• Accepted Paper

Dark matter energy exchange in stars orbiting supermassive black holes

Stephan A. Meighen-Berger, R. Andrew Gustafson, Nicole F. Bell, Jayden L. Newstead, Sandra Robles, and Ian M. Shoemaker

Phys. Rev. D - Accepted 16 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2ghs-4mk6

Abstract

Stars on tight orbits around the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center pass through regions where the dark matter (DM) density may be strongly enhanced. We compute the orbit-averaged DM-induced energy exchange for S4714 as an example. It is a star on an exceptionally close and relativistic orbit around Sagittarius A*. For a spiked dark matter profile, the exchange reaches the stellar luminosity at {p} 10^{-36} cm^2 for MeV–GeV masses and {e} 5 ^{-38} cm^2 for sub-MeV masses, opening a new annihilation-free route toward dark-star phases. These cross sections lie within the range predicted by freeze-in scenarios and are consistent with cosmic-ray-boosted and solar-reflection dark matter constraints.

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