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Title: Theory of dark matter superfluidity

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
 [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)

We introduce a novel theory of dark matter (DM) superfluidity that matches the successes of the Λ cold dark matter ( Λ CDM ) model on cosmological scales while simultaneously reproducing the modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) phenomenology on galactic scales. The DM and MOND components have a common origin, representing different phases of a single underlying substance. DM consists of axionlike particles with mass of order eV and strong self-interactions. The condensate has a polytropic equation of state P ~ ρ 3 giving rise to a superfluid core within galaxies. Instead of behaving as individual collisionless particles, the DM superfluid is more aptly described as collective excitations. Superfluid phonons, specifically, are assumed to be governed by a MOND-like effective action and mediate a MONDian acceleration between baryonic matter particles. Our framework naturally distinguishes between galaxies (where MOND is successful) and galaxy clusters (where MOND is not); due to the higher velocity dispersion in clusters, and correspondingly higher temperature, the DM in clusters is either in a mixture of superfluid and the normal phase or fully in the normal phase. The rich and well-studied physics of superfluidity leads to a number of observational signatures: an array of low-density vortices in galaxies; merger dynamics that depend on the infall velocity vs phonon sound speed; distinct mass peaks in bulletlike cluster mergers, corresponding to superfluid and normal components; and interference patters in supercritical mergers. Remarkably, the superfluid phonon effective theory is strikingly similar to that of the unitary Fermi gas, which has attracted much excitement in the cold atom community in recent years. The critical temperature for DM superfluidity is of order mK, comparable to known cold atom Bose–Einstein condensates. Identifying a precise cold atom analog would give important insights on the microphysical interactions underlying DM superfluidity. Tantalizingly, it might open the possibility of simulating the properties and dynamics of galaxies in laboratory experiments.

Research Organization:
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0007968
OSTI ID:
1600968
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, Vol. 92, Issue 10; ISSN 1550-7998
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 178 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Dwarf Spheroidals in MOND text January 2008
Are galaxies extending? text January 2008
Hundreds of Milky Way Satellites? Luminosity Bias in the Satellite Luminosity Function text January 2008
Hidden Charged Dark Matter text January 2009
MOND and the Galaxies text January 2009
Cores in Dwarf Galaxies from Dark Matter with a Yukawa Potential text January 2010
The globular cluster NGC 2419: a crucible for theories of gravity text January 2011
The Real Problem with MOND text January 2011
Cosmological Simulations with Self-Interacting Dark Matter II: Halo Shapes vs. Observations text January 2012
Dark Matter Substructure Detection Using Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy of Lensed Dusty Galaxies text January 2012
The Three-Dimensional Structure of the M31 Satellite System; Strong Evidence for an Inhomogeneous Distribution of Satellites text January 2013
Dwarf Galaxy Planes: the discovery of symmetric structures in the Local Group text January 2013
Andromeda Dwarfs in Light of MOND. II. Testing Prior Predictions text January 2013
Scattering properties of dark atoms and molecules text January 2013
Gravitational collapse of Bose-Einstein condensate dark matter halos text January 2014
Free Form Lensing Implications for the Collision of Dark Matter and Gas in the Frontier Fields Cluster MACSJ0416.1-2403 text January 2014
Fluid Dark Matter text January 2000
The Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation text January 2000
Limits on Collisional Dark Matter from Elliptical Galaxies in Clusters text January 2000
A New Milky Way Companion: Unusual Globular Cluster or Extreme Dwarf Satellite? text January 2004
The Distribution of Satellite Galaxies: The Great Pancake text January 2005
Large Scale Structure in Bekenstein's theory of relativistic Modified Newtonian Dynamics text January 2005
Where are the missing galactic satellites? text January 1999
Observational evidence for self-interacting cold dark matter text January 1999
General coordinate invariance and conformal invariance in nonrelativistic physics: Unitary Fermi gas text January 2005

Cited By (30)

Three-dimensional shapes of spinning helium nanodroplets text January 2018
Correlated-pair approach to composite-boson scattering lengths journal November 2016
Three-Dimensional Shapes of Spinning Helium Nanodroplets journal December 2018
Observing dynamical friction in galaxy clusters journal July 2016
Vector fuzzy dark matter, fifth forces, and binary pulsars journal October 2018
Too big to fail in light of Gaia journal September 2019
Testing the weak equivalence principle by differential measurements of fundamental constants in the Magellanic Clouds journal June 2019
Supplying dark energy from scalar field dark matter journal July 2018
A new era in the search for dark matter journal October 2018
Searching for Stochastic Background of Ultra-Light Fields with Atomic Sensors journal September 2018
Quaternion Algebra on 4D Superfluid Quantum Space-Time: Gravitomagnetism journal January 2019
The redshift-dependence of radial acceleration: Modified gravity versus particle dark matter journal October 2018
Gravitational wave as probe of superfluid dark matter journal January 2018
Radial Acceleration Relation between Baryons and Dark or Phantom Matter in the Supercritical Acceleration Regime of Nearly Spherical Galaxies journal May 2019
Dark matter superfluid and DBI dark energy journal January 2016
Dynamical friction in superfluids journal October 2019
Can light dark matter solve the core-cusp problem? journal July 2018
Recovering P ( X ) from a canonical complex field journal November 2018
Modified dark matter: Relating dark energy, dark matter and baryonic matter text January 2018
On galaxy rotation curves from a continuum mechanics approach to modified gravity journal January 2018
The rotation curve of a point particle in stringy gravity journal June 2017
Black hole hair from scalar dark matter journal June 2019
A statistical investigation of the mass discrepancy–acceleration relation journal October 2016
Black hole immersed dark matter halo journal January 2020
Testing Emergent Gravity with Optical, X-Ray, and Weak Lensing Measurements in Massive, Relaxed Galaxy Clusters journal August 2019
The rotation curve of a point particle in stringy gravity text January 2016
Correlated Pair Approach to Composite Boson Scattering Lengths text January 2016
Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter text January 2016
Can Light Dark Matter Solve the Core-Cusp Problem? text January 2018
Too Big To Fail in Light of Gaia text January 2019

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