dark star

The term dark star is used for a theoretical astronomical object consisting of gravitationally bound gas and dark matter (particles, e.g., WIMPs) that glows due to heat from dark-matter annihilation. Such theoretical annihilation presumes some dark matter is antimatter, perhaps consisting of a particle type that is its own antiparticle, e.g., a Majorana particle. Such "stars" would be larger than what we think of as stars, from giant-star size to thousands of AU diameter, and would be so dim they have not been detected. Such "stars" may have been present in the early universe and have evolved into more familiar objects when dark matter was reduced through annihilation such that its heat generation died away. The theory stems from considerations of what could happen if the universe has enough particles to comprise dark matter.

Dark star was also one of the early terms for what is now called a black hole.