Article: Supernovae sparked by dark matter in white dwarfs

[.Scott]

TL;DR

The article claims that assymetric dark matter can accumulate in a dwarf star producing a small Black Hole, and then ignite a supernova.

Here is the Physical Review article:
"Supernovae sparked by dark matter in white dwarfs"

"A ball of asymmetric dark matter accumulated inside a white dwarf and collapsing under its own weight sheds enough gravitational potential energy through scattering with nuclei to spark the fusion reactions that precede a Type Ia supernova explosion."

From what I gather, the Supernovae triggering mechanism for some White Dwarf stars has not been discovered.

 

[.Scott]

Just thinking...

If the core of white dwarfs can arrest dark matter, then the core of neutron/quark stars should be even more effective at it.

If ever there is a way to convert between dark matter and regular matter, it would be most pronounced under conditions where it is pushed hardest by le chatelier's principle. And if anywhere there is a place where this push would be strongest in the direction of dark matter, it would in the cores of neutron stars.

Could this actually be happening? Over time, should we expect that neutron stars could, in part evaporate to dark matter, and in part accumulate dark matter that will would ultimately push them to a BH?

 

[mfb]

If the dark matter particles are very heavy as discussed in the publication then neutron stars won't be able to make them. If they are light then neutron stars might make them and they would escape. This would cool their interior and lead to a smaller mass loss. This has been discussed a lot for axions, e.g. here for neutron stars and here for white dwarfs. If they are in an intermediate mass range then they might co-exist with matter in the core.