Low-mass Subhaloes Research Articles

Probing cold dark matter subhaloes with simulated ALMA observations of macrolensed sub-mm galaxies

If the dark matter haloes of galaxies contain large numbers of subhaloes as predicted by the Λ cold dark matter model, these subhaloes are expected to appear in strong galaxy–galaxy lens systems as small-scale perturbations in individual images. We simulate observations of multiply lensed sub-mm galaxies at z ∼ 2 as a probe of the dark matter halo of a lens galaxy at z ∼ 0.5. We present detection limits for dark substructures based on a visibility plane analysis of simulated Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) data in bands 7, 8 and 9. We explore two effects: local surface brightness anomalies on angular scales similar to the Einstein radius and the astrometric shift of macroimages. This improves the sensitivity of our lens modelling to the mass of the lens perturber. We investigate the sensitivity of the detection of low-mass subhaloes to the projected position of the subhalo on the image plane as well as the source structure and inner density profile of the lens. We demonstrate that, using the most extended ALMA configuration, pseudo-Jaffe subhaloes can be detected with 99 per cent confidence down to M = 107 M⊙. We show how the detection threshold for the three ALMA bands depends on the projected position of the subhalo with respect to the lensed images and conclude that, despite the highest nominal angular resolution, band 9 provides the poorest sensitivity due to observational noise. All simulations use the ALMA Full ops most extended ALMA configuration setup in casa.

Limits on dark matter annihilation cross sections to gamma-ray lines with subhalo distributions inN-body simulations and Fermi LAT data

In this work, we simulate a set of realizations of local volume dark matter subhalo population based on the distributions and relations derived from Via Lactea II N-body simulation. We calculate the J-factors of these subhalos, and find that the low mass subhalos contribute a lot to the total J-factors. Combining with 91 months of the Fermi LAT observation, we constrain on the cross section of dark matter annihilating directly to two gamma rays. This is the first work combining numerical simulation results and Fermi LAT observations to constrain dark matter cross section to gamma-ray line with subhalo population. Though the constraints derived from subhalo population are weaker than those from Fermi LAT observation of the Galactic center, they are supports of and complementary to these other results.

Linear perturbation theory for tidal streams and the small-scale CDM power spectrum

Tidal streams in the Milky Way are sensitive probes of the population of dark-matter subhalos predicted in cold-dark-matter (CDM) simulations. We present a new calculus for computing the effect of subhalo fly-bys on cold tidal streams based on the action-angle representation of streams. The heart of this calculus is a line-of-parallel-angle approach that calculates the perturbed distribution function of a given stream segment by undoing the effect of all impacts. This approach allows one to compute the perturbed stream density and track in any coordinate system in minutes for realizations of the subhalo distribution down to 10^5 Msun, accounting for the stream's internal dispersion and overlapping impacts. We study the properties of density and track fluctuations with suites of simulations. The one-dimensional density and track power spectra along the stream trace the subhalo mass function, with higher-mass subhalos producing power only on large scales, while lower mass subhalos cause structure on smaller scales. The time-dependence of impacts and of the evolution of the stream after an impact gives rise to bispectra. We further find that tidal streams are essentially corrugated sheets in the presence of subhalo perturbations: different projections of the track all reflect the same pattern of perturbations, facilitating their observational measurement. We apply this formalism to density data for the Pal 5 stream and make a first rigorous determination of 10^{+11}_{-6} dark-matter subhalos with masses between 3x10^6 and 10^9 Msun within 20 kpc from the Galactic center (corresponding to 1.4^{+1.6}_{-0.9} times the number predicted by CDM-only simulations or to f_{sub}(r<20 kpc) ~ 0.2%). Improved data will allow measurements of the subhalo mass function down to 10^5 Msun, thus definitively testing whether dark matter clumps on the smallest scales relevant for galaxy formation.

ARE SOME MILKY WAY GLOBULAR CLUSTERS HOSTED BY UNDISCOVERED GALAXIES?

