Abstract

We use the high resolution cosmological N-body simulations from the Aquarius project to investigate in detail the mechanisms that determine the shape of Milky Way-type dark matter haloes. We find that, when measured at the instantaneous virial radius, the shape of individual haloes changes with time, evolving from a typically prolate configuration at early stages to a more triaxial/oblate geometry at the present day. This evolution in halo shape correlates well with the distribution of the infalling material: prolate configurations arise when haloes are fed through narrow filaments, which characterizes the early epochs of halo assembly, whereas triaxial/oblate configurations result as the accretion turns more isotropic at later times. Interestingly, at redshift z = 0, clear imprints of the past history of each halo are recorded in their shapes at different radii, which also exhibit a variation from prolate in the inner regions to triaxial/oblate in the outskirts. Provided that the Aquarius haloes are fair representatives of Milky Way-like 1012M☉ objects, we conclude that the shape of such dark matter haloes is a complex, time-dependent property, with each radial shell retaining memory of the conditions at the time of collapse.

Highlights

  • We use the Aquarius state of the art high resolution N -Body simulations of 5 Milky Way sized dark matter haloes, in a CDM universe

  • We use the high resolution cosmological N -body simulations from the Aquarius project to investigate in detail the mechanisms that determine the shape of Milky Way-type dark matter haloes

  • We find that, when measured at the instantaneous virial radius, the shape of individual haloes changes with time, evolving from a typically prolate configuration at early stages to a more triaxial/oblate geometry at the present day

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Summary

Introduction

We use the Aquarius state of the art high resolution N -Body simulations of 5 Milky Way sized dark matter haloes (labeled Aq-A, . . . , Aq-E), in a CDM universe. We use the high resolution cosmological N -body simulations from the Aquarius project to investigate in detail the mechanisms that determine the shape of Milky Way-type dark matter haloes.

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