Dark Matter Substructure and Dwarf Galactic Satellites

A decade ago cosmological simulations of increasingly higher resolution were used to demonstrate that virialized regions of Cold Dark Matter (CDM) halos are filled with a multitude of dense, gravitationally bound clumps. These dark mattersubhalosare central regions of halos that survived strong gravitational tidal forces and dynamical friction during the hierarchical sequence of merging and accretion via which the CDM halos form. Comparisons with observations revealed that there is a glaring discrepancy between abundance of subhalos and luminous satellites of the Milky Way and Andromeda as a function of their circular velocity or bound mass within a fixed aperture. This large discrepancy, which became known as the “substructure” or the “missing satellites” problem, begs for an explanation. In this paper, the author reviews the progress made during the last several years both in quantifying the problem and in exploring possible scenarios in which it could be accommodated and explained in the context of galaxy formation in the framework of the CDM paradigm of structure formation. In particular, he shows that the observed luminosity function, radial distribution, and the remarkable similarity of the inner density profiles of luminous satellites can be understood within hierarchical CDM framework using a simple model in which efficiency of star formation monotonically decreases with decreasing virial mass satellites had before their accretionwithout any actual sharp galaxy formation threshold.

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NIHAO – XXV. Convergence in the cusp-core transformation of cold dark matter haloes at high star formation thresholds

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa3028 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 499 (2) ◽

pp. 2648-2661

Author(s):

Aaron A Dutton ◽

Tobias Buck ◽

Andrea V Macciò ◽

Keri L Dixon ◽

Marvin Blank ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Star Formation ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Dwarf Galaxies ◽

Dwarf Galaxy ◽

Good Description ◽

Good Match ◽

Virial Mass ◽

Density Threshold

ABSTRACT We use cosmological hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations from the NIHAO project to investigate the response of cold dark matter (CDM) haloes to baryonic processes. Previous work has shown that the halo response is primarily a function of the ratio between galaxy stellar mass and total virial mass, and the density threshold above which gas is eligible to form stars, n[cm−3]. At low n all simulations in the literature agree that dwarf galaxy haloes are cuspy, but at high n ≳ 100 there is no consensus. We trace halo contraction in dwarf galaxies with n ≳ 100 reported in some previous simulations to insufficient spatial resolution. Provided the adopted star formation threshold is appropriate for the resolution of the simulation, we show that the halo response is remarkably stable for n ≳ 5, up to the highest star formation threshold that we test, n = 500. This free parameter can be calibrated using the observed clustering of young stars. Simulations with low thresholds n ≤ 1 predict clustering that is too weak, while simulations with high star formation thresholds n ≳ 5, are consistent with the observed clustering. Finally, we test the CDM predictions against the circular velocities of nearby dwarf galaxies. Low thresholds predict velocities that are too high, while simulations with n ∼ 10 provide a good match to the observations. We thus conclude that the CDM model provides a good description of the structure of galaxies on kpc scales provided the effects of baryons are properly captured.

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A dark matter profile to model diverse feedback-induced core sizes of ΛCDM haloes

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa2101 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 497 (2) ◽

pp. 2393-2417 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alexandres Lazar ◽

James S Bullock ◽

Michael Boylan-Kolchin ◽

T K Chan ◽

Philip F Hopkins ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Milky Way ◽

Dark Matter Halo ◽

Constant Density ◽

Core Formation ◽

Density Profiles ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Two Parameter

ABSTRACT We analyse the cold dark matter density profiles of 54 galaxy haloes simulated with Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE)-2 galaxy formation physics, each resolved within $0.5{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the halo virial radius. These haloes contain galaxies with masses that range from ultrafaint dwarfs ($M_\star \simeq 10^{4.5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$) to the largest spirals ($M_\star \simeq 10^{11}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$) and have density profiles that are both cored and cuspy. We characterize our results using a new, analytic density profile that extends the standard two-parameter Einasto form to allow for a pronounced constant density core in the resolved innermost radius. With one additional core-radius parameter, rc, this three-parameter core-Einasto profile is able to characterize our feedback-impacted dark matter haloes more accurately than other three-parameter profiles proposed in the literature. To enable comparisons with observations, we provide fitting functions for rc and other profile parameters as a function of both M⋆ and M⋆/Mhalo. In agreement with past studies, we find that dark matter core formation is most efficient at the characteristic stellar-to-halo mass ratio M⋆/Mhalo ≃ 5 × 10−3, or $M_{\star } \sim 10^9 \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$, with cores that are roughly the size of the galaxy half-light radius, rc ≃ 1−5 kpc. Furthermore, we find no evidence for core formation at radii $\gtrsim 100\ \rm pc$ in galaxies with M⋆/Mhalo < 5 × 10−4 or $M_\star \lesssim 10^6 \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$. For Milky Way-size galaxies, baryonic contraction often makes haloes significantly more concentrated and dense at the stellar half-light radius than DMO runs. However, even at the Milky Way scale, FIRE-2 galaxy formation still produces small dark matter cores of ≃ 0.5−2 kpc in size. Recent evidence for a ∼2 kpc core in the Milky Way’s dark matter halo is consistent with this expectation.

