Gravitational Stability of Vortices in Bose-Einstein Condensate Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper explores the stability and properties of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensate dark matter halos, analyzing their gravitational effects and implications for galactic structures.

Contribution

It introduces a model for galactic halos with superfluid dark matter containing quantized vortices, analyzing their gravitational interactions and parameter constraints.

Findings

Vortices can form stable structures within BEC dark matter halos.

Gravitational interactions of vortices influence halo density profiles.

Bounds on particle mass and vortex parameters are established.

Abstract

We investigate a simple model for a galactic halo under the assumption that it is dominated by a dark matter component in the form of a Bose-Einstein condensate involving an ultra-light scalar particle. In particular we discuss the possibility if the dark matter is in superfluid state then a rotating galactic halo might contain quantised vortices which would be low-energy analogues of cosmic strings. Using known solutions for the density profiles of such vortices we compute the self-gravitational interactions in such halos and place bounds on the parameters describing such models, such as the mass of the particles involved.