Dark Matter Haloes and Rotation Curves via Brans-Dicke Theory

Abstract

In the present work, the Brans-Dicke (BD) theory of gravity is taken as a possible theory of k-essence. Then starting with the (already known) Brans-Dicke-Schwarzschild solution which can represent the gravitationally bound static configurations of the BD scalar k-essence, issues like whether these configurations can reproduce the observed properties of galactic dark matter haloes have been addressed. It has been realized that indeed the BD scalar k-essence can cluster into dark matter halo-like objects with flattened rotation curves while exhibiting a dark energy-like negative pressure on larger scales.