In regions of very high dark matter density such as the Galactic centre , the capture and annihilation of WIMP dark matter by stars has the potential to significantly alter their evolution .
We describe the dark stellar evolution code DarkStars , and present a series of detailed grids of WIMP-influenced stellar models for main sequence stars .
We describe the changes in stellar structure and main sequence evolution which occur as a function of the rate of energy injection by WIMPs , for masses of 0.3–2.0 M _ { \odot } and metallicities Z = 0.0003–0.02 .
We show what rates of energy injection can be obtained using realistic orbital parameters for stars at the Galactic centre , including detailed consideration of the velocity and density profiles of dark matter .
Capture and annihilation rates are strongly boosted when stars follow elliptical rather than circular orbits .
If there is a spike of dark matter induced by the supermassive black hole at the Galactic centre , single solar-mass stars following orbits with periods as long as 50 years and eccentricities as low as 0.9 could be significantly affected .
Binary systems with similar periods about the Galactic centre could be affected on even less eccentric orbits .
The most striking observational effect of this scenario would be the existence of a binary consisting of a low-mass protostar and a higher-mass evolved star .
The observation of low-mass stars and/or binaries on such orbits would either provide a detection of WIMP dark matter , or place stringent limits on the combination of the WIMP mass , spin-dependent nuclear-scattering cross-section , halo density and velocity distribution near the Galactic centre .
In some cases , the derived limits on the WIMP mass and spin-dependent nuclear-scattering cross-section would be of comparable sensitivity to current direct-detection experiments .