Dark matter annihilation effects on the first stars

We study the effects of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) darkmatter (DM) on the collapse and evolution of the first stars in the Universe. Using a stellar evolution code, we follow the pre-main-sequence (pre-MS) phase of a grid of metal- free stars with masses in the range 5<600Msol forming in the centre of a 10^6Msol halo at z=20. DM particles of the parent halo are accreted in the protostellar interior by adiabatic contraction and scattering/capture processes, reaching central densities ofO(10^12 GeV/cm^3) at radii of the order of 10 au. Energy release from annihilation reactions can effectively counteract the gravitational collapse, in agreement with results from other groups.We find this stalling phase (known as a dark star) is transient and lasts from 2.1×10^3 yr (M* = 600Msol) to 1.8 × 104 yr (M* = 9Msol). Later in the evolution, DM scattering/capture rate becomes high enough that energy deposition from annihilations significantly alters the pre-MS evolution of the star in a way that depends on DM (i) velocity dispersion,(ii) density, (iii) elastic scattering cross-section with baryons, s0. For our fiducial set of parameters we find that the evolution of stars of mass M* < 40Msol ‘freezes’ on the HR diagram before reaching the zero-age main sequence (ZAMS). Stars with M*>=40MSol manage to ignite nuclear reactions; however, DM ‘burning’ prolongs their lifetimes by a factor of 2 (5) for a 600Msol (40Msol) star