Dark Matter and Neutron Stars: A Match Made in Heaven

Neutron Stars offer the perfect environment for testing Dark Matter models. Because of its compact nature, a Neutron Star within a distribution of Dark Matter (DM) can collect DM particles near its core. Once this collected number density exceeds a critical limit, gravitational collapse of the collected DM may cause a black hole to form at the center of the star, in turn destroying the star the from within. The number and age of observed Neutron Stars within a given distribution of DM can be used to put constraints on the parameter space of Dark Matter models. Strongly motivated Particle Dark Matter models are reviewed and tested in the context of Neutron Stars, and limits are placed on parameter space. The study of Dark Matter in the context of Neutron Stars offers a good way of constraining otherwise un-testable models, and may be related to other astrophysical problems, such as the missing pulsar problem.