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Scalar field dark matter

In astrophysics and cosmology scalar field dark matter is a classical, minimally coupled, real scalar field
postulated to account for the inferred dark matter.

Background
The universe may be accelerating, fueled perhaps by a cosmological constant or some other field
possessing long range repulsive effects. A model must predict the correct form for the large
scale clustering spectrum,
[3]
account for cosmic microwave background anisotropies on large and
intermediate angular scales, and provide agreement with the luminosity distance relation
obtained from observations of high redshift supernovae. The modeled evolution of the universe
includes a large amount of unknown matter in order to agree with such observations. This matter
has two components cold dark matter and dark energy. Each contributes to the theory of the
origination of galaxies and the expansion of the universe. The universe must have a critical
density, a density not explained by baryonic matter (ordinary matter) alone.

Pie chart showing the fractions of energy in the universe contributed by different sources. Ordinary
matter is divided into luminous matter (the stars and luminous gases and 0.005% radiation) and
nonluminous matter (intergalactic gas and about 0.1% neutrinos and 0.04% supermassive black holes).
Ordinary matter is uncommon. Modeled after Ostriker and Steinhardt.

Scalar field
The dark matter can be modeled as a scalar field using two fitted parameters. In this picture the
dark matter consists of an ultralight particle with a mass of 1.1 10
23
eV
[4][5]

The uncertainty in position of a particle is larger than its Compton wavelength, and for some
reasonable estimates of particle mass and density of dark matter there is no point talking about
the individual particle's position and momentum. The dark matter is more like a wave than a
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particle, and the galactic halos are giant systems of condensed bose liquid. The dark matter can
be described as a BoseEinstein condensate of the ultralight quanta of the field
[6]
and as boson
stars.
[7]
The enormous Compton wavelength of these particles prevents structure formation on
small subgalactic scales, which is a major problem in traditional cold dark matter models.