Dark Matter Cusps Research Articles

Emergence of a stellar cusp by a dark matter cusp in a low-mass compact ultrafaint dwarf galaxy

Recent observations have been discovering new ultra-faint dwarf galaxies as small as $\sim20~{\rm pc}$ in half-light radius and $\sim3~{\rm km~s^{-1}}$ in line-of-sight velocity dispersion. In these galaxies, dynamical friction on a star against dark matter can be significant and alter their stellar density distribution. The effect can strongly depend on a central density profile of dark matter, i.e. cusp or core. In this study, I perform computations using a classical and a modern analytic formulae and $N$-body simulations to study how dynamical friction changes a stellar density profile and how different it is between cuspy and cored dark matter haloes. This study shows that, if a dark matter halo has a cusp, dynamical friction can cause shrivelling instability which results in emergence of a stellar cusp in the central region $\simeq2~{\rm pc}$. On the other hand, if it has a constant-density core, dynamical friction is significantly weaker and does not generate a stellar cusp even if the galaxy has the same line-of-sight velocity dispersion. In such a compact and low-mass galaxy, since the shrivelling instability by dynamical friction is inevitable if it has a dark matter cusp, absence of a stellar cusp implies that the galaxy has a dark-matter core. I expect that this could be used to diagnose a dark matter density profile in these compact ultra-faint dwarf galaxies.

Dark matter cores all the way down

We use high resolution simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies to study the physics of dark matter cusp-core transformations at the edge of galaxy formation: M200 = 10^7 - 10^9 Msun. We work at a resolution (~4 pc minimum cell size; ~250 Msun per particle) at which the impact from individual supernovae explosions can be resolved, becoming insensitive to even large changes in our numerical 'sub-grid' parameters. We find that our dwarf galaxies give a remarkable match to the stellar light profile; star formation history; metallicity distribution function; and star/gas kinematics of isolated dwarf irregular galaxies. Our key result is that dark matter cores of size comparable to the stellar half mass radius (r_1/2) always form if star formation proceeds for long enough. Cores fully form in less than 4 Gyrs for the M200 = 10^8 Msun and 14 Gyrs for the 10^9 Msun dwarf. We provide a convenient two parameter 'coreNFW' fitting function that captures this dark matter core growth as a function of star formation time and the projected stellar half mass radius. Our results have several implications: (i) we make a strong prediction that if LCDM is correct, then 'pristine' dark matter cusps will be found either in systems that have truncated star formation and/or at radii r > r_1/2; (ii) complete core formation lowers the projected velocity dispersion at r_1/2 by a factor ~2, which is sufficient to fully explain the 'too big to fail problem'; and (iii) cored dwarfs will be much more susceptible to tides, leading to a dramatic scouring of the subhalo mass function inside galaxies and groups.

Constraining inflationary dark matter in the luminogenesis model

Using renormalization-group flow and cosmological constraints on inflation models, we exploit a unique connection between cosmological inflation and the dynamical mass of dark matter particles in the luminogenesis model, a unification model with the gauge group SU(3)C × SU(6) × U(1)Y, which breaks to the Standard Model with an extra gauge group for dark matter when the inflaton rolls into the true vacuum. In this model, inflaton decay gives rise to dark matter, which in turn decays to luminous matter in the right proportion that agrees with cosmological data. Some attractive features of this model include self-interacting dark matter, which may resolve the problems of dwarf galaxy structures and dark matter cusps at the centers of galaxies.

