Dark Matter Accretion Research Articles

NOEMA formIng Cluster survEy (NICE): Characterizing eight massive galaxy groups at 1.5 < z < 4 in the COSMOS field

The NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) formIng Cluster survEy (NICE) is a NOEMA large programme targeting 69 massive galaxy group candidates at z > 2 over six deep fields with a total area of 46 deg2. Here we report the spectroscopic confirmation of eight massive galaxy groups at redshifts 1.65 ≤ z ≤ 3.61 in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field. Homogeneously selected as significant overdensities of red IRAC sources that have red Herschel colours, four groups in this sample are confirmed by CO and [CI] line detections of multiple sources with NOEMA 3 mm observations, three are confirmed with Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations, and one is confirmed by Hα emission from Subaru/FMOS spectroscopy. Using rich ancillary data in the far-infrared and sub-millimetre, we constructed the integrated far-infrared spectral energy distributions for the eight groups, obtaining a total infrared star formation rate (SFR) of 260–1300 M⊙ yr−1. We adopted six methods for estimating the dark matter masses of the eight groups, including stellar mass to halo mass relations, overdensity with galaxy bias, and NFW profile fitting to radial stellar mass densities. We find that the radial stellar mass densities of the eight groups are consistent with a NFW profile, supporting the idea that they are collapsed structures hosted by a single dark matter halo. The best halo mass estimates are log(Mh/M⊙) = 12.8 − 13.7 with a general uncertainty of 0.3 dex. Based on the halo mass estimates, we derived baryonic accretion rates (BARs) of (1 − 8)×103 M⊙/yr for this sample. Together with massive groups in the literature, we find a quasi-linear correlation between the integrated SFR/BAR ratio and the theoretical halo mass limit for cold streams, Mstream/Mh, with SFR/BAR = 10−0.46 ± 0.22(Mstream/Mh)0.71 ± 0.16 with a scatter of 0.40 dex. Furthermore, we compared the halo masses and the stellar masses with simulations, and find that the halo masses of all structures are consistent with those of progenitors of Mh(z = 0) > 1014 M⊙ galaxy clusters, and that the most massive central galaxies have stellar masses consistent with those of the brightest cluster galaxy progenitors in the TNG300 simulation. Above all, the results strongly suggest that these massive structures are in the process of forming massive galaxy clusters via baryonic and dark matter accretion.

New insights on the dynamics of satellite galaxies: Effects of the figure rotation of a host galaxy

Abstract We investigate a mechanism to form and keep a planar spatial distribution of satellite galaxies in the Milky Way (MW), which is called the satellite plane. It has been pointed out that the ΛCDM cosmological model hardly explains the existence of such a satellite plane, so it is regarded as one of the serious problems in the current cosmology. We here focus on a rotation of the gravitational potential of a host galaxy, i.e., a so-called figure rotation, following the previous suggestion that this effect can induce the tilt of a so-called tube orbit. Our calculation shows that a figure rotation of a triaxial potential forms a stable orbital plane perpendicular to the rotational axis of the potential. Thus, it is suggested that the MW’s dark halo is rotating with its axis being around the normal line of the satellite plane. Additionally, we find that a small velocity dispersion of satellites is required to keep the flatness of the planar structure, namely the standard derivation of their velocities perpendicular to the satellite plane needs to be smaller than their mean rotational velocity on the plane. Although not all the MW’s satellites satisfy this condition, a fraction of them, called member satellites, which are prominently on the plane, do satisfy it. We suggest that this picture explaining the observed satellite plane can be achieved by the filamentary accretion of dark matter associated with the formation of the MW and a group infall of member satellites along this cosmic filament.

