Fine Structure of Dark Matter Halos and its Effect on Terrestrial Detection Experiments

2003/01/15 by David Stiff, Lawrence M. Widrow · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Dark matter halo #Galaxy #Halo #Physics #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.90.211301

published as Phys.Rev.Lett. 90 (2003) 211301 · 5 pages, 3 figures

arxiv created 2003/01/15 · openalex publication_date 2003/05/29 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Terrestrial dark matter detection experiments probe the velocity-space distribution of dark matter particles in the vicinity of the Earth. We present a novel method, to be used in conjunction with standard cosmological simulations of hierarchical clustering, that allows one to extract a truly local velocity-space distribution in exquisite detail. Preliminary results suggest a new picture for this distribution which is decidedly non-Maxwellian but instead is characterized by randomly positioned peaks in velocity space. We discuss the implications of these results for experiments to detect axions and weakly interacting massive particles.

Citations

• On the direct detection of extragalactic weakly interacting massive particles
• Galactic halo models and particle dark-matter detection
• Core condensation in heavy halos: a two-stage theory for galaxy formation and clustering

Cited by

• Phase-space structure in the local dark matter distribution and its signature in direct detection experiments
• Dark matter at the end of the Galaxy
• Diurnal and annual modulation of cold dark matter signals