Supermassive Dark Stars and Their Remnants as a Possible Solution to Three Recent Cosmic Dawn Puzzles

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has begun to revolutionize our view of the Cosmos. The discovery of Blue Monsters (i.e., ultra-compact yet very bright high-z galaxies) and the Little Red Dots (i.e., very compact dustless strong Balmer break cosmic dawn sources) pose significant challenges to pre-JWST era models of the assembly of first stars and galaxies. In addition, JWST data further strengthen the problem posed by the origin of the supermassive black holes that power the most distant quasars observed. Stars powered by Dark Matter annihilation (i.e., Dark Stars) can form out of primordial gas clouds during the cosmic dawn era and subsequently might grow via accretion and become supermassive. In this paper we argue that Supermassive Dark Stars (SMDSs) offer natural solutions to the three puzzles mentioned above.

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Publication Details

Journal
Universe
Published
2025-12-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/universe12010001
Primary Topic
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Supermassive Dark Stars and Their Remnants as a Possible Solution to Three Recent Cosmic Dawn Puzzles

Cosmin Ilie, A. O. Petric, Jillian Paulin, Katherine Freese
Universe
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
article

Supermassive Dark Stars and Their Remnants as a Possible Solution to Three Recent Cosmic Dawn Puzzles

Cosmin Ilie, A. O. Petric, Jillian Paulin, Katherine Freese
article en

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has begun to revolutionize our view of the Cosmos. The discovery of Blue Monsters (i.e., ultra-compact yet very bright high-z galaxies) and the Little Red Dots (i.e., very compact dustless strong Balmer break cosmic dawn sources) pose significant challenges to pre-JWST era models of the assembly of first stars and galaxies. In addition, JWST data further strengthen the problem posed by the origin of the supermassive black holes that power the most distant quasars observed. Stars powered by Dark Matter annihilation (i.e., Dark Stars) can form out of primordial gas clouds during the cosmic dawn era and subsequently might grow via accretion and become supermassive. In this paper we argue that Supermassive Dark Stars (SMDSs) offer natural solutions to the three puzzles mentioned above.

UniverseVol. 12(1)
Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (SE), Space Telescope Science Institute (US), Johns Hopkins University (US), Stockholm University (SE), Colgate University (US), University of Pennsylvania (US), The University of Texas at Austin (US)
U.S. Department of Energy, Colgate University, Space Telescope Science Institute, Vetenskapsrådet, Stockholms Universitet, Office of Science, High Energy Physics
Openalex Percentile: Top 72%
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
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Supermassive Dark Stars and Their Remnants as a Possible Solution to Three Recent Cosmic Dawn Puzzles — Cosmin Ilie, A. O. Petric, et al. · Universe (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS