Related papers: Uncertainties in the Galactic dark matter distribu…
In the absence of the physical understanding of the phenomenon, different empirical laws have been used as approximation for distribution of dark matter in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. We suggest a new profile which is not empirical…
We investigate how the nature of dark energy affects the determination of the curvature of the universe from recent observations. For this purpose, we consider the constraints on the matter and dark energy density using observations of type…
Direct detection experiments require information about the local dark matter speed distribution to produce constraints on dark matter candidates, or infer their properties in the event of a discovery. In this paper, we analyze how the…
The distribution of the non-luminous matter in galaxies of different luminosity and Hubble type is much more than a proof of the existence of dark particles governing the structures of the Universe. Here, we will review the complex but…
This paper presents an introduction to the astrophysics of cosmic rays and diffuse gamma rays and discusses some of the puzzles that have emerged recently due to more precise data and improved propagation models: the excesses in Galactic…
Our current understanding of how dark matter (DM) is distributed within the Milky Way halo, particularly in the solar neighborhood, is based on either careful studies of the local stellar orbits, model assumptions on the global shape of the…
The Gaia space astrometry mission is measuring accurate distances and space motions of more than two billion stars throughout our Galaxy and beyond. This is a first look at how Gaia is contributing to fundamental physics, and in particular…
The nature of the dark matter in the Universe is one of the hardest unsolved problems in modern physics. Indeed, on one hand, the overwhelming indirect evidence from astrophysics seems to leave no doubt about its existence; on the other…
If dark matter is composed of weakly interacting particles with mass in the GeV-TeV range, their annihilation or decay may produce gamma rays that could be detected by gamma-ray telescopes. Observations of dwarf spheroidal satellite…
The cold dark matter model successfully explains both the emergence and evolution of cosmic structures on large scales and, when we include a cosmological constant, the properties of the homogeneous and isotropic Universe. However, the cold…
The nature of the dark matter remains a mystery. The possibility of an unstable dark matter particle decaying to invisible daughter particles has been explored many times in the past few decades. Meanwhile, weak gravitational lensing shear…
A suite of vast stellar surveys mapping the Milky Way, culminating in the Gaia mission, is revolutionizing the empirical information about the distribution and properties of stars in the Galactic stellar disk. We review and lay out what…
The following is a comment on the recent letter by Iocco et al. (2015, arXiv:1502.03821) where the authors claim to have found "...convincing proof of the existence of dark matter...". The letter in question presents a compilation of recent…
Despite the Milky Way's proximity to us, our knowledge of its dark matter halo is fairly limited, and there is still considerable uncertainty in its halo mass. Many past techniques have been limited by assumptions such as the Galaxy being…
We explore some basic observational consequences of assuming that the dark matter in the Milky Way consists mainly of molecular clouds, and that cosmic rays can penetrate these clouds. In a favoured model of the clouds, this penetration…
We perform a systematic analysis of the effects of photometric redshift uncertainties on weak lensing tomography. We describe the photo-z distribution with a bias and Gaussian scatter that are allowed to vary arbitrarily between intervals…
While astrophysical and cosmological probes provide a remarkably precise and consistent picture of the quantity and general properties of dark matter, its fundamental nature remains one of the most significant open questions in physics.…
The Gaia mission has triggered major developments in the field of Galactic dynamics in recent years, which we discuss in this review. The structure and kinematics of all Galactic components - disc, bar/bulge and halo - are now mapped in…
We examine the effect of some uncertainties in the input astrophysical parameters on direct detection searches for WIMPs in the Galactic halo. We concentrate on the possible WIMP annual modulation signal recently reported by the DAMA…
We use the rotation curve from Gaia data release (DR) 3 to estimate the mass of the Milky Way. We consider an Einasto density profile to model the dark matter component. We extrapolate and obtain a dynamical mass…