89 research outputs found
Hints against the cold and collisionless nature of dark matter from the galaxy velocity function
The observed number of dwarf galaxies as a function of rotation velocity is
significantly smaller than predicted by the standard model of cosmology. This
discrepancy cannot be simply solved by assuming strong baryonic feedback
processes, since they would violate the observed relation between maximum
circular velocity () and baryon mass of galaxies. A speculative
but tantalising possibility is that the mismatch between observation and theory
points towards the existence of non-cold or non-collisionless dark matter (DM).
In this paper, we investigate the effects of warm, mixed (i.e warm plus cold),
and self-interacting DM scenarios on the abundance of dwarf galaxies and the
relation between observed HI line-width and maximum circular velocity. Both
effects have the potential to alleviate the apparent mismatch between the
observed and theoretical abundance of galaxies as a function of .
For the case of warm and mixed DM, we show that the discrepancy disappears,
even for luke-warm models that evade stringent bounds from the Lyman-
forest. Self-interacting DM scenarios can also provide a solution as long as
they lead to extended ( kpc) dark matter cores in the density
profiles of dwarf galaxies. Only models with velocity-dependent cross sections
can yield such cores without violating other observational constraints at
larger scales.Comment: Matches published versio
Non-universality of halo profiles and implications for dark matter experiments
We explore the cosmological halo-to-halo scatter of the distribution of mass within dark matter haloes utilizing a well-resolved statistical sample of clusters from the cosmological Millennium Simulation. We find that at any radius, the spherically averaged dark matter density of a halo (corresponding to the ‘smooth component') and its logarithmic slope are well described by a Gaussian probability distribution. At small radii (within the scale radius), the density distribution is fully determined by the measured Gaussian distribution in halo concentrations. The variance in the radial distribution of mass in dark matter haloes is important for the interpretation of direct and indirect dark matter detection efforts. The scatter in mass profiles imparts approximately a 25 per cent cosmological uncertainty in the dark matter density at the Solar neighbourhood and a factor of ∼3 uncertainty in the expected Galactic dark matter annihilation flux. The aggregate effect of halo-to-halo profile scatter leads to a small (few per cent) enhancement in dark matter annihilation background if the Gaussian concentration distribution holds for all halo masses versus a 10 per cent enhancement under the assumption of a lognormal concentration distribution. The Gaussian nature of the cluster profile scatter implies that the technique of ‘stacking' haloes to improve signal-to-noise ratio should not suffer from bia
The age dependence of galaxy clustering
We construct mock galaxy catalogues to analyse clustering properties of a Λ cold dark matter universe within a cosmological dark matter simulation of sufficient resolution to resolve structure down to the scale of dwarfs. We show that there is a strong age-clustering correlation for objects likely to host luminous galaxies, which includes the satellite halo (subhalo) population. Older mock galaxies are significantly more clustered in our catalogue, which consists of satellite haloes as well as the central peaks of discrete haloes, selected solely by peak circular velocity. This age dependence is caused mainly by the age-clustering relation for discrete haloes, recently found by Gao et al., acting mostly on field members, combined with the tendency for older mock galaxies to lie within groups and clusters, where galaxy clustering is enhanced. Our results suggest that the clustering-age dependence is manifested in real galaxies. At small scales (less than ∼5 h−1 Mpc), the very simple assumption that galaxy colour depends solely on halo age is inconsistent with the strength of the observed clustering colour trends, where red galaxies become increasingly more clustered than blue galaxies towards smaller scales, suggesting that luminosity-weighted galaxy ages do not closely trace the assembly epoch of their dark matter hosts. The age dependence is present but is much weaker for satellite haloes lying within groups and clusters than for the global populatio
Another baryon miracle? Testing solutions to the 'missing dwarfs' problem
The dearth of dwarf galaxies in the local universe is hard to reconcile with
the large number of low mass haloes expected within the concordance
CDM paradigm. In this paper we perform a systematic evaluation of the
uncertainties affecting the measurement of DM halo abundance using galaxy
kinematics. Using a large sample of dwarf galaxies with spatially resolved
kinematic data we derive a correction to obtain the observed abundance of
galaxies as a function of their halo maximum circular velocity from the
line-of-sight velocity function in the Local Volume. This estimate provides a
direct means of comparing the predictions of theoretical models and simulations
(including nonstandard cosmologies and novel galaxy formation physics) to the
observational constraints. The new "galactic " function is steeper
than the line-of-sight velocity function but still shallower than the
theoretical CDM expectation, showing that some unaccounted physical process is
necessary to reduce the abundance of galaxies and/or drastically modify their
density profiles compared to CDM haloes. Using this new galactic
function, we investigate the viability of baryonic solutions such as
feedback-powered outflows and photoevaporation of gas from an ionising
radiation background. At the 3- confidence level neither energetic
feedback nor photoevaporation are effective enough to reconcile the
disagreement. In the case of maximum baryonic effects, the theoretical estimate
still deviates significantly from the observations for km/s. CDM
predicts at least 1.8 times more galaxies with km/s and 2.5
times more than observed at km/s. Recent hydrodynamic simulations seem to
resolve the discrepancy but disagree with the properties of observed galaxies
with resolved kinematics. (abridged)Comment: 17 pages, 22 figures; major revisions include clarification of the
