Our current understanding of how dark matter (DM) is distributed within the
Milky Way (MW) halo, particularly in the solar neighborhood, is based on either
careful studies of the local stellar orbits or model assumptions on the global
shape of the MW halo. In this work, we undertake a study of external galaxies,
with the intent of providing insight to the DM distribution in MW-analog
galaxies. For this, we carefully select a sample of galaxies similar to the MW,
based on maximum atomic hydrogen (HI) rotational velocity (v=200-280 km s^{-1})
and morphological type (Sab-Sbc) criteria. With a need for deep,
highly-resolved HI, our resulting sample is composed of 5 galaxies from the
VIVA and THINGS surveys. To perform our baryonic analysis, we use deep Spitzer
mid-IR images at 3.6 and 4.5 {\mu}m from the S4G survey. Based on the dynamical
three-dimensional modeling software 3D-Barolo, we construct RCs and derive the
gas and stellar contributions from the galaxy\'s gaseous- and stellar-disks
mass surface density profiles. Through a careful decomposition of their
rotation curves into their baryonic (stars, gas) and DM components, we isolate
the DM contribution by using an MCMC-based approach. Based on the Sun\'s
location and the MW\'s R_{25}, we define the corresponding location of the
solar neighborhood in these systems. We put forward a window for the DM density
(\rho=0.21-0.46 GeV cm^{-3}) at these galactocentric distances in our MW analog
sample, consistent with the values found for the MW\'s local DM density, based
on more traditional approaches found in the literature.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Ap