The Local Halo Density

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Abstract
For almost 20 years models of the Galaxy have included a dark halo responsible for supporting a substantial fraction of the local rotation velocity and a flat rotation curve at large distances. Estimates of the local halo density range from 2 × 10-25 g cm-3 to 10 × 10-25 g cm-3. By careful modeling of the Galaxy, taking account of the evidence that dark halos are flattened and recent microlensing data, we arrive at a more quantitative estimate, 9.2+ 3.8−3.1 × 10-25 g cm-3. Microlensing toward the LMC indicates that only a small fraction, less than ~30%, can be in the form of MACHOs, which is consistent with the idea that most of the halo consists of cold dark matter particles.