Astrophysical bounds on supersymmetric dark-matter Q- balls

Stable baryonic Q-balls, which appear in supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, could form at the end of cosmological inflation from fragmentation of the Affleck-Dine condensate. We reconsider astrophysical constraints on such Q-balls as dark matter candidates. Baryonic Q-balls interact with matter by absorbing the baryon number and, effectively, leading to a rapid baryon number non-conservation. We have recently shown that this process can occur at a much faster rate than that used in previous calculations. As a consequence, stability of neutron stars imposes a stringent constraint on the types of Q-balls that can be dark matter. Only the Q-balls that correspond to baryonic flat directions lifted by baryon-number violating operators are allowed as dark-matter candidates. ©2005 IOP Publishing Ltd.