Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: Molecular cooling is essential for studying the formation of substructure of dissipative dark-matter halos that may host compact objects such as black holes. Here, we analyze the reaction rates relevant for the formation, dissociation, and transition of hydrogenic molecules while allowing for different values of the physical parameters: the coupling constant, the proton mass, and the electron mass. For all cases, we rescale the reaction rates for the standard molecular hydrogen, so our results are valid as long as the dark matter is weakly coupled and one of the fermions is much heavier than the other. These results will allow a robust numerical treatment of cosmic structure, in particular for minihalos for which molecular cooling is important, in a dissipative dark-matter scenario.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,499
Award: G3913214744
OpenAlex ID: W3173625831