Observational Signatures of Static and Rotating Wormholes Embedded in Dark Matter

Abstract

We study static and slowly rotating traversable wormholes embedded in two contrasting dark matter environments, the cuspy Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) halo and the cored solitonic wave dark matter ($\psi$DM) profile, using observational parameters set by the rotation curve of the dwarf galaxy NGC\,2366. For each profile, we solve the Einstein field equations in the Morris-Thorne framework to obtain the shape and redshift functions, then extend to slow rotation via the Teo metric with a Lense--Thirring frame-dragging term. Across the four resulting spacetimes and six throat radii, we trace null geodesics, compute specific intensity profiles and polar shadow maps, and construct accretion disk images including the full relativistic Doppler effect. We noticed these two profiles differ sharply in photon dynamics. The NFW potential is too shallow to support a detached photon sphere, so its critical impact parameter stays close to the throat radius. The soliton core, by contrast, is focused enough to host a genuine unstable photon orbit that raises the critical impact parameter to about $1.18$--$1.26$ times the throat radius. This difference in photon-sphere structure propagates through nearly every observable, including photon-ring sharpness, shadow size, accretion-disk appearance, and, in the rotating case, the degree of shadow asymmetry from frame dragging. The soliton shadow size also tracks the mass of the underlying ultralight boson through $\rho_c\propto m_b^{-2}$, with a transition from total capture to mainly deflecting lensing near $m_b\sim10^{-18}$\,eV, a feature absent for NFW that offers a direct probe of dark matter microphysics. These results show that wormhole photon dynamics are shaped by the dark matter profile, pointing to a possible observational route to probe the nature of dark matter.