ABSTRACT The confirmation of a globular cluster (GC) in the recently discovered ultrafaint galaxy Eridanus II (Eri II) motivated us to examine the question posed in the title. After estimating the halo mass of Eri II using a published stellar mass—halo mass relation, the one GC in this galaxy supports extending the relationship between the number of GCs hosted by a galaxy and the galaxy’s total mass about two orders of magnitude in stellar mass below the previous limit. For this empirically determined specific frequency of between 0.06 and 0.39 GCs per 109 M ⊙ of total mass, the surviving Milky Way (MW) subhalos with masses smaller than 1010 M ⊙ could host as many as 5–31 GCs, broadly consistent with the actual population of outer halo MW GCs, although matching the radial distribution in detail remains a challenge. Using a subhalo mass function from published high-resolution numerical simulations and a Poissonian model for populating those halos with the aforementioned empirically constrained frequency, we find that about 90% of these GCs lie in lower-mass subhalos than that of Eri II. From what we know about the stellar mass–halo mass function, the subhalo mass function, and the mass-normalized GC specific frequency, we conclude that some of the MW’s outer halo GCs are likely to be hosted by undetected subhalos with extremely modest stellar populations.

Baryonic impact on the dark matter distribution in Milky Way-sized galaxies and their satellites

We study the impact of baryons on the distribution of dark matter in a Milky Way-size halo by comparing a high-resolution, moving-mesh cosmological simulation with its dark matter-only counterpart. We identify three main processes related to baryons -- adiabatic contraction, tidal disruption and reionization -- which jointly shape the dark matter distribution in both the main halo and its subhalos. The relative effect of each baryonic process depends strongly on the subhalo mass. For massive subhalos with maximum circular velocity $v_{\rm max} > 35 km/s$, adiabatic contraction increases the dark matter concentration, making these halos less susceptible to tidal disruption. For low-mass subhalos with $v_{\rm max} < 20 km/s$, reionization effectively reduces their mass on average by $\approx$ 30% and $v_{\rm max}$ by $\approx$ 20%. For intermediate subhalos with $20 km/s < v_{\rm max} < 35 km/s$, which share a similar mass range as the classical dwarf spheroidals, strong tidal truncation induced by the main galaxy reduces their $v_{\rm max}$. Moreover, the stellar disk of the main galaxy effectively depletes subhalos near the central region. As a combined result of reionization and increased tidal disruption, the total number of low-mass subhalos in the hydrodynamic simulation is nearly halved compared to that of the $\textit{N-}$body simulation. We do not find dark matter cores in dwarf galaxies, unlike previous studies that employed bursty feedback-driven outflows. The substantial impact of baryons on the abundance and internal structure of subhalos suggests that galaxy formation and evolution models based on $\textit{N}$-body simulations should include these physical processes as major components.

Extremely isolated galaxies – I. Sample and simulation analysis

We have selected a sample of extremely isolated galaxies (EIGs) from the local Universe ($\mbox{z} < 0.024$), using a simple isolation criterion: having no known neighbours closer than $300\,{\rm km\,s}^{-1}$ ($3\,h^{-1}\,\mbox{Mpc}$) in the three-dimensional redshift space $(\alpha,\delta,\mbox{z})$. The sample is unique both in its level of isolation and in the fact that it utilizes HI redshifts from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey (ALFALFA). We analysed the EIG sample using cosmological simulations and found that it contains extremely isolated galaxies with normal mass haloes which have evolved gradually with little or no "major events" (major mergers, or major mass-loss events) in the last $3\,\mbox{Gyr}$. The fraction of EIGs which deviate from this definition (false positives) is 5%-10%. For the general population of dark matter haloes it was further found that the mass accretion (relative to the current halo mass) is affected by the halo environment mainly through strong interactions with its neighbours. As long as a halo does not experience major events, its Mass Accretion History (MAH) does not depend significantly on its environment. "Major events" seem to be the main mechanism that creates low-mass subhaloes ($M_{halo} < 10^{10}\,h^{-1}\,M_\odot$) that host galaxies (with $\mbox{M}_{g} \lesssim -14$).

EVOLUTION OF LOW MASS GALACTIC SUBHALOS AND DEPENDENCE ON CONCENTRATION

We carry out a detailed study of the orbital dynamics and structural evolution of over 6000 subhalos in the Via Lactea II simulation, from infall to present. By analyzing subhalos with masses down to m = 4e5 Msun, we find that lower mass subhalos, which are not strongly affected by dynamical friction, exhibit behaviors qualitatively different from those found previously for more massive ones. Furthermore, there is a clear trend of subhalos that fell into the host earlier being less concentrated. We show that the concentration at infall characterizes various aspects of subhalo evolution. In particular, tidal effects truncate the growth of less concentrated subhalos at larger distances from the host; subhalos with smaller concentrations have larger infall radii. The concentration at infall is further shown to be a determining factor for the subsequent mass loss of subhalos within the host, and also for the evolution of their internal structure in the v_max-r_max plane. Our findings raise the prospects of using the concentration to predict the tidal evolution of subhalos, which will be useful for obtaining analytic models of galaxy formation, as well as for near field cosmology.

