1998/03/17 by F. De Paolis, G. Ingrosso, De Paolis, F. +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9803200
To appear in the proceedings of the workshop DM-ITALIA-97
arxiv created 1998/03/17 · openalex publication_date 1998/03/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Recent observations of microlensing events in the Large Magellanic Cloud suggest that a sizable fraction of the galactic halo is in the form of Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs). Although the average MACHO mass is presently poorly known, the value ∼ 0.1 M\odot looks as a realistic estimate, thereby implying that brown dwarfs are a viable and natural candidate for MACHOs. We describe a scenario in which dark clusters of MACHOs and cold molecular clouds (mainly of H2) naturally form in the halo at galactocentric distances larger than 10-20 kpc. Moreover, we discuss various experimental tests of this picture.