WIMP Dark Matter and the First Stars: a critical overview

Understand

If Dark Matter (DM) is composed by Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, its annihilation in the halos harboring the earliest star formation episode may strongly influence the first generation of stars (Population III).

• Whereas DM annihilation at early stages of gas collapse does not dramatically affect the properties of the cloud, the formation of a hydrostatic object (protostar) and its evolution toward the main sequence may be delayed.
• This process involves DM concentrated in the center of the halo by gravitational drag, and no consensus is yet reached over whether this can push the initial mass of Population III to higher masses.
• DM can also be captured through scattering over the baryons in a dense object, onto or very close to the Main Sequence.