Formation of Massive Black Holes with M = (103–108) M ⊙ at Pre-quasar Epochs through Hoyle–Lyttleton–Bondi Accretion of Self-interacting Dark Matter onto a Moving Seed

The presence of supermassive black holes with M ∼ 109 M ⊙ hosted by the luminous quasars at cosmological redshift z ≥ 6 is still an open problem in astrophysical cosmology. Here we study the formation of massive black holes at high redshift (z ≫ 7) through Hoyle–Lyttleton–Bondi accretion of self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) onto a 20 M ⊙ seed black hole moving with a velocity ∼100 km s−1 inside the short, mean-free path region of an SIDM halo. We consider observational constraints on a specific SIDM cross section, σ/m dm = (0.1–5) cm2 g−1. Formation timescale of massive black holes with M = (103–108) M ⊙ is calculated for the universal Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) profile, singular isothermal sphere (SIS), other power-law profiles with a cusp index 2.19 ≤ γ ≤ 2.5 of accreted dark matter, and modified-core isothermal profiles. The ambient sound speed is taken as C s = (10–100) km s−1. It is found that an NFW profile with halo concentration C = 4.75–32.58 estimated at z = 20 and 30 for halo masses M 200 = (1012–1014) M ⊙ favors formation of massive black holes with M = (103–108) M ⊙ at high redshift, well before quasar epoch. In this profile, these black holes grow within timescales (0.1–69) Myr at z = 16–20. For the SIS profile, the black hole formation timescales are short compared to NFW. For power-law profiles, massive black holes with M = (106–108) M ⊙ grow within a few tens to 100 Myr (z = 5–30). For modified-core isothermal profiles, the timescale of massive black hole formation is in the range (0.79–464.08) Myr (z = 8–30).

Multi-stream radial structure of cold dark matter haloes from particle trajectories: deep inside splashback radius

Abstract By tracking trajectories of dark matter (DM) particles accreting onto haloes in cosmological N-body simulations, we investigate the radial phase-space distribution of cold dark matter (CDM) haloes, paying attention to their inner regions deep inside the halo boundary called the splashback radius, where the particles undergo multi-stream flows. Improving the analysis by Sugiura et al., we classify DM particles by the number of apocenter passages, p, and count it up to p = 40 for each halo over a wide mass range. Quantifying the radial density profile for particles having the same value of p, we find that it generally exhibits a double-power law feature, whose indices of inner and outer slopes are well-described by −1 and −8, respectively. Its characteristic scale and density are given as a simple fitting function of p, with a weak halo mass dependence. Interestingly, summing up these double-power law profiles beyond p = 40 reproduces well the total density profile of simulated haloes. The double-power law nature is persistent and generic not only in mass-selected haloes but also in haloes selected in different criteria. Our results are compared with self-similar solutions that describe the stationary and spherical accretion of DM. We find that even when introducing a non-zero angular momentum, none of them explain the radial multi-stream structure. The analysis with particle trajectories tracing back to higher redshifts suggests that the double-power law nature has been established during an early accretion phase and remains stable.

The three hundred project: thermodynamical properties, shocks, and gas dynamics in simulated galaxy cluster filaments and their surroundings

ABSTRACT Using cosmological simulations of galaxy cluster regions from The Three Hundred project, we study the nature of gas in filaments feeding massive clusters. By stacking the diffuse material of filaments throughout the cluster sample, we measure average gas properties such as density, temperature, pressure, entropy and Mach number and construct one-dimensional profiles for a sample of larger, radially oriented filaments to determine their characteristic features as cosmological objects. Despite the similarity in velocity space between the gas and dark matter accretion patterns on to filaments and their central clusters, we confirm some differences, especially concerning the more ordered radial velocity dispersion of dark matter around the cluster and the larger accretion velocity of gas relative to dark matter in filaments. We also study the distribution of shocked gas around filaments and galaxy clusters, showing that the surrounding shocks allow an efficient internal transport of material, suggesting a laminar infall. The stacked temperature profile of filaments is typically colder towards the spine, in line with the cosmological rarefaction of matter. Therefore, filaments are able to isolate their inner regions, maintaining lower gas temperatures and entropy. Finally, we study the evolution of the gas density–temperature phase diagram of our stacked filament, showing that filamentary gas does not behave fully adiabatically through time but it is subject to shocks during its evolution, establishing a characteristic z = 0, entropy-enhanced distribution at intermediate distances from the spine of about $1{-}2\, h^{-1}\,$ Mpc for a typical galaxy cluster in our sample.

