Halo dark clusters of brown dwarfs and molecular clouds

De Paolis, F.; Ingrosso, G.; Jetzer, Ph.; Roncadelli, M.

Halo dark clusters of brown dwarfs and molecular clouds

Authors

Description

The observations of microlensing events in the Large Magellanic Cloud suggest that a sizable fraction (\sim 50%) of the galactic halo is in the form of MACHOs (Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects) with an average mass $\sim 0.27 M_{\odot}$, assuming a standard spherical halo model. We describe a scenario in which dark clusters of MACHOs and cold molecular clouds (mainly of H_2) naturally form in the halo at galactocentric distances larger than 10-20 kpc.
to appear in the proceedings of the 18th Texas Symposium