Testing Bose-Einstein Condensate dark matter models with the SPARC galactic rotation curves data

TL;DR

This study tests Bose-Einstein Condensate dark matter models against galactic rotation curves from the SPARC dataset, finding that BEC models fit the data well and may address the core/cusp problem.

Contribution

It introduces a method to fit BEC dark matter models to galaxy rotation curves using genetic algorithms, providing parameter estimates and density profiles.

Findings

BEC models fit the SPARC data well

Estimated astrophysical parameters of BEC halos

Potential solution to the core/cusp problem

Abstract

The nature of one of the fundamental components of the Universe, the dark matter, is still unknown. One interesting possibility is that dark matter could exist in the form of a self-interacting Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). The fundamental properties of the dark matter in this model are determined by two parameters only, the mass and the scattering length of the particle. In the present study we investigate the properties of the galactic rotation curves in the BEC dark matter model, with quadratic self-interaction, by using 173 galaxies from the recently published Spitzer Photomery \& Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) data. We fit the theoretical predictions of the rotation curves in the slowly rotating BEC models with the SPARC data by using genetic algorithms. We provide an extensive set of figures of the rotation curves, and we obtain estimates of the relevant astrophysical parameters of the BEC dark matter halos (central density, angular velocity and static radius). The density profiles of the dark matter distribution are also obtained. It turns out that the BEC model gives a good description of the SPARC data. The presence of the condensate dark matter could also provide a solution for the core/cusp problem.