Can the rotation of the dark matter halo of our galaxy be detected through its effect on the cosmic microwave background polarisation?

Partha Nag; Somnath Bharadwaj; Sayan Kar

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Can the rotation of the dark matter halo of our galaxy be detected through its effect on the cosmic microwave background polarisation?

Partha Nag·Somnath Bharadwaj·Sayan Kar

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Abstract

The proposition that dark matter halos possess angular momentum, though widely accepted, is a theoretical prediction which has, till date, not been observationally verified. The gravi-magnetic field produced by a rotating gravitating object is possibly the only direct consequence of the angular momentum of dark matter halos. The gravitational Faraday rotation produced by the dark matter halo of our galaxy is present in all astronomical observations. A detection of the imprint of this effect on the all-sky cosmic microwave background radiation polarisation pattern would directly probe the angular momentum of the dark matter halo of our Galaxy. We have calculated the expected gravitational Faraday rotation which turns out to be a $(v_c/c)^3$ effect, $v_c$ being the rotational speed of our halo. The predicted gravitational Faraday effect rotation angles are less than $1^{''}$, implying that this effect, though present, is too small to be detected.

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Partha Nag, Somnath Bharadwaj, Sayan Kar. 2005-06-03. Can the rotation of the dark matter halo of our galaxy be detected through its effect on the cosmic microwave background polarisation?. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0506009

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