Accretion of self-interacting scalar field dark matter onto a Reissner-Nordström black hole

Accretion of self-interacting scalar field dark matter onto a Reissner-Nordström black hole

Shaping the unseen: the influence of baryons and environment on low-mass, high-redshift dark matter haloes in the SIEGE simulations

ABSTRACT We use zoom-in, hydrodynamical, cosmological N-body simulations tracing the formation of the first stellar clumps from the SImulating the Environments where Globular clusters Emerged project, to study key structural properties of dark matter haloes when the Universe was only $0.92\, {\rm Gyr}$ old. The very high resolution (maximum physical resolution $0.3\, {h}^{-1}\, {\rm pc}$ at z = 6.14, smallest dark matter particle mass $164\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$) allows us to reach the very low mass end of the stellar-to-halo mass relation ($M_{\rm vir}=10^{7.5{\!-\!}9.5}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$) to study the processes that mould dark matter haloes during the first stages of structure formation. We investigate the role of baryonic cooling and stellar feedback, modelled from individual stars, in shaping haloes, and of environmental effects as accretion of dark matter along cosmic filaments and mergers. We find that the onset of star formation (typically for $\log M_{\rm vir}/\, {\rm M}_{\odot }\simeq 7.6$) causes the inner cusp in the haloes’ density profile to flatten into a core with constant density and size proportionally to the halo virial mass. Even at these mass scales, we confirm that baryons make haloes that have formed stars rounder in the central regions than haloes that have not formed stars yet, with median minor-to-major 〈q〉 and intermediate-to-major 〈s〉 axes 0.66 and 0.84, respectively. Our morphological analysis shows that, at z = 6.14, haloes are largely prolate in the outer parts, with the major axis aligned along filaments of the cosmic web or towards smaller sub-haloes, with the degree of elongation having no significant dependence on the halo mass.

A dark matter probe in accreting pulsar-black hole binaries

The accretion of dark matter (DM) into astrophysical black holes slowly increases their mass. The rate of this mass accretion depends on the DM model and the model parameters. If this mass accretion effect can be measured accurately enough, it is possible to rule out some DM models, and, with the sufficient technology and the help of other DM constraints, possibly confirm one model. We propose a DM probe based on accreting pulsar-black hole binaries, which provide a high-precision measurement on binary orbital phase shifts induced by DM accretion into black holes, and can help rule out DM models and study the nature of DM.

Improved treatment of dark matter capture in compact stars

Compact stellar objects are promising cosmic laboratories to test the nature of dark matter (DM). DM captured by the strong gravitational field of these stellar remnants transfers kinetic energy to the star during the collision. This can have various effects such as anomalous heating of old compact stars. The proper calculation of the DM capture rate is key to derive bounds on DM interactions in any scenario involving DM accretion in a star. We improve former calculations, which rely on approximations, for both white dwarfs (WDs) and neutron stars (NSs). We account for the stellar structure, gravitational focusing, relativistic kinematics, Pauli blocking, realistic form factors, and strong interactions (NSs). Considering DM capture by scattering off either ions or degenerate electrons in WDs, we show that old WDs in DM-rich environments could probe the elusive sub-GeV mass regime for both DM-nucleon and DM-electron scattering. In NSs, DM can be captured via collisions with strongly interacting baryons or relativistic leptons. We project the NS sensitivity to DM-nucleon and DM-lepton scattering cross sections which greatly exceeds that of direct detection experiments, especially for low mass DM.

Black hole superradiance with dark matter accretion

Studies of black hole superradiance often focus on the growth of a cloud in isolation, accompanied by the spin-down of the black hole. In this paper, we consider the additional effect of the accretion of matter and angular momentum from the environment. We show that, in many cases, the black hole evolves by drifting along the superradiance threshold, in which case the evolution of its parameters can be described analytically or semi-analytically. We quantify the conditions under which accretion can serve as a mechanism to increase the cloud-to-black hole mass ratio, beyond the standard maximum of about 10%. This occurs by a process we call over-superradiance, whereby accretion effectively feeds the superradiance cloud, by way of the black hole. We give two explicit examples: accretion from a vortex expected in wave dark matter and accretion from a baryonic disk. In the former case, we estimate the accretion rate by using an analytical fit to the asymptotic behavior of the confluent Heun function. Level transition, whereby one cloud level grows while the other shrinks, can be understood in a similar way.

