Speaker
Description
We study neutron stars (NSs) admixed with self-interacting bosonic dark matter (DM), motivated by recent observational data from NICER and LIGO/Virgo. In this framework, sub-GeV bosonic DM can accumulate as a dense core or form an extended halo around the NS, significantly affecting its mass, radius, and tidal deformability. By varying the DM particle mass, self-coupling strength, and its fraction within the NS, we place constraints on the allowed DM parameter space in light of current astrophysical limits.
A key focus of our work is on how a DM halo can alter X-ray pulse profiles of rotating NSs. The presence of DM modifies the external space-time geometry, which in turn affects photon trajectories and light bending near the NS. Through detailed pulse profile modeling, we show that changes in compactness due to DM can lead to significant variations in the observed flux, particularly in the minimum flux levels of the light curve. This effect provides a novel and sensitive probe of DM halo structures, positioning pulse profile analysis as a powerful observational tool in future missions like NICER and STROBE-X.
