Dark matter accretion onto binary pulsars is far too weak to affect observed orbital decay, so existing pulsar timing data cannot probe dark matter microphysics.
Nucleon Structure and Strong Interactions in Dark Matter Capture in Neutron Stars
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We outline two important effects that are missing from most evaluations of the dark matter capture rate in neutron stars. As dark matter scattering with nucleons in the star involves large momentum transfer, nucleon structure must be taken into account via a momentum dependence of the hadronic form factors. In addition, due to the high density of neutron star matter, we should account for nucleon interactions rather than modeling the nucleons as an ideal Fermi gas. Properly incorporating these effects is found to suppress the dark matter capture rate by up to four orders of magnitude for the heaviest stars.
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Can Orbital Decay of Accreting Binary Pulsars Probe Dark Matter?
Dark matter accretion onto binary pulsars is far too weak to affect observed orbital decay, so existing pulsar timing data cannot probe dark matter microphysics.