Gravitational microlensing by dressed primordial black holes

The accretion of dark matter around the primordial black holes (PBHs) could lead to the formation of surrounding minihalos, whose mass can be several orders of magnitude higher than the central PBH mass. The gravitational microlensing produced by such dressed PBHs could be quite different from that of the bare PBHs, which may significantly affect the constraints on the PBH abundance. In this paper, we study the gravitational microlensing produced by dressed PBHs in detail. We find that all the microlensing effects by dressed PBHs have asymptotic behavior depending on the minihalo size, which can be used to predict the microlensing effects by comparing the halo size with the Einstein radius. When the minihalo radius and the Einstein radius are comparable, the effect of the density distribution of the halo is significant to the microlensing. Applying the stellar microlensing by dressed PBHs to the data of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment and Subaru/HSC Andromeda observations, we obtain the improved constraints on the PBH abundance. It shows that the existence of dark matter minihalos surrounding PBHs can strengthen the constraints on the PBH abundance from stellar microlensing by several orders, and can shift the constraints to the well-known asteroid mass window where PBHs can constitute all the dark matter.

Effect of stars on the dark matter spike around a black hole: A tale of two treatments

We revisit the role that gravitational scattering off stars plays in establishing the steady-state distribution of collisionless dark matter (DM) around a massive black hole (BH). This is a physically interesting problem that has potentially observable signatures, such as $\ensuremath{\gamma}$ rays from DM annihilation in a density spike. The system serves as a laboratory for comparing two different dynamical approaches, both of which have been widely used: a Fokker-Planck treatment and a two-component conduction fluid treatment. In our Fokker-Planck analysis we extend a previous analytic model to account for a nonzero flux of DM particles into the BH, as well as a cutoff in the distribution function near the BH due to relativistic effects or, further out, possible DM annihilation. In our two-fluid analysis, following an approximate analytic treatment, we recast the equations as a ``heated Bondi accretion'' problem and solve the equations numerically without approximation. While both the Fokker-Planck and two-fluid methods yield basically the same DM density and velocity dispersion profiles away from the boundaries in the spike interior, there are other differences, especially the determination of the DM accretion rate. We discuss limitations of the two treatments, including the assumption of an isotropic velocity dispersion.

Impact of ultralight bosonic dark matter on the dynamical bar-mode instability of rotating neutron stars

We investigate the effects ultralight bosonic field dark matter may have on the dynamics of unstable differentially rotating neutron stars prone to the bar-mode instability. To this aim we perform numerical simulations in general relativity of rotating neutron stars accreting an initial spherically symmetric bosonic field cloud, solving the Einstein-(complex, massive) Klein-Gordon-Euler and the Einstein-(complex) Proca-Euler systems. We find that the presence of the bosonic field can critically modify the development of the bar-mode instability of neutron stars, depending on the total mass of the bosonic field and on the boson particle mass. In some cases, the accreting bosonic field can even quench the dominant $\ensuremath{\ell}=m=2$ mode of the bar-deformation by dynamically forming a mixed (fermion-boson) star that retains part of the angular momentum of the original neutron star. However, the mixed star undergoes the development of a mixed bar that leads to significant gravitational-wave emission, substantially different to that of the isolated neutron star. Our results indicate that dark-matter accretion in neutron stars could change the frequency of the expected emission of the bar-mode instability, which would have an important impact on ongoing searches for continuous gravitational waves.

