The rotation curve of the Milky Way: State of the art, the Keplerian decline debate, and implications for dark matter

Melchiorri, Alessandro; Ruchika

doi:10.1016/j.newar.2026.101758

The rotation curve of the Milky Way: State of the art, the Keplerian decline debate, and implications for dark matter

For four decades, the roughly flat rotation curve (RC) of the Milky Way (MW) stood as local evidence for an extended dark matter (DM) halo. \textit{Gaia} DR3 has changed the picture: several analyses now find a velocity decline beyond R \approx 15\kpc, and the most radical interpretation \citep{j…