2002MNRAS.336..151S

A Bayesian likelihood analysis of the stellar density profile shapes of several dark matter dominated Galactic dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) has been completed. This analysis indicates that the inner power law, ρ∝r ^–γ, of each of these profiles satisfies γ < 1.21 at greater than 99 per cent confidence, with a slight preference for γ∼ 0.7. Speculating that this bound on the stellar profiles may be related to the inner power law of the underlying dark matter distribution reveals a statistical discrepancy with the values favoured by recent N -body simulations of cold dark matter (CDM), γ_CDM∼ 1.4 - 1.5.