Thesis

Impact of gravitational dark matter on properties of stars

• Call:

  IDPASC Portugal - PHD Programme 2019

• Academic Year:

  2019 / 2020

• Domains:

  Theoretical Particle Physics | Cosmology | Astrophysics

• Supervisor:

  Ilidio Lopes

• Co-Supervisor:

  Grigorios Panotopoulos

• Institution:

  Instituto Superior Técnico

• Host Institution:

  Instituto Superior Técnico

• Abstract:

  Current data show that non-relativistic matter in the Universe is dominated by dark matter, the nature and origin of which still remains a mystery. The Lagrangian of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, slightly extended to include dark matter, must be coupled to Einstein's General Relativity. If the dark matter particle is a scalar field, it may be nonminimally coupled to gravity (Jordan frame). One can perform a conformal transformation to go to the more familiar Einstein frame. There one finds that even if the dark matter particle does not have any direct coupling to the fields of the SM in the Jordan frame, the conformal factor induces non-vanishing coupling between the SM particles and the scalar field that plays the role of DM in the Universe. These interactions are expected to modify properties of stars. Using the powerful tool of Asteroseismology, we may constrain the nonminimal coupling.