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Cold Dark Matter: Galactic Halos

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900150296 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 117 ◽

pp. 280-280

Author(s):

C. S. Frenk

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Angular Momentum ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Initial Conditions ◽

Standard Theory ◽

Galactic Halos ◽

Rotation Curves ◽

Central Regions

A flat universe dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) is an attractive arena for the formation of galaxies and large scale structure. Current upper limits on anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background and the standard theory of primordial nucleosynthesis are both compatible with such a universe. Furthermore a flat CDM model in which galaxy formation is biased towards high density regions provides a good match to the observed distribution of galaxies on Megaparsec scales. In collaboration with M. Davis, G. Efstathiou and S.D.M. White, we have carried out a high resolution N-body simulation which shows that this model can also account for the abundance and characteristic properties of galactic halos. The initial conditions for this simulation were based on the results of our previous work which gave both the scaling and overall normalisation of the initial CDM fluctuation spectrum appropriate to the biased galaxy formation model. We simulated a cubic region of present size 14 Mpc (H0 = 50km/s/Mpc) from a redshift of 6 to the present day, with a resolution of 2kpc initially and 14 kpc at the end. We found that by a redshift of 2.5 about 20 clumps with circular speeds exceeding 100 km/s had collapsed near high peaks of the initial linear density field. Between Z = 2.5 and the present most of them remained isolated and accreted extensive outer halos, while others merged into larger systems. The rotation curves of the final smooth systems were impressively flat at large radii resembling the measured rotation curves of spiral galaxies. Furthermore, the abundance of clumps with circular velocities larger than 150 km/s was about the same as the abundance of galaxies brighter than M33 expected in a volume the size of our simulation. Significant transfer of angular momentum to surrounding material occurred as large subclumps merged. Most of this angular momentum was originally invested in the orbital motions of the subclumps. As a result, the central regions of merged objects showed little rotation.

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Distant Compact Narrow Emission Line Galaxies as Progenitors of Today’s Spheroidal Galaxies

Highlights of Astronomy ◽

10.1017/s1539299600020281 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 145-146

Author(s):

David C. Koo ◽

Rafael Guzmán

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Luminosity Function ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Dwarf Galaxies ◽

Faint Galaxy ◽

Blue Galaxies ◽

Low Mass ◽

Emission Line Galaxies ◽

Narrow Emission

Dwarf galaxies at high redshifts are important to study for a variety of reasons. By dwarf, we mean galaxies with low-mass, though galaxies with low-luminosities or small sizes are also commonly referred to as dwarfs. Several groups have suggested that such galaxies may be major contributors to faint blue galaxies, whose nature remains unclear. Dwarfs are viable candidates for faint blue galaxies if many undergo strong bursts of star-formation at redshifts z ~ 1 (Babul and Ferguson 1996) or even lower redshifts z ~ 0.3 (Cowie, Songaila, and Hu 1991; Broadhurst et al. 1988) and fade or disappear by today; if they have a much steeper luminosity function (Driver et al. 1994) than generally adopted in faint galaxy models; or if they represent small pre-merger fragments of larger galaxies today (Guiderdoni and Rocca-Volmerange 1990; Broadhurst, Ellis, and Glazebrook 1992), as might be expected in standard cold dark matter models with hierarchical galaxy formation.

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The mass of the Milky Way from satellite dynamics

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stz365 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 484 (4) ◽

pp. 5453-5467 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Thomas M Callingham ◽

Marius Cautun ◽

Alis J Deason ◽

Carlos S Frenk ◽

Wenting Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Milky Way ◽

Dimensional Space ◽

Dimensional Phase Space ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Galactic Satellites ◽

