The dark matter profile of the Milky Way: a non-parametric
  reconstruction
  We present the results of a new, non-parametric method to reconstruct the
Galactic dark matter profile directly from observations. Using the latest
kinematic data to track the total gravitational potential and the observed
distribution of stars and gas to set the baryonic component, we infer the dark
matter contribution to the circular velocity across the Galaxy. The radial
derivative of this dynamical contribution is then estimated to extract the dark
matter profile. The innovative feature of our approach is that it makes no
assumption on the functional form nor shape of the profile, thus allowing for a
clean determination with no theoretical bias. We illustrate the power of the
method by constraining the spherical dark matter profile between 2.5 and 25 kpc
away from the Galactic centre. The results show that the proposed method, free
of widely used assumptions, can already be applied to pinpoint the dark matter
distribution in the Milky Way with competitive accuracy, and paves the way for
future developments.
