Related papers: H_2D^+: a light on baryonic dark matter?
A defining prediction of the cold dark matter (CDM) cosmological model is the existence of a very large population of low-mass haloes. This population is absent in models in which the dark matter particle is warm (WDM). These alternatives…
Recent observations of microlensing events in the Large Magellanic Cloud by the MACHO and EROS collaborations suggest that an important fraction of the galactic halo is in the form of Massive Halo Objects (MHO) with mass $\sim 0.1…
Dark matter is the dominant form of matter in the universe, but its nature is unknown. It is plausibly an elementary particle, perhaps the lightest supersymmetric partner of known particle species. In this case, annihilation of dark matter…
Robust knowledge of molecular gas mass is critical for understanding star formation in galaxies. The H$_{2}$ molecule does not emit efficiently in the cold interstellar medium, hence the molecular gas content of galaxies is typically…
An overview is presented of the main properties of dark matter haloes, as we know them from observations, essentially from rotation curves around spiral and dwarf galaxies. Detailed rotation curves are now known for more than a thousand…
(Abridged) We present a large sample of o-H$_2$D$^+$ observations in high-mass star-forming regions and discuss possible empirical correlations with relevant physical quantities to assess its role as a chronometer of star-forming regions…
Galaxies are composed of baryonic stars and gas embedded in dark matter halos. Here I briefly review two aspects of the connection between baryons and their halos. (1) The observed baryon content of galaxies falls short of the cosmic baryon…
It has been shown by Paczy\'nski that gravitational microlensing is potentially a useful method for detecting the dark constituents of the halo of our galaxy, if their mass lies in the approximate domain $10^{-6} < M/M_{\odot} < 10^{-1}$.…
We present the first results on the diffuse transition clouds observed in [CII] line emission at 158 microns (1.9 THz) towards Galactic longitudes near 340deg (5 LOSs) and 20deg (11 LOSs) as part of the GOT C+ survey. Out of the total 146…
Context: The HD and H2 molecules play important roles in the cooling of primordial and very metal-poor gas at high redshift. Aims: Grain surface and gas phase formation of HD and H2 is investigated to assess the importance of trace amounts…
It is proposed to search for scintillation of extragalactic sources through the last unknown baryonic structures. Appropriate observation of the scintillation process described here should allow one to detect column density stochastic…
We present the basics of microlensing and give an overview of the results obtained so far. We also describe a scenario in which dark clusters of MACHOs (Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects) and cold molecular clouds (mainly of $H_2$)…
Measuring the density profile and mass concentration of dark-matter haloes is a key test of the standard cold dark matter paradigm. Such objects are dark and thus challenging to characterise, but they can be studied via gravitational…
Recent HST and ISO observations provide very severe limits on any compact baryonic contributions to galactic (dark) halos. When combined with Milky Way Galaxy microlensing results, almost the entire plausible range of massive compact…
We have measured the deuterium fractionation (through the column density ratio N(N2D+)/N(N2H+)) and the CO depletion factor (ratio between expected and observed CO abundance) in a sample of 10 high-mass protostellar candidates, in order to…
Modelling of Extreme Scattering Events suggests that the Galaxy's dark matter is an undetected population of cold, AU-sized, planetary-mass gas clouds. None of the direct observational constraints on this picture -- thermal/non-thermal…
The halo mass function, dn/dM, predicted by hierarchical clustering models can be measured indirectly using dynamical probes like the distribution of gravitational lens image separations, dn/dDelta-theta, or halo circular velocities, dn/d…
We investigate the temperature distribution of CO-dark molecular hydrogen (H2) in a series of disk galaxies simulated using the AREPO moving-mesh code. In conditions similar to those in the Milky Way, we find that H2 has a flat temperature…
Aims: We aim to investigate the abundances of light deuterium-bearing species such as HD, H2D+ and D2H+ in a gas-grain chemical model including an extensive description of deuterium and spin state chemistry, in physical conditions…
Context: In cold and dense gas prior to the formation of young stellar objects, heavy molecular species (including CO) are accreted onto dust grains. Under these conditions H$_3^+$ and its deuterated isotopologues become more abundant,…