The SLUGGS survey: multipopulation dynamical modelling of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1407 from stars and globular clusters

We perform in-depth dynamical modelling of the luminous and dark matter (DM) content of the elliptical galaxy NGC 1407. Our strategy consists of solving the spherical Jeans equations for three independent dynamical tracers: stars, blue GCs and red GCs in a self-consistent manner. We adopt a maximum-likelihood Markov-Chain Monte Carlo fitting technique in the attempt to constrain the inner slope of the DM density profile (the cusp/core problem), and the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of the galaxy. We find the inner logarithmic slope of the DM density profiles to be $\gamma = 0.6\pm0.4$, which is consistent with either a DM cusp ($\gamma = 1$) or with a DM core $(\gamma = 0)$. Our findings are consistent with a Salpeter IMF, and marginally consistent with a Kroupa IMF. We infer tangential orbits for the blue GCs, and radial anisotropy for red GCs and stars. The modelling results are consistent with the virial mass--concentration relation predicted by $\Lambda$CDM simulations. The virial mass of NGC 1407 is $\log$ $M_{\rm vir} = 13.3 \pm 0.2 M_{\odot}$, whereas the stellar mass is $\log M_* = 11.8 \pm 0.1 M_{\odot}$. The overall uncertainties on the mass of NGC 1407 are only 5 per cent at the projected stellar effective radius. We attribute the disagreement between our results and previous X-ray results to the gas not being in hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions of the galaxy. The halo of NGC 1407 is found be DM dominated, with a dynamical mass-to-light ratio of $M/L=260_{-100} ^{+174} M_{\odot}/L_{\odot, B}$. However, this value can be larger up to a factor of 3 depending on the assumed prior on the DM scale radius.

Under the sword of Damocles: plausible regeneration of dark matter cusps at the smallest galactic scales

Abstract We study the evolution of the dark matter (DM) halo profiles of dwarf galaxies driven by the accretion of DM substructures through controlled N-body experiments. Our initial conditions assume that early supernova feedback erases the primordial DM cusps of haloes with z = 0 masses of 109 − 1010 M⊙. The orbits and masses of the infalling substructures are borrowed from the Aquarius cosmological simulations. Our experiments show that a fraction of haloes that undergo 1:3 down to 1:30 mergers are susceptible to reform a DM cusp by z ≈ 0. Cusp regrowth is driven by the accretion of DM substructures that are dense enough to reach the central regions of the main halo before being tidally disrupted. The infall of substructures on the mean of the reported mass–concentration relation and a mass ratio above 1:6 systematically leads to cusp regrowth. Substructures with 1:6–1:8, and 1:8–1:30 only reform DM cusps if their densities are 1σ and 2σ above the mean, respectively. The merging time-scales of these dense, low-mass substructures is relatively long (5 − 11 Gyr), which may pose a time-scale problem for the longevity of DM cores in dwarfs galaxies and possibly explain the existence of dense dwarfs-like Draco. These results suggest that within cold dark matter a non-negligible level of scatter in the mass profiles of galactic haloes acted on by feedback is to be expected given the stochastic mass accretion histories of low-mass haloes and the diverse star formation histories observed in the Local Group dwarfs.

Early flattening of dark matter cusps in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Simulations of the clustering of cold dark matter yield dark-matter halos that have central density cusps, but observations of totally dark-matter dominated dwarf spheroidal galaxies imply that they do not have cuspy central density profiles. We use analytic calculations and numerical modelling to argue that whenever stars form, central density cusps are likely to be erased. Gas that accumulates in the potential well of an initially cuspy dark-matter halo settles into a disc. Eventually the surface density of the gas exceeds the threshold for fragmentation into self-gravitating clouds. The clouds are massive enough to transfer energy to the dark-matter particles via dynamical friction on a short time-scale. The halo's central cusp is heated to form a core with central logarithmic density slope gamma=0 before stellar feedback makes its impact. Since star formation is an inefficient process, the clouds are disrupted by feedback when only a small fraction of their mass has been converted to stars, and the dark matter dominates the final mass distribution.

