Paper detail

An equation of state for dark matter in the Milky Way

Dark matter, believed to be present in many galaxies, is interpreted as a hydrodynamical system in interaction with the gravitational field and with nothing else. The gravitational field of our Galaxy can be inferred from observation of orbital velocities of the visible stars, in a first approximation in which the field is taken to be due to the distribution of dark matter only. An equation of state is determined by the gravitational field via the equations of motion. To arrive at an estimate of the distribution of dark matter in our galaxy, and simultaneously learn something about the gravitational field in the inner regions, the following strategy was adopted: 1. The observed rotation curves suggest an expression for the newtonian potential, valid in the outer region. 2. The assumption of a quasi stationary, spherically symmetric distribution of dark matter then leads to a unique equation of state. 3. This equation of state is assumed to be valid all the way to the center (though of course the newtonian approximation is not). 4. Using this equation of state, together with Einstein's equations and the relativistic hydrostatic condition, we calculate the metric and the matter density throughout the galaxy. The solutions are regular all the way to the center; there is no indication of a structure of the type of a Black Hole. The equation of state that is thus determined experimentally is of the type used by Chandrasekhar and others for the degenerate Fermi gas. In the approximation of weak fields the associated "sinh-Emden" equation has a global, nonsingular solution.