Principal properties of the velocity distribution of dark matter particles on the outskirts of the Solar system

Abstract

Abstract The velocity distribution of the dark matter particles on the outskirts of the Solar system remains unclear. We suggest to determine it using experimentally found properties of the oldest halo objects. Indeed, the oldest halo stars and globular clusters form a collisionless system, as well as dark matter particles do, and they evolved in the same gravitational field. If we accept this analogy, we can show that the velocity distribution of the dark matter particles should be highly anisotropic and have a sharp maximum near υ∼ 500 km s−1. The distribution is totally different from the Maxwell one. We analyse the influence of the distribution function on the results of dark matter detection experiments. It is found that the direct detection signal should differ noticeably from the one calculated from the Maxwell distribution with 〈υ〉≃ 220 km s−1, which is conventional for direct detection experiments (the ratio depends on the detector properties and typically falls within the range between 6 and 0.2). Moreover, the sharp distinction from the Maxwell distribution can be very essential to the observations of dark matter annihilation.