DARK MATTER HEATING AND EARLY CORE FORMATION IN DWARF GALAXIES

We present more results from a fully cosmological LCDM simulation of a group of isolated dwarf galaxies that has been shown to reproduce the observed stellar mass and cold gas content, resolved star formation histories, and metallicities of dwarfs in the Local Volume. Here we investigate the energetics and timetable of the cusp-core transformation. As suggested by previous work, supernova-driven gas outflows remove dark matter (DM) cusps and create kpc-size cores in all systems having a stellar mass above 1e6 Msun. The "DM core mass removal efficiency" -- dark mass ejected per unit stellar mass -- ranges today from a few to a dozen, and increases with decreasing host mass. Because dwarfs form the bulk of their stars prior to redshift 1 and the amount of work required for DM heating and core formation scales approximately as Mvir^{5/3}, the unbinding of the DM cusp starts early and the formation of cored profiles is not as energetically onerous as previously claimed. DM particles in the cusp typically migrate to 2-3 core radii after absorbing a few percent of the energy released by supernovae. The present-day slopes of the inner dark matter mass profiles, Gamma=d log M/dlog R=2.5-3, of the simulated "Bashful" and "Doc" dwarfs are similar to those measured in the luminous Fornax and Sculptor dwarf spheroidals. None of the simulated galaxies has a circular velocity profile exceeding 20 km/s in the inner 1 kpc, implying that supernova feedback is key to solve the "too-big-to-fail" problem for Milky Way subhalos.

Hamiltonians of spherical Galaxies in action-angle coordinates

We present a simple formula for the Hamiltonian in terms of the actions for spherically symmetric, scale-free potentials. The Hamiltonian is a power-law or logarithmic function of a linear combination of the actions. Our expression reduces to the well-known results for the familiar cases of the harmonic oscillator and the Kepler potential. For other power-laws, as well as for the singular isothermal sphere, it is exact for the radial and circular orbits, and very accurate for general orbits. Numerical tests show that the errors are always small, with mean errors across a grid of actions always less than 1 % and maximum errors less than 2.5 %. Simple first-order corrections can reduce mean errors to less than 0.6 % and maximum errors to less than 1 %. We use our new result to show that :[1] the misalignment angle between debris in a stream and a progenitor is always very nearly zero in spherical scale-free potentials, demonstrating that streams can be sometimes well approximated by orbits, [2] the effects of an adiabatic change in the stellar density profile in the inner regions of a galaxy weaken any existing 1/r density cusp, which is reduced to $1/r^{1/3}$. More generally, we derive the full range of adiabatic cusp transformations and show how to relate the starting cusp index to the final cusp index. It follows that adiabatic transformations can never erase a dark matter cusp.

Self-interacting dark matter cusps around massive black holes

We adopt the conduction fluid approximation to model the steady-state distribution of matter around a massive black hole at the center of a weakly collisional cluster of particles. By "`weakly collisional" we mean a cluster in which the mean free time between particle collisions is much longer than the characteristic particle crossing (dynamical) time scale, but shorter than the cluster lifetime. When applied to a star cluster, we reproduce the familiar Bahcall-Wolf power-law cusp solution for the stars bound to the black hole. Here the star density scales with radius as $r^{-7/4}$ and the velocity dispersion as $r^{-1/2}$ throughout most of the gravitational well of the black hole. When applied to a relaxed, self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) halo with a velocity-dependent cross section $\sigma \sim v^{-a}$, the gas again forms a power-law cusp, but now the SIDM density scales as $r^{-\beta}$, where $\beta = (a+3)/4$, while its velocity dispersion again varies as $r^{-1/2}$. Results are obtained first in Newtonian theory and then in full general relativity. Although the conduction fluid model is a simplification, it provides a reasonable first approximation to the matter profiles and is much easier to implement than a full Fokker-Planck treatment or an $N$-body simulation of the Boltzmann equation with collisional perturbations.

Offset of the dark matter cusp and the interpretation of the 130 GeV line as a dark matter signal

We show that the cusp in the dark matter (DM) distribution required to explain the recently found excess in the gamma-ray spectrum at energies ~130 GeV in terms of the DM annihilations cannot survive the tidal forces if it is offset by ~1.5^\circ from the Galactic centre as suggested by observations.

