Dark stars: Begynnelsen

The first phase of stellar evolution in the history of the universe may be Dark Stars, powered by dark matter heating rather than by fusion. Weakly interacting massive particles, which are their own antiparticles, can annihilate and provide an important heat source for the first stars in the universe. This and the following contribution present the story of Dark Stars. In this first part, we describe the conditions under which dark stars form in the early universe: 1) high dark matter densities, 2) the annihilation products get stuck inside the star, and 3) dark matter heating wins over all other cooling or heating mechanisms.