Published October 15, 2010 | Version v1
Journal article

Electrosphere of macroscopic 'quark nuclei': A source for diffuse MeV emissions from dark matter

  • 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1 (Canada)
  • 2. Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, Box 351550, Seattle, Washington, 98195 (United States)

Description

Using a Thomas-Fermi model, we calculate the structure of the electrosphere of the quark antimatter nuggets postulated to comprise much of the dark matter. This provides a single self-consistent density profile from ultrarelativistic densities to the nonrelativistic Boltzmann regime that we use to present microscopically justified calculations of several properties of the nuggets, including their net charge, and the ratio of MeV to 511 keV emissions from electron annihilation. We find that the calculated parameters agree with previous phenomenological estimates based on the observational supposition that the nuggets are a source of several unexplained diffuse emissions from the Galaxy. As no phenomenological parameters are required to describe these observations, the calculation provides another nontrivial verification of the dark-matter proposal. The structure of the electrosphere is quite general and will also be valid at the surface of strange-quark stars, should they exist.

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
Journal Volume
82
Journal Issue
8
Journal Page Range
p. 083510-083510.19
ISSN
0556-2821
CODEN
PRVDAQ

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2010 American Institute of Physics