A BARYONIC SOLUTION TO THE MISSING SATELLITES PROBLEM

It has been demonstrated that the inclusion of baryonic physics can alter the dark matter densities in the centers of low-mass galaxies, making the central dark matter slope more shallow than predicted in pure cold dark matter simulations. This flattening of the dark matter profile can occur in the most luminous subhalos around Milky Way-mass galaxies. Zolotov et al. (2012) have suggested a correction to be applied to the central masses of dark matter-only satellites in order to mimic the affect of (1) the flattening of the dark matter cusp due to supernova feedback in luminous satellites, and (2) enhanced tidal stripping due to the presence of a baryonic disk. In this paper, we apply this correction to the z=0 subhalo masses from the high resolution, dark matter-only Via Lactea II (VL2) simulation, and find that the number of massive subhalos is dramatically reduced. After adopting a stellar mass to halo mass relationship for the VL2 halos, and identifying subhalos that are (1) likely to be destroyed by stripping and (2) likely to have star formation suppressed by photo-heating, we find that the number of massive, luminous satellites around a Milky Way-mass galaxy is in agreement with the number of observed satellites around the Milky Way or M31. We conclude that baryonic processes have the potential to solve the missing satellites problem.

The core size of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal

Abstract We exploit the detection of three distinct stellar subpopulations in the red giant branch of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal to probe its density distribution. This allows us to resolve directly the evolution of the dark matter mass profile with radius. We find that a cored dark matter halo is consistent well within 1σ with all three stellar populations, and for the first time we are able to put constraints on the core size of such a halo. With respect to previous work, we do not strengthen the statistical exclusion of a dark matter cusp in Fornax, but we find that Navarro–Frenk–White haloes would be required to have unrealistically large scale radii in order to be compatible with the data, hence low values of the concentration parameter. We are then forced to conclude that the Fornax dwarf spheroidal sits within a dark matter halo having a constant-density core, with a core size of r0 = 1+ 0.8− 0.4 kpc.

Interaction of the dark-matter cusp with the baryonic component in disk galaxies

The influence of the formation and evolution of a (disk) galaxy on the matter distribution in the dark-matter halo is considered. Calculations of the evolution of an isolated dark-matter halo were carried out with and without including a baryonic component. N-body simulations (for the dark-matter halo) and gas-dynamical numerical simulations (for the baryonic gas) were used for this analysis. Star formation, feedback, and heating and cooling of the interstellar medium were taken into account in the gas-dynamical calculations. The results of these numerical simulations with high spatial resolution indicate that 1) including the star formation resolves the so-called cusp problem (according to CDMcosmological models, the density distribution in the central regions of the dark-matter halo should have a distinct peak (cusp), which is not shown by observations); 2) the interaction of the dark matter with dynamical substructures of the stellar-gas galactic disk (spiralwaves, a bar) affects the shape of the dark-matter halo. In particular, the calculated dark-matter distribution in the plane of the disk is more symmetric when the baryonic component is taken into account.

Shallow dark matter cusps in galaxy clusters

We study the evolution of the stellar and dark matter components in a galaxy cluster of $10^{15} \, \rm{M_{\odot}}$ from $z=3$ to the present epoch using the high-resolution collisionless simulations of Ruszkowski & Springel (2009). At $z=3$ the dominant progenitor halos were populated with spherical model galaxies with and without accounting for adiabatic contraction. We apply a weighting scheme which allows us to change the relative amount of dark and stellar material assigned to each simulation particle in order to produce luminous properties which agree better with abundance matching arguments and observed bulge sizes at $z=3$. This permits the study of the effect of initial compactness on the evolution of the mass-size relation. We find that for more compact initial stellar distributions the size of the final Brightest Cluster Galaxy grows with mass according to $r\propto M^{2}$, whereas for more extended initial distributions, $r\propto M$. Our results show that collisionless mergers in a cosmological context can reduce the strength of inner dark matter cusps with changes in logarithmic slope of 0.3 to 0.5 at fixed radius. Shallow cusps such as those found recently in several strong lensing clusters thus do not necessarily conflict with CDM, but may rather reflect on the initial structure of the progenitor galaxies, which was shaped at high redshift by their formation process.

