We show that the inclusion of an axionlike effective potential in the construction of a self-gravitating system of scalar fields decreases its compactness when the value of the self-interaction coupling constant is increased. By including the current values for the axion mass m and decay constant fa, we have computed the mass and the radius for self-gravitating systems made of axion particles. It is found that such objects will have asteroid size masses and radii of a few meters, thus a self-gravitating system made of axions could play the role of scalar mini-MACHOs and mimic a cold dark matter model for the galactic halo.

Motivated by the increasing interest in models which consider scalar fields as viable dark matter candidates, we have constructed a generalization of relativistic boson btars (BS) composed of two coexisting states of the scalar field, the ground state and the first excited state. We have studied the dynamical evolution of these multistate boson stars (MSBS) under radial perturbations, using numerical techniques. We show that stable MSBS can be constructed, when the number of particles in the first excited state, N(2), is smaller than the number of particles in the ground state, N(1). On the other hand, when N(2)>N(1), the configurations are initially unstable. However, they evolve and settle down into stable configurations. In the stabilization process, the initially ground state is excited and ends in a first excited state, whereas the initially first excited state ends in a ground state. During this process, both states emit scalar field radiation, decreasing their number of particles. This behavior shows that even though BS in the first excited state are intrinsically unstable under finite perturbations, the configuration resulting from the combination of this state with the ground state produces stable objects. Finally we show in a qualitative way, that stable MSBS could be realistic models of dark matter galactic halos, as they produce rotation curves that are flatter at large radii than the rotation curves produced by BS with only one state.

We study the evolution of a massive scalar field surrounding a Schwarzschild black hole and find configurations that can survive for arbitrarily long times, provided the black hole or the scalar field mass is small enough. In particular, both ultralight scalar field dark matter around supermassive black holes and axionlike scalar fields around primordial black holes can survive for cosmological times. Moreover, these results are quite generic in the sense that fairly arbitrary initial data evolve, at late times, as a combination of those long-lived configurations.

Classical scalar fields have been proposed as possible candidates for the dark matter component of the universe. Given the fact that supermassive black holes seem to exist at the center of most galaxies, in order to be a viable candidate for the dark matter halo a scalar field configuration should be stable in the presence of a central black hole, or at least be able to survive for cosmological time scales. In the present work we consider a scalar field as a test field on a Schwarzschild background, and study under which conditions one can obtain long-lived configurations. We present a detailed study of the Klein-Gordon equation in the Schwarzschild space-time, both from an analytical and numerical point of view, and show that indeed there exist quasistationary solutions that can remain surrounding a black hole for large time scales.

The existence and detection of scalar fields could provide solutions to long-standing puzzles about the nature of dark matter, the dark compact objects at the centre of most galaxies, and other phenomena. Yet, self-interacting scalar fields are very poorly constrained by astronomical observations, leading to great uncertainties in estimates of the mass $m_\phi$ and the self-interacting coupling constant $\lambda$ of these fields. To counter this, we have systematically employed available astronomical observations to develop new constraints, considerably restricting this parameter space. In particular, by exploiting precise observations of stellar dynamics at the centre of our Galaxy and assuming that these dynamics can be explained by a single boson star, we determine an upper limit for the boson star compactness and impose significant limits on the values of the properties of possible scalar fields. Requiring the scalar field particle to follow a collisional dark matter model further narrows these constraints. Most importantly, we find that if a scalar dark matter particle does exist, then it cannot account for both the dark-matter halos and the existence of dark compact objects in galactic nuclei