method, expanded comparison with simulations with a new figure, analysis of
uncertainties in model as well as pressure support corrections, and a new
table with nomenclatur
The same with less: the cosmic web of warm versus cold dark matter dwarf galaxies
We explore fundamental properties of the distribution of low-mass dark matter haloes within the cosmic web using warm dark matter (WDM) and cold dark matter (CDM) cosmological simulations. Using self-abundance-matched mock galaxy catalogues, we show that the distribution of dwarf galaxies in a WDM universe, wherein low-mass halo formation is heavily suppressed, is nearly indistinguishable to that of a CDM universe whose low-mass haloes are not seen because galaxy formation is suppressed below some threshold halo mass. However, if the scatter between dwarf galaxy luminosity and halo properties is large enough, low-mass CDM haloes would sometimes host relatively bright galaxies thereby populating CDM voids with the occasional isolated galaxy and reducing the numbers of completely empty voids. Otherwise, without high mass to light scatter, all mock galaxy clustering statistics that we consider - the auto-correlation function, the numbers and radial profiles of satellites, the numbers of isolated galaxies, and the probability distribution function of small voids - are nearly identical in CDM and WDM. WDM voids are neither larger nor emptier than CDM voids, when constructed from abundance-matched halo catalogues. It is thus a challenge to determine whether the CDM problem of the overabundance of small haloes with respect to the number density of observed dwarf galaxies has a cosmological solution or an astrophysical solution. However, some clues about the dark matter particle and the scatter between the properties of dwarf galaxies and their dark matter halo hosts might be found in the cosmic web of galaxies in future surveys of the local volum
A reliability analysis method using binary decision diagrams in phased mission planning
The use of autonomous systems is becoming increasingly common in many fields. A significant example of this is the ambition to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for both civil and military applications. In order for autonomous systems such as these to operate effectively, they must be capable of making decisions regarding the appropriate future course of their mission responding to changes in circumstance in as short a time as possible. The systems will typically perform phased missions and, owing to the uncertain nature of the environments in which the systems operate, the mission objectives may be subject to change at short notice. The ability to evaluate the different possible mission configurations is crucial in making the right decision about the mission tasks that should be performed in order to give the highest possible probability of mission success.
Because binary decision diagrams (BDDs) may be quickly and accurately quantified to give measures of the system reliability it is anticipated that they are the most appropriate analysis tools to form the basis of a reliability-based prognostics methodology. The current paper presents a new BDD-based approach for phased mission analysis, which seeks to take advantage of the proven fast analysis characteristics of the BDD and enhance it in ways that are suited to the demands of a decision-making capability for autonomous systems. The BDD approach presented allows BDDs representing the failure causes in the different phases of a mission to be constructed quickly by treating component failures in different phases of the mission as separate variables. This allows flexibility when building mission phase failure BDDs because a global variable ordering scheme is not required. An alternative representation of component states in time intervals allows the dependencies to be efficiently dealt with during the quantification process. Nodes in the BDD can represent components with any number of failure modes or factors external to the system that could affect its behaviour, such as the weather. Path simplification rules and quantification rules are developed that allow the calculation of phase failure probabilities for this new BDD approach. The proposed method provides a phased mission analysis technique that allows the rapid construction of reliability models for phased missions and, with the use of BDDs, rapid quantification
Non-universality of halo profiles and implications for dark matter experiments
We explore the cosmological halo-to-halo scatter of the distribution of mass
within dark matter halos utilizing a well-resolved statistical sample of
clusters from the cosmological Millennium simulation. We find that at any
radius, the spherically-averaged dark matter density of a halo (corresponding
to the "smooth-component") and its logarithmic slope are well-described by a
Gaussian probability distribution. At small radii (within the scale radius),
the density distribution is fully determined by the measured Gaussian
distribution in halo concentrations. The variance in the radial distribution of
mass in dark matter halos is important for the interpretation of direct and
indirect dark matter detection efforts. The scatter in mass profiles imparts
approximately a 25 percent cosmological uncertainty in the dark matter density
at the Solar neighborhood and a factor of ~3 uncertainty in the expected
Galactic dark matter annihilation flux. The aggregate effect of halo-to-halo
profile scatter leads to a small (few percent) enhancement in dark matter
annihilation background if the Gaussian concentration distribution holds for
all halo masses versus a 10 percent enhancement under the assumption of a
log-normal concentration distribution. The Gaussian nature of the cluster
profile scatter implies that the technique of "stacking" halos to improve
signal to noise should not suffer from bias.Comment: replaced with accepted mnras versio
HST Measurements of the Expansion of NGC 6543: Parallax Distance and Nebular Evolution
The optical expansion parallax of NGC 6543 has been detected and measured
using two epochs of HST images separated by a time baseline of only three
years. We have utilized three separate methods of deriving the angular
expansion of bright fiducials, the results of which are in excellent agreement.
