A novel determination of the local dark matter density

By R. Catena, P. Ullio. 2009

563 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present a novel study on the problem of constructing mass models for the Milky Way, concentrating on features regarding the dark matter halo component. We have considered a variegated sample of dynamical observables for the Galaxy, including several results which have appeared recently, and studied a 7- or 8-dimensional parameter space - defining the Galaxy model - by implementing a Bayesian approach to the parameter estimation based on a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. The main result of this analysis is a novel determination of the local dark matter halo density which, assuming spherical symmetry and either an Einasto or an NFW density profile is found to be around 0.39 GeV cm−3 with a 1-σ error bar of about 7%; more precisely we find a ρDM(R0) = 0.385±0.027 GeV cm−3 for the Einasto profile and ρDM(R0) = 0.389±0.025 GeV cm−3 for the NFW. This is in contrast to the standard assumption that ρDM(R0) is about 0.3 GeV cm−3 with an uncertainty of a factor of 2 to 3. A very precise determination of the local halo density is very important for interpreting direct dark matter detection experiments. Indeed the results we produced, together with the recent accurate determination of the local circular velocity, should be very useful to considerably narrow astrophysical uncertainties on direct dark matter detection.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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Citations in the corpus

Numerical simulations of the dark universe: State of the art and the next decade (2012, unknown): “85 GeV cm−3 [151–154].”
Colloquium: Annual modulation of dark matter (2013, background): “…as 3Estimates for the local density of the smooth dark matter component are model dependent and vary in the literature by as much as a factor of 2 (Caldwell and Ostriker, 1981; Catena and Ullio, 2010; Pato et al., 2010; Salucci et al., 2010; Weber and de Boer, 2010; Bovy and Tremaine, 2012).”
Modulation Effects in Dark Matter-Electron Scattering Experiments (2015, background): “4 GeV/cm 3 is the local DM density [25–27].”
A new determination of the local dark matter density from the kinematics of K dwarfs (2012, background): “…South Galactic Pole, and using a prior from the rotation curve, Kuijken & Gilmore (1989, 1991) find ρKGdm = 0.010±0.005 M pc−3, consistent with that expected from the rotation curve assuming a spherical Galactic dark matter halo2 (e. g. Sofue et al. 2009; Weber & de Boer 2010; Catena & Ullio 2010).”
Form factors for dark matter capture by the Sun in effective theories (2015, unknown): “We leave an analysis of astrophysical uncertainties [47–49] in the evaluation of eq.”
History of dark matter (2018, unknown): “…be constrained using measurements of the Milky Way’s rotation curve (Fich, Blitz, and Stark, 1989; Merrifield, 1992; Dehnen and Binney, 1998; Sofue, Honma, and Omodaka, 2009; Catena and Ullio, 2010; Salucci et al., 2010; Weber and de Boer, 2010; Iocco et al., 2011; Pato, Iocco, and Bertone, 2015).”
Galaxy Masses: A Review (2013, background): “A more complete discussion of this parameter can be found in Catena & Ullio (2010, 2012) and WPD.”
A mass-dependent density profile for dark matter haloes including the influence of galaxy formation (2014, unknown): “Observations of the Milky Way are best ﬁt with an NFW halo with high-concentration parameter c ≈ 18–20 (Battaglia et al. 2005; Catena & Ullio 2010; Deason et al. 2012; Nesti & Salucci 2013).”
Galactic Searches for Dark Matter (2012, methodology): “From their Bayesian modeling, Catena and Ullio (2010) conclude that for an NFW profile the local dark matter density is ρ = 0.389± 0.025 GeV cm−3.”
The Milky Way’s stellar disk (2013, background): “…potential Initial attempts have been made to bring the diverse constraints on the Galactic gravitational potential on the same footing (Catena & Ullio 2010; McMillan 2011; Bovy & Tremaine 2012), the outer halo constraints, the rotation curve, and the local dark matter estimates from…”
The Galaxy in Context: Structural, Kinematic, and Integrated Properties (2016, methodology): “Surveys toward the inner Galaxy are frequently done in the NIR to minimize extinction (Babusiaux & Gilmore 2005, Nishiyama et al. 2006) or in the I band (Paczynski & Stanek 1998, Nataf et al. 2013).”
Dark matter direct detection signals inferred from a cosmological N-body simulation with baryons (2009, background): “[49], but higher than the usually quoted value of 0.”