Cold dark matter: Controversies on small scales

The cold dark matter (CDM) cosmological model has been remarkably successful in explaining cosmic structure over an enormous span of redshift, but it has faced persistent challenges from observations that probe the innermost regions of dark matter halos and the properties of the Milky Way’s dwarf galaxy satellites. We review the current observational and theoretical status of these “small-scale controversies.” Cosmological simulations that incorporate only gravity and collisionless CDM predict halos with abundant substructure and central densities that are too high to match constraints from galaxy dynamics. The solution could lie in baryonic physics: Recent numerical simulations and analytical models suggest that gravitational potential fluctuations tied to efficient supernova feedback can flatten the central cusps of halos in massive galaxies, and a combination of feedback and low star formation efficiency could explain why most of the dark matter subhalos orbiting the Milky Way do not host visible galaxies. However, it is not clear that this solution can work in the lowest mass galaxies, where discrepancies are observed. Alternatively, the small-scale conflicts could be evidence of more complex physics in the dark sector itself. For example, elastic scattering from strong dark matter self-interactions can alter predicted halo mass profiles, leading to good agreement with observations across a wide range of galaxy mass. Gravitational lensing and dynamical perturbations of tidal streams in the stellar halo provide evidence for an abundant population of low-mass subhalos in accord with CDM predictions. These observational approaches will get more powerful over the next few years.

Detection of substructure with adaptive optics integral field spectroscopy of the gravitational lens B1422+231

Strong gravitational lenses can be used to detect low-mass subhaloes, based on deviations in image fluxes and positions from what can be achieved with a smooth mass distribution. So far, this method has been limited by the small number of (radio-loud, microlensing-free) systems which can be analysed for the presence of substructure. Using the gravitational lens B1422+231, we demonstrate that adaptive optics integral field spectroscopy can also be used to detect dark substructures. We analyse data obtained with OH Suppressing Infra-Red Imaging Spectrograph on the Keck i Telescope, using a Bayesian method that accounts for uncertainties relating to the point spread function and image positions in the separate exposures. The narrow-line [O iii] fluxes measured for the lensed images are consistent with those measured in the radio, and show a significant deviation from what would be expected in a smooth mass distribution, consistent with the presence of a perturbing low-mass halo. Detailed lens modelling shows that image fluxes and positions are fitted significantly better when the lens is modelled as a system containing a single perturbing subhalo in addition to the main halo, rather than by the main halo on its own, indicating the significant detection of substructure. The inferred mass of the subhalo depends on the subhalo mass density profile: the 68 per cent confidence intervals for the perturber mass within 600 pc are 8.2|$^{+0.6}_{-0.8}$|⁠, 8.2|$^{+0.6}_{-1}$| and 7.6 ± 0.3 log10[Msub/M⊙], respectively, for a singular isothermal sphere, a pseudo-Jaffe and a Navarro–Frenk–White mass profile. This method can extend the study of flux ratio anomalies to virtually all quadruply imaged quasars, and therefore offers great potential to improve the determination of the subhalo mass function in the near future.

The orbital ellipticity of satellite galaxies and the mass of the Milky Way

We use simulations of Milky Way-sized dark matter haloes from the Aquarius Project to investigate the orbits of substructure haloes likely, according to a semi-analytic galaxy formation model, to host luminous satellites. These tend to populate the most massive subhaloes and are on more radial orbits than the majority of subhaloes found within the halo virial radius. One reason for this (mild) kinematic bias is that many low-mass subhaloes have apocentres that exceed the virial radius of the main host; they are thus excluded from subhalo samples identified within the virial boundary, reducing the number of subhalos on radial orbits. Two other factors contributing to the difference in orbital shape between dark and luminous subhaloes are their dynamical evolution after infall, which affects more markedly low-mass (dark) subhaloes, and a weak dependence of ellipticity on the redshift of first infall. The ellipticity distribution of luminous satellites exhibits little halo-to-halo scatter and it may therefore be compared fruitfully with that of Milky Way satellites. Since the latter depends sensitively on the total mass of the Milky Way we can use the predicted distribution of satellite ellipticities to place constraints on this important parameter. Using the latest estimates of position and velocity of dwarfs compiled from the literature, we find that the most likely Milky Way mass lies in the range $6 \times 10^{11} M_{\odot} < M_{200} < 3.1 \times 10^{12} M_{\odot}$, with a best fit value of $M_{200} = 1.1 \times 10^{12} M_{\odot}$. This value is consistent with Milky Way mass estimates based on dynamical tracers or the timing argument.

