Abstract
The decaying dark matter (DM) cosmology1–3 attempts to reconcile the theoretical prejudice that the total energy density of the Universe, Ω=1 with the observations that the matter clustered on scales up to a few megaparsecs amounts only to4,5 Ωcl=0.1–0.3. Decaying DM postulates that a heavy-elementary-particle species X first drives the formation of galaxies and clusters, and then decays nonradiatively, providing a smooth, undetected background of relativistic particles that at present contribute Ωr to the total energy density of the Universe, Ω. We consider here the effects of decaying DM on the radial distribution of mass in spiral galaxies, assumed to have formed through dissipative collapse inside a gravitationally induced protogalaxy consisting initially of a homogeneous mixture of dissipationless DM and a small fraction of dissipative baryonic material6. The baryonic inner parts of galaxies are self gravitating, but mass loss from X decay causes the rotation velocity in the outer parts to decrease. We find that the observed flat rotation curves cannot be obtained in these decaying DM models. Thus, a relativistic, weakly interacting decay product cannot be dominant.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Turner, M. S., Steigman, G. & Krauss, L. Phys. Rev. Lett. 52, 2090–2093 (1984).
Gelmini, G., Schramm, D. & Valle, J. Phys. Lett. B146, 311–317 (1984).
Turner, M. S. Phys. Rev. D31, 1212–1224 (1985).
Blumenthal, G., Faber, S., Primack, J. & Rees, M. Nature 311, 517–525 (1984).
Peebles, P. J. E. Nature 321, 27–32 (1986).
Blumenthal, G., Faber, S., Flores, R. A. & Primack, J. Astrophys. J. 301, 27–34 (1986); UCSC Preprint (1986).
Olive, K., Seckel, D. & Vishniac, E. Astrophys. J. 292, 1–11 (1985).
Silk, J. & Vittorio, N. Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 2269–2272 (1985).
Turner, M. S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 549 (1985).
Kolb, E. W., Olive, K. & Vittorio, N. Preprint, Fermilab-PUB-86/40-A (1986).
Efstathiou, G. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 213, 29P–34P (1985).
Dekel, A. & Piran, T. Preprint, Weizmann Institute (1986).
Davis, M. & Villumsen, J. V. Preprint, Univ. of California, Berkeley (1985).
Hoffman, Y. Preprint UPR-0291-T, Univ. of Pennsylvania (1986).
Efstathiou, G. & Jones, B.J.T. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 186, 133–144 (1979).
Fall, S. M. & Efstathiou, G. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 193, 189–206 (1980).
Aarseth, S. J. in Multiple Time Scales (eds Brackbill, J. U. & Cohen, B. I.) 377–418 (Academic, New York, 1985).
Burstein, D. & Rubin, V. C. Astrophys. J. 297, 423–435 (1985).
Bosma, A. Astr. J. 86, 1791–1824 (1981); 86, 1825–1846 (1981).
van Albada, T. S., Bahcall, J. N., Begman, K. & Sanscisi, R. Astrophys. J. 295, 305–313 (1985).
Carignan, C. Astrophys. J. 299, 59–73 (1985).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Flores, R., Blumenthal, G., Dekel, A. et al. Is the Universe dominated by relativistic particles?. Nature 323, 781–784 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/323781a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/323781a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
