A possible challenge for cold and warm dark matter

Vegetti, Simona; White, Simon D. M.; McKean, John P.; Powell, Devon; Spingola, Cristiana; Massari, D.; Despali, Giulia; Fassnacht, C. D.

doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02746-w

articleNature AstronomyJan 5, 2026HYBRID OA

A possible challenge for cold and warm dark matter

SVSimona Vegetti SDSimon D. M. White JPJohn P. McKean DPDevon Powell CSCristiana Spingola

Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics · University of Groningen · +8 more institutions

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Abstract

Abstract Measuring the density profile and mass concentration of dark-matter haloes is a key test of the standard cold dark matter paradigm. Such objects are dark and thus challenging to characterize, but they can be studied via gravitational lensing. Recently, a million-solar-mass object was discovered superposed on an extended and extremely thin gravitational arc. Here we report on extensive tests of various assumptions for the mass density profile and redshift of this object. We find that models that best describe the data have two components: an unresolved point mass of radius ≤10 pc centred on an extended mass distribution with an almost constant surface density out to a truncation radius of 139 pc. These…

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Topics & keywords

Topics

Keywords

Dark matter
Cold dark matter
Dark matter halo
Halo
Mass distribution
RADIUS
Dark fluid
Scalar field dark matter

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