Probing Dark matter-Baryon Interaction with S301--the Fastest Known Star in the Milky Way

RESUMO

The recent discovery of S301 provides an unique opportunity to investigate dark matter-baryon interaction in the innermost region of the Milky Way. S301 follows a highly eccentric orbit around Sgr~A*, and its pericenter distance is only around 12 AU with velocity about $25000\,{\rm km/s}$. These extreme properties make S301 highly sensitive to dark matter-baryon scattering in the center of galaxy, where the dark matter density may be strongly enhanced. We have calculated the orbit-averaged energy deposited rate in S301 via dark matter-proton scattering, and show that over a broad dark matter parameter space, cross sections satisfying the existing bounds from terrestrial experiments and astronomical observations can inject sufficient energy to modify the luminosity and evolution of S301. Our results establish S301 as an exceptionally sensitive probe of dark matter-baryon interactions and open a new avenue for probing dark matter interactions in high-density and high-velocity astrophysical environments.