1208.3697 (Peter. W. Gorham)

Antiquark nuggets as dark matter: New constraints and detection prospects    [PDF]

Peter. W. Gorham

Current evidence for dark matter in the universe does not exclude heavy composite nuclear-density objects consisting of bound quarks or antiquarks over a significant range of masses. Here we analyze one such proposed scenario, which hypothesizes antiquark nuggets with a range of B ~ 10^{24-30}$ in a color superconducting phase, with specific predictions for spectral emissivity via interactions with normal matter. We find that, if these objects make up the majority of the dark matter density in the solar neighborhood, their radiation efficiency in solids is marginally constrained, due to constraints from the total geothermal energy budget of the Earth. At allowed radiation efficiencies, the number density of such objects can be constrained to well below dark matter densities by existing radio data over a mass range currently not constrained by other methods.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1208.3697