Dark Baryons in Galactic Halos

Abstract

As is well known, most of the baryons are observationally unaccounted. Moreover, certain recent developments suggest that dark baryons are mostly locked up in galactic halos - which are anyway dominated by nonbaryonic dark matter - and a sizable fraction of them consists of gas clouds. While a priori various forms of baryonic dark matter in galaxies can be conceived, observational constraints rule out most of the possibilities, leaving brown dwarfs and cold gas clouds mostly made of H_2 as the only viable candidates. So, it looks natural to suppose that baryonic dark matter in galaxies is accounted for by dark clusters made of brown dwarfs and cold H_2 clouds. We discuss a realistic dark cluster formation mechanism. We also discuss various ramifications of the dark cluster scenario in question, paying particular attention to its observational implications.

Latex, 38 pages