Dark Matter May Form Micro Black Holes Inside Dead Stars

Gist A recent study by Indian scientists suggests that ultra-heavy dark matter particles can accumulate inside dense, dead stars like pulsars and white dwarfs, eventually collapsing to form tiny black holes. Supplied with a continuous feed of dark matter, these micro black holes can overcome Hawking radiation—which would otherwise cause them to evaporate—and gradually consume their host stars. For UPSC aspirants, this research is highly relevant as it connects fundamental astrophysical concepts while demonstrating how ancient stars can be used as "natural laboratories" to study elusive cosmic phenomena that cannot be tested on Earth. Background Dark matter is an invisible, hypothetical substance that constitutes the majority of the universe's mass, detectable only indirectly through its gravitational effects on visible matter. When a star exhausts its nuclear fuel, it collapses into a dense remnant. A white dwarf is a hot, highly dense core left behind by average-sized stars. A millisecond pulsar is an extremely dense, rapidly spinning neutron star that emits regular beams of electromagnetic radiation at intervals of less than 10 milliseconds . In quantum physics, Hawking radiation is the…