Scaling behaviour of a scalar field model of dark matter halos

Abstract

Galactic dark matter is modelled by a scalar field. In particular, it is shown that an analytically solvable toy model with a non-linear self-interaction potential U(Phi) leads to dark halo models which have the form of quasi-isothermal spheres. We argue that these fit better the observed rotation curves of galaxies than the centrally cusped halos of standard cold dark matter. The scalar field model predicts a proportionality between the central densities of the dark halos and the inverse of their core radii. We test this prediction successfully against a set of rotation curves of low surface brightness galaxies and nearby bright galaxies.