How supernova feedback turns dark matter cusps into cores

We propose and successfully test against new cosmological simulations a novel analytical description of the physical processes associated with the origin of cored dark matter density profiles. In the simulations, the potential in the central kiloparsec changes on sub-dynamical timescales over the redshift interval 4 > z > 2 as repeated, energetic feedback generates large underdense bubbles of expanding gas from centrally-concentrated bursts of star formation. The model demonstrates how fluctuations in the central potential irreversibly transfer energy into collisionless particles, thus generating a dark matter core. A supply of gas undergoing collapse and rapid expansion is therefore the essential ingredient. The framework, based on a novel impulsive approximation, breaks with the reliance on adiabatic approximations which are inappropriate in the rapidly-changing limit. It shows that both outflows and galactic fountains can give rise to cusp-flattening, even when only a few per cent of the baryons form stars. Dwarf galaxies maintain their core to the present time. The model suggests that constant density dark matter cores will be generated in systems of a wide mass range if central starbursts or AGN phases are sufficiently frequent and energetic.

Ram pressure drag - the effects of ram pressure on dark matter and stellar disc dynamics

We investigate the effects of ram pressure stripping on gas-rich disk galaxies in the cluster environment. Ram pressure stripping principally effects the atomic gas in disk galaxies, stripping away outer disk gas to a truncation radius. We demonstrate that the drag force exerted on truncated gas disks is passed to the stellar disk, and surrounding dark matter through their mutual gravity. Using a toy model of ram pressure stripping, we show that this can drag a stellar disk and dark matter cusp off centre within it's dark matter halo by several kiloparsecs. We present a simple analytical description of this process that predicts the drag force strength and its dependency on ram pressures and disk galaxy properties to first order. The motion of the disk can result in temporary deformation of the stellar disk. However we demonstrate that the key source of stellar disk heating is the removal of the gas potential from within the disk. This can result in disk thickening by approximately a factor of two in gas-rich disks.

Formation and radiative feedback of first objects and first galaxies

First, the formation of first objects driven by dark matter is revisited by high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations. It is revealed that dark matter haloes of ~10^4M_sun can produce first luminous objects with the aid of dark matter cusps. Therefore, the mass of first objects is smaller by roughly two orders of magnitude than in the previous prediction. This implies that the number of Pop III stars formed in the early universe could be significantly larger than hitherto thought. Secondly, the feedback by photo-ionization and photo-dissociation photons in the first objects is explored with radiation hydrodynamic simulations, and it is demonstrated that multiple stars can form in a 10^5M_sun halo. Thirdly, the fragmentation of an accretion disk around a primordial protostar is explored with photo-dissociation feedback. As a result, it is found that the photo-dissociation can reduce the mass accretion rate onto protostars. Also, protostars as small as 0.8M_sun may be ejected and evolve with keeping their mass, which might be detected as "real first stars" in the Galactic halo. Finally, state-of-the-art radiation hydrodynamic simulations are performed to investigate the internal ionization of first galaxies and the escape of ionizing photons. We find that UV feedback by forming massive stars enhances the escape fraction even in a halo as massive as > 6* 10^9M_sun, while it reduces the star formation rate significantly. This may have a momentous impact on the cosmic reionization.

Cores and revived cusps of dark matter haloes in disc galaxy formation through clump clusters

