Bulk viscosity from neutron decays to dark baryons in neutron star matter
Phys. Rev. D 113, 103033 – Published 21 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/m1ct-vtgc
Abstract
The existence of a dark baryon that mixes with the neutron leads to the possibility of neutron decay into a dark sector. Such dark decays have been studied as possibly relevant for the neutron decay anomaly and for their potential impacts on neutron stars. The most popular formulation is a dark sector consisting of a dark baryon and a dark scalar , where a neutron in vacuum decays 1% or less of the time via the channel . In this work, we consider the effect of this additional neutron decay channel on transport in neutron star mergers. We find that the neutron dark decay rate in medium is quite slow, and thus the dark baryons modify the dense matter equation of state in a way that decreases the Urca bulk viscosity by, at most, a factor of 2–3. However, if the neutron dark decay was to occur more rapidly, then the bulk viscosity at merger temperatures of tens of MeV would be strongly enhanced, potentially rapidly damping oscillations in merger environments and therefore providing a signature of slowly equilibrating matter in the merger.
