No evidence of dark matter in the solar neighborhood

TL;DR

This study measures the mass density near the Sun and finds no evidence of dark matter in that region, challenging existing dark matter models unless assuming an unlikely halo shape.

Contribution

It provides direct kinematic measurements showing the absence of dark matter in the solar neighborhood, contradicting standard dark matter halo models.

Findings

No dark matter detected in the solar neighborhood

Current dark matter halo models are statistically excluded

Results suggest a need to revise dark matter distribution models

Abstract

We measured the surface mass density of the Galactic disk at the solar position, up to 4 kpc from the plane,by means of the kinematics of ~400 thick disk stars. The results match the expectations for the visible mass only, and no dark matter is detected in the volume under analysis. The current models of dark matter halo are excluded with a significance higher than 5sigma, unless a highly prolate halo is assumed, very atypical in cold dark matter simulations. The resulting lack of dark matter at the solar position challenges the current models.