High-Resolution Simulation on Structure Formation with Extremely Light Bosonic Dark Matter

An alternative bosonic dark matter model is examined in detail via high-resolution simulations. These bosons have particle mass of order $10^{-22}eV$ and are non-interacting. If they do exist and can account for structure formation, these bosons must be condensed into the Bose-Einstein state and described by a coherent wave function. This matter, also known as Fuzzy Dark Matter (Hu, Barkana & Gruzinov 2000),, is speculated to be able, first, to eliminate the sub-galactic halos to solve the problem of over-abundance of dwarf galaxies, and, second, to produce flat halo cores in galaxies suggested by some observations. Our simulation results show that although this extremely light bosonic dark matter indeed suppresses low-mass halos, it can, to the contrary of expectation, yield singular halo cores. The density profile of the singular halo is almost identical to the halo profile of Navarro, Frenk & White (1997). Such a profile seems to be universal, in that it can be produced via either accretion or merger.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

Recovering cores and cusps in dark matter haloes using mock velocity field observations

We present mock DensePak Integral Field Unit (IFU) velocity fields, rotation curves and halo fits for disc galaxies formed in spherical and triaxial cuspy dark matter haloes and spherical cored dark matter haloes. The simulated galaxies are ‘observed' under a variety of realistic conditions to determine how well the underlying dark matter halo can be recovered and to test the hypothesis that cuspy haloes can be mistaken for cored haloes. We find that the appearance of the velocity field is distinctly different depending on the underlying halo type. We also find that we can successfully recover the parameters of the underlying dark matter halo. Cuspy haloes appear cuspy in the data and cored haloes appear cored. Our results suggest that the cores observed using high-resolution velocity fields in real dark matter dominated galaxies are genuine and cannot be ascribed to systematic errors, halo triaxiality or non-circular motion

The Case Against Warm or Self-Interacting Dark Matter as Explanations for Cores in Low Surface Brightness Galaxies

Warm dark matter (WDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) are often motivated by the inferred cores in the dark matter halos of low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. We test thermal WDM, non-thermal WDM, and SIDM using high-resolution rotation curves of nine LSB galaxies. We fit these dark matter models to the data and determine the halo core radii and central densities. While the minimum core size in WDM models is predicted to decrease with halo mass, we find that the inferred core radii increase with halo mass and also cannot be explained with a single value of the primordial phase space density. Moreover, if the core size is set by WDM particle properties, then even the smallest cores we infer would require primordial phase space density values that are orders of magnitude smaller than lower limits obtained from the Lyman alpha forest power spectra. We also find that the dark matter halo core densities vary by a factor of about 30 from system to system while showing no systematic trend with the maximum rotation velocity of the galaxy. This strongly argues against the core size being directly set by large self-interactions (scattering or annihilation) of dark matter. We therefore conclude that the inferred cores do not provide motivation to prefer WDM or SIDM over other dark matter models.Comment: Accepted to ApJL; additions to Figs 3 and 4; minor changes to tex

Comparing the Dark Matter Halos of Spiral, Low Surface Brightness and Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

We consider dark masses measured from kinematic tracers at discrete radii in galaxies for which baryonic contributions to overall potentials are either subtracted or negligible. Recent work indicates that rotation curves due to dark matter (DM) halos at intermediate radii in spiral galaxies are remarkably similar, with a mean rotation curve given by $\log_{10}[V_{c,\mathrm{DM}}/(\mathrm{km s^{-1}})]=1.47_{-0.19}^{+0.15}+0.5\log_{10}[r/\mathrm{kpc}]$. Independent studies show that while estimates of the dark mass of a given dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy are robust only near the half-light radius, data from the Milky Way's (MW's) dSph satellites are consistent with a narrow range of mass profiles. Here we combine published constraints on the dark halo masses of spirals and dSphs and include available measurements of low surface brightness galaxies for additional comparison. We find that most measured MW dSphs lie on the extrapolation of the mean rotation curve due to DM in spirals. The union of MW-dSph and spiral data appears to follow a mass-radius relation of the form $M_{\mathrm{DM}}(r)/M_{\odot}=200_{-120}^{+200}(r/\mathrm{pc})^2$, or equivalently a constant acceleration $g_{\mathrm{DM}}=3_{-2}^{+3}\times 10^{-9}\mathrm{cm s^{-2}}$, spanning 0.02\la r \la 75 kpc. Evaluation at specific radii immediately generates two results from the recent literature: a common mass for MW dSphs at fixed radius and a constant DM central surface density for galaxies ranging from MW dSphs to spirals. However, recent kinematic measurements indicate that M31's dSph satellites are systematically less massive than MW dSphs of similar size. Such deviations from what is otherwise a surprisingly uniform halo relation presumably hold clues to individual formation and evolutionary histories.Comment: ApJL in press (minor edits to text in order to match version in press

High Resolution Optical Velocity Fields of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies and the Density Profiles of Dark Matter Halos

This dissertation investigates the behavior of cold dark matter (CDM) on galaxy scales. We present well-resolved Halpha velocity fields of the central regions of 17 dark matter-dominated low surface brightness (LSB) and dwarf galaxies observed with the DensePak Integrated Field Unit. We derive rotation curves from the two-dimensional data and compare them to published long-slit and HI rotation curves. We find broad consistency between the independent data sets. Under several assumptions about the velocity contribution from the baryons, we fit the dark matter component with cuspy NFW and cored pseudoisothermal halos. We find the data to be better described by cored dark matter halos. For the majority of galaxies, NFW halo fits either cannot be made or the implied concentrations are too low for LCDM. The shapes of the NFW rotation curves are also inconsistent with the galaxy rotation curves. We find that CDM predicts a substantial cusp mass excess near the centers of the galaxies and that the ratio of predicted to observed dark matter increases as baryons become more important. We investigate claims that systematic effects including beam smearing, slit misplacement and noncircular motions are responsible for slowly rising long-slit and HI rotation curves. We find the DensePak rotation curves to also be slowly rising, supporting the idea that this is an intrinsic feature of LSB rotation curves. We also model the two-dimensional NFW halo and test several modifications to the potential in an attempt to simultaneously reconcile both the NFW velocity field and rotation curve with observed galaxy data. We present mock DensePak velocity fields and rotation curves of axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric potentials. We find that a non-axisymmetric NFW potential with a constant axis ratio can reduce the cusp mass excess in the observed galaxy data, but the observer's line-of-sight must be along the minor axis of the potential, and the NFW pinch is not erased from the velocity field. We find that a non-axisymmetric NFW potential with a radially varying axis ratio tends to wash out the NFW pinch but introduces a twist to the velocity field