Can Dark Matter See Itself?

Abstract

Many independent high-resolution simulations of structure formation in cold dark matter models show that galactic halos should have singular core profiles. This is in stark contrast with observations of both low- and high-surface brightness galaxies, which indicate that the dark matter has almost constant density in the central parts of halos. Basically there are three possible avenues to a solution to the problem, which we discuss in turn. Observations of halo profiles could be more uncertain than previously thought, and higher resolution observations could reveal that spirals do have a singular core feature. The highest resolution simulations do not include a baryonic component, and it is conceivable that violent star formation processes and similar phenomena can destroy the singular dark matter core and lead to an almost constant density core profile. Finally, we discuss in more detail the intriguing possibility that the discrepancy hints at some new exotic physics of the dark matter. Warm dark matter and self-interacting dark matter are two of the most promising candidates.