The abundance of (not just) dark matter haloes

We study the effect of baryons on the abundance of structures and substructures in a Lambda-CDM cosmology, using a pair of high resolution cosmological simulations from the GIMIC project. Both simulations use identical initial conditions, but while one contains only dark matter, the other also includes baryons. We find that gas pressure, reionisation, supernova feedback, stripping, and truncated accretion systematically reduce the total mass and the abundance of structures below ~10^12 solar masses compared to the pure dark matter simulation. Taking this into account and adopting an appropriate detection threshold lowers the abundance of observed galaxies with maximum circular velocities below 100 km/s, significantly reducing the reported discrepancy between Lambda-CDM and the measured HI velocity function of the ALFALFA survey. We also show that the stellar-to-total mass ratios of galaxies with stellar masses of ~10^5 - 10^7 solar masses inferred from abundance matching of the (sub)halo mass function to the observed galaxy mass function increase by a factor of ~2. In addition, we find that an important fraction of low-mass subhaloes are completely devoid of stars. Accounting for the presence of dark subhaloes below 10^10 solar masses further reduces the abundance of observable objects, and leads to an additional increase in the inferred stellar-to-total mass ratio by factors of 2 - 10 for galaxies in haloes of 10^9 - 10^10 solar masses. This largely reconciles the abundance matching results with the kinematics of individual dwarf galaxies in Lambda-CDM. We propose approximate corrections to the masses of objects derived from pure dark matter calculations to account for baryonic effects.

How Does Feedback Affect Milky Way Satellite Formation?

We use sub-parsec resolution hydrodynamic resimulations of a Milky Way (MW) like galaxy at high redshift to investigate the formation of the MW satellite galaxies. More specifically, we assess the impact of supernova feedback on the dwarf progenitors of these satellite, and the efficiency of a simple instantaneous reionisation scenario in suppressing star formation at the low-mass end of this dwarf distribution. Identifying galaxies in our high redshift simulation and tracking them to z=0 using a dark matter halo merger tree, we compare our results to present-day observations and determine the epoch at which we deem satellite galaxy formation must be completed. We find that only the low-mass end of the population of luminous subhalos of the Milky-Way like galaxy is not complete before redshift 8, and that although supernovae feedback reduces the stellar mass of the low-mass subhalos (log(M/Msolar) < 9), the number of surviving satellites around the Milky-Way like galaxy at z = 0 is the same in the run with or without supernova feedback. If a luminous halo is able to avoid accretion by the Milky-Way progenitor before redshift 3, then it is likely to survive as a MW satellite to redshift 0.

Effects of dark matter substructures on gravitational lensing: results from the Aquarius simulations

We use high-resolution Aquarius simulations of Milky Way-sized haloes in the LCDM cosmology to study the effects of dark matter substructures on gravitational lensing. Each halo is resolved with ~ 10^8 particles (at a mass resolution ~ 10^3-4 M_sun/h) within its virial radius. Subhaloes with masses larger than 10^5 M_sun/h are well resolved, an improvement of at least two orders of magnitude over previous lensing studies. We incorporate a baryonic component modelled as a Hernquist profile and account for the response of the dark matter via adiabatic contraction. We focus on the "anomalous" flux ratio problem, in particular on the violation of the cusp-caustic relation due to substructures. We find that subhaloes with masses less than ~ 10^8 M_sun/h play an important role in causing flux anomalies; such low mass subhaloes have been unresolved in previous studies. There is large scatter in the predicted flux ratios between different haloes and between different projections of the same halo. In some cases, the frequency of predicted anomalous flux ratios is comparable to that observed for the radio lenses, although in most cases it is not. The probability for the simulations to reproduce the observed violations of the cusp lenses is about 0.001. We therefore conclude that the amount of substructure in the central regions of the Aquarius haloes is insufficient to explain the observed frequency of violations of the cusp-caustic relation. These conclusions are based purely on our dark matter simulations which ignore the effect of baryons on subhalo survivability.

