SOLAR NEUTRINOS AND DARK-MATTER - COSMIONS, CHAMPS OR ... DEMON

Considering a coincidence of detected solar neutrino flux with the pre dicted pp solar neutrino flux, the practically zero contribution of th e electron capture (Be-7, pep) neutrinos may be interpreted as evidenc e for the pp reaction being catalysed by some multicharged negative pa rticles that make up the dark matter in the Universe, including the ga lactic disc. Elementary black holes with a mass (<pi(h)over bar c>/4G) (1/2)=1.93 x 10(-5) g, determined by 1/4 of their Compton wavelength, and the corresponding, presumably stable, charge Ze less than or equal to G(1/2)M=10e, are proposed as possible candidates for such DArk Ele ctric Matter Objects, or DAEMONs. DAEMONs are captured efficiently by the Sun, and their number accumulated by the present time (similar to 10(30)) is large enough for the reactions bursting at a rate of simila r to 10(8) s(-1) in the 'atomic' shells formed around them by protons and other light nuclei to account for most of the solar luminosity. Th e standard problem of catalyst poisoning by heavy nuclei is not fatal for DAEMONs; indeed, since they are multiply charged, the nuclei can r eact in the DAEMON shells with one another (primarily with protons alr eady in the Rydberg states) and, therefore, become lost; the nuclei ca n also fall below the relativistic horizon of a DAEMON in a comparativ ely short time. Some implications, relevant problems, and directions o f further development of the proposed approach are pointed out, in par ticular the need for constructing cosmological scenarios that would ta ke into account the specific properties of DAEMONs, and the physics of the DAEMONs themselves (charge conservation conditions for Z>1, insta bility of the DAEMON-containing nucleons, etc.).