Related papers: Planetary-Mass Dark Matter?
We interpret the recent gravitational lensing observations of Jee et al. \cite{Jee} as first evidence for a {\it caustic} ring of dark matter in a galaxy cluster. A caustic ring unavoidably forms when a cold collisionless flow falls with…
We discuss the existence of an acceleration scale in galaxies and galaxy clusters. The presence of the same acceleration scale found at very different scales and in very different astrophysical objects strongly supports the existence of a…
We investigate analytically whether in a close encounter with a star, a Dark Matter particle can be accelerated above the escape speed of a Globular Cluster and be ejected. We find that this mechanism is not sufficient to eject a massive,…
It has been revealed using microlensing that a considerable part, possibly more than half, of the dark matter in the halo of our Galaxy consists of objects with a mass spectrum ranging from 0.05 to 0.8 of the solar mass. What is the nature…
Assuming the validity of the general relativistic description of gravitation on astrophysical and cosmological length scales, we analytically infer that the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology with Einsteinian cosmological constant, and a…
There is a puzzling contradiction: direct observations favor a low-mass density universe, but the only model which fits universe structure over more than three orders of magnitude in distance scale has a mix of hot (neutrino) and cold dark…
Astrophysical observations suggest that most of the matter in the cosmos consists of a new form that has not been observed on Earth. The nature and origin of this mysterious dark matter are among the most pressing questions in fundamental…
A discussion at a Scientific American level of the idea that the constituents of the dark mater in galactic halos are primordial intermediate-mass black holes with masses between ten and one hundred thousand times the solar mass.
If dark matter self-annihilates then it may produce an observable signal when its density is high. The details depend on the intrinsic properties of dark matter and how it clusters in space. For example, the density profile of some dark…
Dark matter in the universe seems to be one of the most important puzzles science has to face in this moment. In this essay we point out that dark matter could be a spin-0 fundamental interaction of Nature rather than a simple particle.…
A comparison is made of a range of proposals to include free and bound black holes as either a small component or the dominant constituent of dark matter. The hypothesis that dark matter consists of atomic gravitationally bound primordial…
Within the standard cosmological scenario the Universe is found to be filled by obscure components (dark matter and dark energy) for ~95% of its energy budget. In particular, almost all the matter content in the Universe is given by dark…
I critically review a methodology of using clusters of galaxies as cosmological probes. The understanding of the abundances and spatial correlations of dark matter halos has been significantly advanced especially for a last few years.…
In this paper, we show that in the vicinity of certain astronomical bodies, e.g., a Neutron Star, a Black Hole, there exist significant enhancements of Dark Matter's density and current, due to its interaction with the gravitational field…
Supermassive black holes have been discovered at the centers of galaxies, and also in globular clusters. The data shows correlations between the black hole mass and the elliptical galaxy mass or globular cluster mass. It is shown that this…
A variety of observational approaches have provided evidence for extended halos of dark matter surrounding elliptical galaxies, and for massive dark objects in (some of) their nuclei. What are the properties of the dark halos? How do they…
This paper presents a brief review of the evidence for dark matter in the Universe on the scales of galaxies. In the interests of critically and objectively testing the dark matter paradigm on these scales, this evidence is weighed against…
Cosmological and astrophysical observations currently provide the only robust, positive evidence for dark matter. Cosmic probes of dark matter, which seek to determine the fundamental properties of dark matter through observations of the…
According to the classical view of globular clusters, stars inside globular clusters are evolved from the same giant molecular cloud. Then their stars' chemical compositions must be the same. But recent photometric and spectroscopic studies…
How is mass distributed in the Universe? How does it compare with the distribution of light and stars? We address these questions by examining the distribution of mass, determined from weak lensing observations, and starlight, around…