Scalar dark matter and cold stars

In a medium composed of scalar particles with non-zero mass, the range of Van-der-Waals-type scalar mediated interactions among nucleons becomes infinite when the medium makes a transition to a Bose-Einstein condensed phase. We explore this phenomenon in an astrophysical context. Namely, we study the effect of a scalar dark matter background on the equilibrium of degenerate stars. In particular we focus on white dwarfs and the changes induced in their masses and in their radii.