Cusp-core problem is a controversial problem on galactic dark matter haloes. Cosmological N-body simulations has demonstrated that galactic dark matter haloes have a cuspy density profile at the centre. However, baryonic physics may affect the dark matter density profile. For example, it was suggested that adiabatic contraction of baryonic gas makes the dark matter cusp steeper. However, it is still an open question if the gas falls into the galactic centre in smooth adiabatic manner. Recent numerical studies suggested that disc galaxies might experience clumpy phase in their early stage of the disc formation, which could also explain clump clusters and chain galaxies observed in high redshift Universe. In this letter, using numerical simulations with an isolated model, we study how the dark matter halo responds to these clumpy nature of baryon component in disc galaxy formation through the clump cluster phase. Our simulation demonstrates that such clumpy phase leads to a shallower density profile of the dark matter halo in the central region while clumps fall into the centre due to dynamical friction. This mechanism helps to make the central dark matter density profile shallower in the galaxies whose virial mass is as large as 5.0*10^11 solar masses. This phenomenon is caused by reaction to dynamical friction of the stellar clumps against the dark matter halo. The halo draws the clumps into the galactic centre, while kinematically heated by the clumps. We additionally run a dark matter only simulation excluding baryonic component and confirm that the resultant shallower density profile is not due to numerical artifact in the simulation, such as two-body relaxation.

Dark matter profiles and annihilation in dwarf spheroidal galaxies: prospectives for present and future γ-ray observatories - I. The classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Due to their large dynamical mass-to-light ratios, dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) are promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter (DM) in gamma-rays. We examine their detectability by present and future gamma-ray observatories. The key innovative features of our analysis are: (i) We take into account the angular size of the dSphs; while nearby objects have higher gamma ray flux, their larger angular extent can make them less attractive targets for background-dominated instruments. (ii) We derive DM profiles and the astrophysical J-factor (which parameterises the expected gamma-ray flux, independently of the choice of DM particle model) for the classical dSphs directly from photometric and kinematic data. We assume very little about the DM profile, modelling this as a smooth split-power law distribution, with and without sub-clumps. (iii) We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique to marginalise over unknown parameters and determine the sensitivity of our derived J-factors to both model and measurement uncertainties. (iv) We use simulated DM profiles to demonstrate that our J-factor determinations recover the correct solution within our quoted uncertainties. Our key findings are: (i) Sub-clumps in the dSphs do not usefully boost the signal; (ii) The sensitivity of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to dSphs within 20 kpc with cored halos can be up to ~50 times worse than when estimated assuming them to be point-like. Even for the satellite-borne Fermi-LAT the sensitivity is significantly degraded on the relevant angular scales for long exposures, hence it is vital to consider the angular extent of the dSphs when selecting targets; (iii) No DM profile has been ruled out by current data, but using a prior on the inner dark matter cusp slope 0<=gamma<=1 provides J-factor estimates accurate to a factor of a few if an appropriate angular scale [abridged]

Dark matter cores and cusps: the case of multiple stellar populations in dwarf spheroidals

A number of dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies are known to contain a more extended, metal-poor population with a flattish velocity dispersion profile, and a more concentrated, metal-rich population with a velocity dispersion declining with radius. The two populations can be modelled with Michie–King distribution functions (DFs) in the isothermal and in the sharply truncated limits, respectively. We argue that the truncation of the metal-rich population can be traced back to the spatial distribution of the star-forming gas. Suppose δ is the exponent of the first non-constant term in the Taylor expansion of the total potential at the centre (δ= 1 for Navarro–Frenk–White or NFW haloes, δ= 2 for cored haloes). Then, we show that the ratio of the half-light radii of the populations Rδ/2h, 2/Rh, 1δ/2 must be smaller than the ratio of the line-of-sight velocity dispersions σlos, 2(Rh, 2)/σlos, 1(Rh, 1). Specializing to the case of the Sculptor dSph, we develop a technique to fit simultaneously both populations with Michie–King DFs. This enables us to determine the mass profile of the Sculptor dSph with unprecedented accuracy in the radial range 0.2 < r < 1.2 kpc. We show that cored halo models are preferred over cusped halo models, with a likelihood ratio test rejecting NFW models at any significance level higher than 0.05 per cent. Even more worryingly, the best-fitting NFW models require concentrations with c ≲ 20, which is not in the cosmologically preferred range for dwarf galaxies. We conclude that the kinematics of multiple populations in dSphs provides a substantial new challenge for theories of galaxy formation, with the weight of available evidence strongly against dark matter cusps at the centre.