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Superradiance in rotating stars and pulsar-timing constraints on dark photons

3 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

3 Pith papers citing it
abstract

In the presence of massive bosonic degrees of freedom, rotational superradiance can trigger an instability that spins down black holes. This leads to peculiar gravitational-wave signatures and distribution in the spin-mass plane, which in turn can impose stringent constraints on ultralight fields. Here, we demonstrate that there is an analogous spindown effect for conducting stars. We show that rotating stars amplify low frequency electromagnetic waves, and that this effect is largest when the time scale for conduction within the star is of the order of a light crossing time. This has interesting consequences for dark photons, as massive dark photons would cause stars to spin down due to superradiant instabilities. The time scale of the spindown depends on the mass of the dark photon, and on the rotation rate, compactness, and conductivity of the star. Existing measurements of the spindown rate of pulsars place direct constraints on models of dark sectors. Our analysis suggests that dark photons of mass $m_V \sim 10^{-12}$ eV are excluded by pulsar-timing observations. These constraints also exclude superradiant instabilities triggered by dark photons as an explanation for the spin limit of observed pulsars.

citation-role summary

background 2

citation-polarity summary

fields

gr-qc 2 hep-ph 1

years

2025 2 2015 1

verdicts

UNVERDICTED 3

roles

background 2

polarities

background 2

representative citing papers

Stellar Superradiance and Low-Energy Absorption in Dense Nuclear Media

hep-ph · 2025-12-15 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

Collective nucleon scattering in neutron-star matter suppresses the effective absorption of ultralight bosons at the long wavelengths relevant for superradiance, weakening the link between stellar cooling bounds and superradiant instability rates.

Gravitational Atoms from Topological Stars

gr-qc · 2025-11-13 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Bound states of a massive scalar field around topological stars form strictly normal modes, producing a hydrogen-like spectrum when the Compton wavelength exceeds the star size and localized states otherwise.

Superradiance -- the 2020 Edition

gr-qc · 2015-01-26 · unverdicted · novelty 4.0

Black-hole superradiance extracts energy via the ergoregion and can trigger instabilities with applications to dark matter, beyond-Standard-Model physics, and laboratory analogs.

citing papers explorer

Showing 3 of 3 citing papers.

  • Stellar Superradiance and Low-Energy Absorption in Dense Nuclear Media hep-ph · 2025-12-15 · unverdicted · none · ref 49 · internal anchor

    Collective nucleon scattering in neutron-star matter suppresses the effective absorption of ultralight bosons at the long wavelengths relevant for superradiance, weakening the link between stellar cooling bounds and superradiant instability rates.

  • Gravitational Atoms from Topological Stars gr-qc · 2025-11-13 · unverdicted · none · ref 114 · internal anchor

    Bound states of a massive scalar field around topological stars form strictly normal modes, producing a hydrogen-like spectrum when the Compton wavelength exceeds the star size and localized states otherwise.

  • Superradiance -- the 2020 Edition gr-qc · 2015-01-26 · unverdicted · none · ref 123 · internal anchor

    Black-hole superradiance extracts energy via the ergoregion and can trigger instabilities with applications to dark matter, beyond-Standard-Model physics, and laboratory analogs.