Determination of the local dark matter density using K-dwarfs from Gaia DR2

Abstract

Local dark matter density, ρdm, is one of the crucial astrophysical inputs for the estimation of detection rates in dark matter direct search experi- ments. Knowing the value also helps us to investigate the shape of the Galactic dark halo, which is of importance for indirect dark matter searches, as well as for various studies in astrophysics and cosmology. In this work, we performed kinematics study of stars in the solar neighborhood to determine the local dark matter density. As tracers we used 95,543 K-dwarfs from Gaia DR2 inside a heliocentric cylinder with a radius of 150 pc and height 200 pc above and below the Galactic mid plane. Their positions and motions were analyzed, assum- ing that the Galaxy is axisymmetric and the tracers are in dynamical equilib- rium. We applied Jeans and Poisson equations to relate the observed quantities, i.e. vertical position and velocity, with the local dark matter density. The tilt term in the Jeans equation is considered to be small and is therefore neglected. Galactic disk is modelled to consist of a single exponential stellar disk, a thin gas layer, and dark matter whose density is constant within the volume consid- ered. Marginalization for the free parameters was performed with Bayesian theorem using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. We find that ρdm = 0.0116 ± 0.0012 MO/pc or ρdm = 0.439 ± 0.046 GeV/cm3, in agreement within the range of uncertainty with results of several previous studies.