Dissipative dark matter explains rotation curves

Understand

Dissipative dark matter, where dark matter particles interact with a massless (or very light) boson, is studied.

• Such dark matter can arise in simple hidden sector gauge models, including those featuring an unbroken $U(1)'$ gauge symmetry, leading to a dark photon.
• Previous work has shown that such models can not only explain the LSS and CMB, but potentially also dark matter phenomena on small scales, such as the inferred cored structure of dark matter halos.
• In this picture, dark matter halos of disk galaxies not only cool via dissipative interactions but are also heated via ordinary supernovae (facilitated by an assumed photon - dark photon kinetic mixing interaction).