Limits on the local dark matter density

Abstract

We study the systematic problems in determining the local dark matter density ρdm(R☉) from kinematics of stars in the Solar Neighbourhood, using a simulated Milky Way-like galaxy. We introduce a new unbiased method for recovering ρdm(R☉) based on the moments of the Jeans equations, combined with a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) technique and apply it to real data [1].