Self-interacting dark scalar spikes around black holes via relativistic Bondi accretion

We consider the spike mass density profile in a dark halo by self-consistently solving the relativistic Bondi accretion of dark matter onto a non-spining black hole of mass M. We assume that the dominant component of the dark matter in the halo is a Standard model gauge-singlet scalar. Its mass m ≃ 10-5 eV and quartic self-coupling λ ≲ 1019 are constrained to be compatible with the properties of galactic dark halos. In the hydrodynamic limit, we find that the accretion rate is bounded from below, M min = 96πG 2 M 2 m 4/λħ 3. Therefore, for M = 106 M⊙ we have M min ≃ 1.41 × 10-9 M ⊙ yr-1, which is subdominant compared to the Eddington accretion of baryons. The spike density profile ρ 0(r) within the self-gravitating regime cannot be fitted well by a single-power law but a double-power one. Despite that, we can fit ρ 0(r) piecewise and find that ρ 0(r) ∝ r -1.20 near the sound horizon, ρ 0(r) ∝ r -1.00 towards the Bondi radius and ρ 0(r) ∝ r -1.08 for the region in between. This contrasts with more cuspy ρ 0(r) ∝ r -1.75 for dark matter with Coulomb-like self-interaction.

Ultralight bosonic dark matter in white dwarfs and potential observational consequences

Fluid and ultralight bosonic dark matter can interact through gravity to form stable fermion-boson stars, which are static and regular mixed solutions of the Einstein-Euler-(complex, massive) Klein-Gordon system. In this work we study the dynamical formation via gravitational cooling of a spherical mixed white-dwarf--boson star, whose properties depend on the boson particle mass and the mass of the boson star. Due to the accretion of bosonic dark matter, the white dwarf migrates to a denser and more compact object with a boson star core, thus modifying its gravitational redshift and altering the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the photosphere. We discuss the implications of the changes in the gravitational redshift that in principle could be produced by any type of dark matter and that might lead to small discrepancies in the estimation of masses and radii derived from white dwarf observations.

Primordial black hole formation with full numerical relativity

We study the formation of black holes from subhorizon and superhorizon perturbations in a matter dominated universe with 3+1D numerical relativity simulations. We find that there are two primary mechanisms of formation depending on the initial perturbation's mass and geometry — via direct collapse of the initial overdensity and via post-collapse accretion of the ambient dark matter. In particular, for the latter case, the initial perturbation does not have to satisfy the hoop conjecture for a black hole to form. In both cases, the duration of the formation the process is around a Hubble time, and the initial mass of the black hole is M BH ∼ 10-2 H -1 M Pl 2. Post formation, we find that the PBH undergoes rapid mass growth beyond the self-similar limit M BH α H -1, at least initially. We argue that this implies that most of the final mass of the PBH is accreted from its ambient surroundings post formation.

GOLDRUSH. IV. Luminosity Functions and Clustering Revealed with ∼4,000,000 Galaxies at z ∼ 2–7: Galaxy–AGN Transition, Star Formation Efficiency, and Implication for Evolution at z > 10

Abstract We present new measurements of rest-UV luminosity functions and angular correlation functions from 4,100,221 galaxies at z ∼ 2–7 identified in the Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam survey and CFHT Large Area U-band Survey. The obtained luminosity functions at z ∼ 4–7 cover a very wide UV luminosity range of ∼ 0.002 – 2000 L UV * combined with previous studies, confirming that the dropout luminosity function is a superposition of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) luminosity function dominant at M UV ≲ −24 mag and the galaxy luminosity function dominant at M UV ≳ −22 mag, consistent with galaxy fractions based on 1037 spectroscopically identified sources. Galaxy luminosity functions estimated from the spectroscopic galaxy fractions show the bright-end excess beyond the Schechter function at ≳2σ levels, possibly made by inefficient mass quenching, low dust obscuration, and/or hidden AGN activity. By analyzing the correlation functions at z ∼ 2–6 with HOD models, we find a weak redshift evolution (within 0.3 dex) of the ratio of the star formation rate (SFR) to the dark matter accretion rate, SFR / M ̇ h , indicating the almost constant star formation efficiency at z ∼ 2–6, as suggested by our earlier work at z ∼ 4–7. Meanwhile, the ratio gradually increases with decreasing redshift at z < 5 within 0.3 dex, which quantitatively reproduces the cosmic SFR density evolution, suggesting that the redshift evolution is primarily driven by the increase of the halo number density due to the structure formation, and the decrease of the accretion rate due to the cosmic expansion. Extrapolating this calculation to higher redshifts assuming the constant efficiency suggests a rapid decrease of the SFR density at z > 10 with ∝ 10−0.5(1+z), which will be directly tested with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Observing correlations between dark matter accretion and galaxy growth: II. testing the impact of galaxy mass, star formation indicator, and neighbour colours