Mass Estimate ◽

True Mass

Abstract We present and apply a method to infer the mass of the Milky Way (MW) by comparing the dynamics of MW satellites to those of model satellites in the eagle cosmological hydrodynamics simulations. A distribution function (DF) for galactic satellites is constructed from eagle using specific angular momentum and specific energy, which are scaled so as to be independent of host halo mass. In this two-dimensional space, the orbital properties of satellite galaxies vary according to the host halo mass. The halo mass can be inferred by calculating the likelihood that the observed satellite population is drawn from this DF. Our method is robustly calibrated on mock eagle systems. We validate it by applying it to the completely independent suite of 30 auriga high-resolution simulations of MW-like galaxies: the method accurately recovers their true mass and associated uncertainties. We then apply it to 10 classical satellites of the MW with six-dimensional phase-space measurements, including updated proper motions from the Gaia satellite. The mass of the MW is estimated to be $M_{200}^{\rm {MW}}=1.17_{-0.15}^{+0.21}\times 10^{12}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ (68 per cent confidence limits). We combine our total mass estimate with recent mass estimates in the inner regions of the Galaxy to infer an inner dark matter (DM) mass fraction $M^\rm {DM}(\lt 20~\rm {kpc})/M^\rm {DM}_{200}=0.12$, which is typical of ${\sim }10^{12}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ lambda cold dark matter haloes in hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations. Assuming a Navarro, Frenk and White (NFW) profile, this is equivalent to a halo concentration of $c_{200}^{\rm {MW}}=10.9^{+2.6}_{-2.0}$.

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Probing non-spherical dark halos in the Galactic dwarf satellites

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921313006789 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (S298) ◽

pp. 411-411

Author(s):

Kohei Hayashi ◽

Masashi Chiba

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Milky Way ◽

Velocity Dispersion ◽

Line Of Sight ◽

Spherical Structure ◽

Spherical Models ◽

Galactic Satellites ◽

Best Fitting

AbstractWe construct axisymmetric mass models for dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies in the Milky Way to obtain realistic limits on the non-spherical structure of their dark halos. This is motivated by the fact that the observed luminous parts of the dSphs are actually non-spherical and cold dark matter models predict non-spherical virialized dark halos on sub-galactic scales. Applying these models to line-of-sight velocity dispersion profiles along three position angles in six Galactic satellites, we find that the best fitting cases for most of the dSphs yield not spherical but oblate and flattened dark halos. We also find that the mass of the dSphs enclosed within inner 300 pc varies depending on their total luminosities, contrary to the conclusion of previous spherical models. This suggests the importance of considering non-spherical shapes of dark halos in dSph mass models.

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The weak lensing radial acceleration relation: Constraining modified gravity and cold dark matter theories with KiDS-1000

Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1051/0004-6361/202040108 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 650 ◽

pp. A113

Author(s):

Margot M. Brouwer ◽

Kyle A. Oman ◽

Edwin A. Valentijn ◽

Maciej Bilicki ◽

Catherine Heymans ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Modified Gravity ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Weak Lensing ◽

Mass Relation ◽

Gravitational Acceleration ◽

Radial Acceleration ◽

The Galaxy ◽

The Difference

We present measurements of the radial gravitational acceleration around isolated galaxies, comparing the expected gravitational acceleration given the baryonic matter (gbar) with the observed gravitational acceleration (gobs), using weak lensing measurements from the fourth data release of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS-1000). These measurements extend the radial acceleration relation (RAR), traditionally measured using galaxy rotation curves, by 2 decades in gobs into the low-acceleration regime beyond the outskirts of the observable galaxy. We compare our RAR measurements to the predictions of two modified gravity (MG) theories: modified Newtonian dynamics and Verlinde’s emergent gravity (EG). We find that the measured relation between gobs and gbar agrees well with the MG predictions. In addition, we find a difference of at least 6σ between the RARs of early- and late-type galaxies (split by Sérsic index and u − r colour) with the same stellar mass. Current MG theories involve a gravity modification that is independent of other galaxy properties, which would be unable to explain this behaviour, although the EG theory is still limited to spherically symmetric static mass models. The difference might be explained if only the early-type galaxies have significant (Mgas ≈ M⋆) circumgalactic gaseous haloes. The observed behaviour is also expected in Λ-cold dark matter (ΛCDM) models where the galaxy-to-halo mass relation depends on the galaxy formation history. We find that MICE, a ΛCDM simulation with hybrid halo occupation distribution modelling and abundance matching, reproduces the observed RAR but significantly differs from BAHAMAS, a hydrodynamical cosmological galaxy formation simulation. Our results are sensitive to the amount of circumgalactic gas; current observational constraints indicate that the resulting corrections are likely moderate. Measurements of the lensing RAR with future cosmological surveys (such as Euclid) will be able to further distinguish between MG and ΛCDM models if systematic uncertainties in the baryonic mass distribution around galaxies are reduced.

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