We combine our angular expansion estimates with spectroscopically obtained
expansion velocities to derive a distance to NGC 6543 of 1001269 pc. The
deduced kinematic age of the inner bright core of the nebula is 1039259
years; however, the kinematic age of the polar caps that surround the core is
larger - perhaps the result of deceleration or earlier mass ejection. The
morphology and expansion patterns of NGC 6543 provide insight into a complex
history of axisymmetric, interacting stellar mass ejections.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. 18 pages. 6 figure
The same with less: the cosmic web of warm versus cold dark matter dwarf galaxies
We explore fundamental properties of the distribution of low-mass dark matter haloes within the cosmic web using warm dark matter (WDM) and cold dark matter (CDM) cosmological simulations. Using self-abundance-matched mock galaxy catalogues, we show that the distribution of dwarf galaxies in a WDM universe, wherein low-mass halo formation is heavily suppressed, is nearly indistinguishable to that of a CDM universe whose low mass haloes are not seen because galaxy formation is suppressed below some threshold halo mass. However, if the scatter between dwarf galaxy luminosity and halo properties is large enough, low-mass CDM haloes would sometimes host relatively bright galaxies thereby populating CDM voids with the occasional isolated galaxy and reducing the numbers of completely empty voids. Otherwise, without high mass to light scatter, all mock galaxy clustering statistics that we consider - the auto correlation function, the numbers and radial profiles of satellites, the numbers of isolated galaxies, and the probability distribution function of small voids - are nearly identical in CDM and WDM. WDM voids are neither larger nor emptier than CDM voids, when constructed from abundance-matched halo catalogues. It is thus a challenge to determine whether the CDM problem of the overabundance of small haloes with respect to the number density of observed dwarf galaxies has a cosmological solution or an astrophysical solution. However, some clues about the dark matter particle and the scatter between the properties of dwarf galaxies and their dark matter halo hosts might be found in the cosmic web of galaxies in future surveys of the local volume
The clustering of the first galaxy halos
We explore the clustering properties of high redshift dark matter halos,
focusing on halos massive enough to host early generations of stars or galaxies
at redshift 10 and greater. Halos are extracted from an array of dark matter
simulations able to resolve down to the "mini-halo" mass scale at redshifts as
high as 30, thus encompassing the expected full mass range of halos capable of
hosting luminous objects and sources of reionization. Halo clustering on
large-scales agrees with the Sheth, Mo & Tormen halo bias relation within all
our simulations, greatly extending the regime where large-scale clustering is
confirmed to be "universal" at the 10-20% level (which means, for example, that
3sigma halos of cluster mass at z=0 have the same large-scale bias with respect
to the mass distribution as 3sigma halos of galaxy mass at z=10). However, on
small-scales, the clustering of our massive halos (> ~10^9 Msun/h) at these
high redshifts is stronger than expected from comparisons with small-scale halo
clustering extrapolated from lower redshifts. This implies "non-universality"
in the scale-dependence of halo clustering, at least for the commonly used
parameterizations of the scale-dependence of bias that we consider. We provide
a fit for the scale-dependence of bias in our results. This study provides a
basis for using extraordinarily high redshift galaxies (redshift ~10) as a
probe of cosmology and galaxy formation at its earliest stages. We show also
that mass and halo kinematics are strongly affected by finite simulation
volumes. This suggests the potential for adverse affects on gas dynamics in
hydrodynamic simulations of limited volumes, such as is typical in simulations
of the formation of the "first stars", though further study is warranted.Comment: MNRAS accepte
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