ABSTRACT A crucial question in galaxy formation is what role new accretion has in star formation. Theoretical models have predicted a wide range of correlation strengths between halo accretion and galaxy star formation. Previously, we presented a technique to observationally constrain this correlation strength for isolated Milky Way mass galaxies at z ∼ 0.12, based on the correlation between halo accretion and the density profile of neighbouring galaxies. By applying this technique to both observational data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and simulation data from the UniverseMachine, where we can test different correlation strengths, we ruled out positive correlations between dark matter accretion and recent star formation activity. In this work, we expand our analysis by (1) applying our technique separately to red and blue neighbouring galaxies, which trace different infall populations, (2) correlating dark matter accretion rates with Dn 4000 measurements as a longer-term quiescence indicator than instantaneous star-formation rates, and (3) analysing higher-mass isolated central galaxies with 1011.0 < M*/M⊙ < 1011.5 out to z ∼ 0.18. In all cases, our results are consistent with non-positive correlation strengths with ≳ 85 per cent confidence, which is most consistent with models where processes such as gas recycling dominate star formation in massive z = 0 galaxies.

A flexible subhalo abundance matching model for galaxy clustering in redshift space

ABSTRACT We develop an extension of subhalo abundance matching (SHAM) capable of accurately reproducing the real and redshift-space clustering of galaxies in a state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulation. Our method uses a low-resolution gravity-only simulation and it includes orphan and tidal disruption prescriptions for satellite galaxies, and a flexible amount of galaxy assembly bias. Furthermore, it includes recipes for star formation rate (SFR) based on the dark matter accretion rate. We test the accuracy of our model against catalogues of stellar-mass- and SFR-selected galaxies in the TNG300 hydrodynamic simulation. By fitting a small number of free parameters, our extended SHAM reproduces the projected correlation function and redshift-space multipoles for number densities $10^{-3} - 10^{-2}\, h^{3}{\rm Mpc}^{-3}$, at z = 1 and z = 0, and for scales r ∈ [0.3 − 20]h−1Mpc. Simultaneously, the SHAM results also retrieve the correct halo occupation distribution, the level of galaxy assembly bias, and higher order statistics present in the TNG300 galaxy catalogues. As an application, we show that our model simultaneously fits the projected correlation function of the SDSS in three disjoint stellar mass bins, with an accuracy similar to that of TNG300 galaxies. This SHAM extension can be used to get accurate clustering prediction even when using low and moderate-resolution simulations.

UniverseMachine: Predicting Galaxy Star Formation over Seven Decades of Halo Mass with Zoom-in Simulations

Abstract We apply the empirical galaxy–halo connection model UniverseMachine to dark-matter-only zoom-in simulations of isolated Milky Way (MW)–mass halos, along with their parent cosmological simulations. This application extends UniverseMachine predictions into the ultrafaint dwarf galaxy regime (102 M ⊙ ≤ M * ≤ 105 M ⊙) and yields a well-resolved stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation over the peak halo mass range of 108–1015 M ⊙. The extensive dynamic range provided by the zoom-in simulations allows us to assess specific aspects of dwarf galaxy evolution predicted by UniverseMachine. In particular, although UniverseMachine is not constrained for dwarf galaxies with M * ≲ 108 M ⊙, our predicted SMHM relation is consistent with that inferred for MW satellite galaxies at z = 0 using abundance matching. However, UniverseMachine predicts that nearly all galaxies are actively star-forming below M * ∼ 107 M ⊙ and that these systems typically form more than half of their stars at z ≲ 4, which is discrepant with the star formation histories of Local Group dwarf galaxies that favor early quenching. This indicates that the current UniverseMachine model does not fully capture galaxy quenching physics at the low-mass end. We highlight specific improvements necessary to incorporate environmental and reionization-driven quenching for dwarf galaxies, and we provide a new tool to connect dark matter accretion to star formation over the full dynamic range that hosts galaxies.