On the origin of the kinematical differences between the stellar halo and the old globular cluster system in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We discuss structural and kinematical properties of the stellar halo and the old globular cluster system (GCS) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) based on numerical simulations of the LMC formation. We particularly discuss the observed possible GCS’s rotational kinematics (V/σ ∼ 2) that appears to be significantly different from the stellar halo’s kinematics with a large velocity dispersion (∼50 km s −1 ). We consider that both halo field stars (FSs) and old GCs can originate from low-mass subhaloes virialized at high redshifts (z > 6). We investigate the final dynamical properties of the two old components in the LMC’s halo formed from merging of low-mass subhaloes with FSs and GCs. We find that the GCS composed of old globular clusters (GCs) formed at high redshifts (z > 6) has little rotation (V/σ ∼ 0.4) and structure and kinematics similar to those of the stellar halo. This inconsistency between the simulated GCS’s kinematics and the observed one is found to be seen in models with different parameters. This inconsistency therefore implies that if old, metal-poor GCs in the LMC have rotational kinematics, they are highly unlikely to originate from the low-mass subhaloes that formed the stellar halo. We thus discuss a scenario in which the stellar halo was formed from low-mass subhaloes with no/few GCs whereas the GCS was formed at the very early epoch of the LMC’s disc formation via dissipative minor and major merging of gas-rich subhaloes and gas infall. We also discuss whether old GCs in the LMC can be slightly younger than the Galactic counterparts. We suggest that there can be a threshold subhalo mass above which GCs can be formed within subhaloes at high redshifts and thus that this threshold causes differences in physical properties between stellar haloes and GCSs in less luminous galaxies like the LMC.

The subhalo populations of ΛCDM dark haloes

We investigate the subhalo populations of dark matter haloes in the concordance Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology. We use a large cosmological simulation and a variety of high-resolution resimulations of individual cluster and galaxy haloes to study the systematics of subhalo populations over ranges of 1000 in halo mass and 1000 in the ratio of subhalo to parent halo mass. The subhalo populations of different haloes are not scaled copies of each other, but vary systematically with halo properties. On average, the amount of substructure increases with halo mass. At fixed mass, it decreases with halo concentration and with halo formation redshift. These trends are comparable in size to the scatter in subhalo abundance between similar haloes. Averaged over all haloes of given mass, the abundance of low-mass subhaloes per unit parent halo mass is independent of parent mass. It is very similar to the abundance per unit mass of low-mass haloes in the Universe as a whole, once differing boundary definitions for subhaloes and haloes are accounted for. The radial distribution of subhaloes within their parent haloes is substantially less centrally concentrated than that of the dark matter. It varies at most weakly with the mass (or concentration) of the parent halo and not at all with subhalo mass. It does depend on the criteria used to define the subhalo population considered. About 90 per cent of present-day subhaloes were accreted after z= 1 and about 70 per cent after z= 0.5. Only about 8 per cent of the total mass of all haloes accreted at z= 1 survives as bound subhaloes at z= 0. For haloes accreted at z= 2, the survival mass fraction is just 2 per cent. Subhaloes seen near the centre of their parent typically were accreted earlier and retain less of their original mass than those seen near the edge. These strong systematics mean that comparison with galaxies in real clusters is only possible if the formation of the luminous component is modelled appropriately.

Hierarchical Galaxy Formation and Substructure in the Galaxy’s Stellar Halo

We develop an explicit model for the formation of the stellar halo from tidally disrupted, accreted dwarf satellites in the cold dark matter (CDM) framework, focusing on predictions testable with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and other wide-field surveys. Subhalo accretion and orbital evolution are calculated using a semianalytic approach based on the extended Press-Schechter formalism. Motivated by our previous work, we assume that low-mass subhalos (vc < 30 km s-1) form significant populations of stars only if they accreted a substantial fraction of their mass before the epoch of reionization. With this assumption, the model reproduces the observed velocity function of galactic satellites in the Local Group, solving the "dwarf satellite problem" without modifying the basic tenets of the popular Λ + CDM cosmological scenario. The tidally disrupted satellites in this model yield a stellar distribution whose total mass and radial density profile are consistent with those observed for the Milky Way stellar halo. Most significantly, the model predicts the presence of many large-scale, coherent substructures in the outer halo. These substructures are remnants of individual tidally disrupted dwarf satellite galaxies. Substructure is more pronounced at large galactocentric radii because of the smaller number density of tidal streams and the longer orbital times. This model provides a natural explanation for the coherent structures in the outer stellar halo found in the SDSS commissioning data, and it predicts that many more such structures should be found as the survey covers more of the sky. The detection (or nondetection) and characterization of such structures could eventually test variants of the CDM scenario, especially those that aim to solve the dwarf satellite problem by enhancing satellite disruption.