Has JWST found supermassive DARK MATTER stars?

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A research paper was published this month that claims to have found evidence for the existence of supermassive dark stars in the early Universe using JWST data. A clump of gas powered by dark matter annihilation which can grow to a million times more massive than the Sun and outshine an entire galaxy. But are these objects really “dark stars” or are they just galaxies like we expect?

Ilie, Paulin & Freese (2023; evidence for supermassive dark stars in JWST data) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.01173.pdf
Freese et al. (2008; hypothesis of dark stars first proposed) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/0806.0617.pdf
Spolyar et al. (2009; dark star evolution history) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/0903.3070.pdf
Freese et al. (2010; are dark stars detectable with JWST?) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1002.2233.pdf
Ilie et al. (2012; estimating how many dark stars would JWST find if they exist) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1110.6202.pdf

Curtis-Lake et al. (2023; distant galaxies in JWST data found with spectra for first time) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2212.04568.pdf

Fermi-LAT collaboration (2013; search for dark matter annihilation signals) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1305.5597.pdf

Tomlinson & Shull (2000; population III stars and their effects on reionization) - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10...
Schaerer & Pelló (2002; expected properties of population III stars) - https://link.springer.com/article/10....
Rydberg et al. (2013; how would we detect Population III stars with JWST?) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1206.0007.pdf
Maiolino et al. (2023; claim of population III star detection in JWST data, not yet peer reviewed) - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.00953.pdf

00:00 - Introduction
01:20 - What is a supermassive dark matter star?
02:06 - What is dark matter annihilation?
04:15 - How do these dark matter stars become supermassive?
06:25 - Ground News AD
07:57 - What does the light look like from a supermassive dark star? How do you find one?
10:17 - The objects first identified as galaxies in JWST data
11:54 - The evidence from JWST data for supermassive dark stars
13:00 - Why we care: REIONIZATION and Population III stars
15:06 - Is an analysis of the JWST spectra coming next?
16:17 - The other problems in astrophysics this would solve
17:12 - Outro
17:48 - BLOOPERS

Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV
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👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.


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