We show that the observed rotation curves of spiral galaxies constrain the sound speed of the dark matter to be $c_s<10^{-4}c$, where $c$ is the speed of light in vacuum. Using the modified Chaplygin gas as a representative example of a class of unified dark energy models incorporating an effective dark matter component with a nonzero sound speed, we determine the most stringent constraint to date on the value of the constant contribution to the equation of state parameter in this class of models. Finally, we explain the reason why previous constraints using the cosmic microwave background and baryonic acoustic oscillations were not as competitive as the one presented in this paper and discuss the limitations of the recently proposed extended Chaplygin gas.

• Received 26 February 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.083508