cm^3 /s}$. Dark matter decay does not significantly affect these bounds. We thus show that bosonic dark matter accessible to near-future direct detection experiments must participate in an annihilation or self-interaction process to avoid black hole collapse constraints from very old neutron stars.