scholarly journals Galaxies on Sub-Galactic Scales

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Jerjen
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Near Field ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Matter Theory ◽  
Satellite Galaxies ◽  
Star Formation Histories

AbstractThe Sloan Digital Sky Survey has been immensely successful in detecting new Milky Way satellite galaxies over the past seven years. It was instrumental in finding examples of the least luminous galaxies we know in the Universe, uncovering apparent inconsistencies between cold dark matter theory and dwarf galaxy properties, providing first evidence for a possible lower mass limit for dark matter halos in visible galaxies, and reopening the discussion about the building block scenario for the Milky Way halo. Nonetheless, these results are still drawn only from a relatively small number of galaxies distributed over an area covering about 29% of the sky, which leaves us currently with more questions than answers. The study of these extreme stellar systems is a multi-parameter problem: ages, metallicities, star formation histories, dark matter contents, population fractions and spatial distributions must be determined. Progress in the field is discussed and attention drawn to some of the limitations that currently hamper our ability to fully understand the phenomenon of the ‘ultra-faint dwarf galaxy’. In this context, the Stromlo Milky Way Satellite Survey represents a new initiative to systematically search and scrutinize optically elusive Milky Way satellite galaxies in the Southern hemisphere. In doing so, the program aims at investigating some of the challenging questions in stellar evolution, galaxy formation and near-field cosmology.

scholarly journals Dwarf Cosmology with the Stromlo Missing Satellites Survey

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Jerjen
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Galaxy Formation And Evolution ◽  
National University ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
Satellite Galaxies

The standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter model is considered to be a triumph of theoretical astrophysics but observations of the Milky Way and its system of satellite galaxies irresistibly signal that theory is incomplete on galactic and subgalactic scales. The Stromlo Missing Satellites (SMS) Survey is a critical endeavor to investigate at what level predictions of CDM cosmology are consistent with the observed matter distribution in the Milky Way halo. It will be the deepest, most extended search for optically elusive satellite galaxies to date, covering 20 000 square degrees of sky. The international SMS Survey collaboration will exploit 150 TB of CCD images in six filters acquired by the new SkyMapper telescope of the Australian National University over the next five years, expecting on completion photometric limits 0.5–1.0 mag fainter than the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The primary objective of the program is to characterise the baryonic and dark matter components of a complete sample of MW satellites in the Southern hemisphere to provide stringent observational constraints for improving our understanding of how the Milky Way formed and what physical processes governed galaxy formation and evolution in general.

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

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.

scholarly journals Local group star formation in warm and self-interacting dark matter cosmologies

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (1) ◽  
pp. 702-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R Lovell ◽  
Wojciech Hellwing ◽  
Aaron Ludlow ◽  
Jesús Zavala ◽  
Andrew Robertson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Local Group ◽  
Initial Density ◽  
Dark Matter Mass ◽  
Stellar Ages ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
Star Formation Histories

ABSTRACT The nature of the dark matter can affect the collapse time of dark matter haloes, and can therefore be imprinted in observables such as the stellar population ages and star formation histories of dwarf galaxies. In this paper, we use high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of Local Group-analogue (LG) volumes in cold dark matter (CDM), sterile neutrino warm dark matter (WDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) models with the eagle galaxy formation code to study how galaxy formation times change with dark matter model. We are able to identify the same haloes in different simulations, since they share the same initial density field phases. We find that the stellar mass of galaxies depends systematically on resolution, and can differ by as much as a factor of 2 in haloes of a given dark matter mass. The evolution of the stellar populations in SIDM is largely identical to that of CDM, but in WDM early star formation is instead suppressed. The time at which LG haloes can begin to form stars through atomic cooling is delayed by ∼200 Myr in WDM models compared to CDM. It will be necessary to measure stellar ages of old populations to a precision of better than 100 Myr, and to address degeneracies with the redshift of reionization – and potentially other baryonic processes – in order to use these observables to distinguish between dark matter models.

scholarly journals Heating of Milky Way disc stars by dark matter fluctuations in cold dark matter and fuzzy dark matter paradigms

2019 ◽  
Vol 485 (2) ◽  
pp. 2861-2876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin V Church ◽  
Philip Mocz ◽  
Jeremiah P Ostriker
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Quantum Interference ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Velocity Dispersion ◽  
Formation Rate ◽  
Density Fluctuations ◽  
Particle Mass ◽  
Small Scale

ABSTRACT Although highly successful on cosmological scales, cold dark matter (CDM) models predict unobserved overdense ‘cusps’ in dwarf galaxies and overestimate their formation rate. We consider an ultralight axion-like scalar boson which promises to reduce these observational discrepancies at galactic scales. The model, known as fuzzy dark matter (FDM), avoids cusps, suppresses small-scale power, and delays galaxy formation via macroscopic quantum pressure. We compare the substructure and density fluctuations of galactic dark matter haloes comprised of ultralight axions to conventional CDM results. Besides self-gravitating subhaloes, FDM includes non-virialized overdense wavelets formed by quantum interference patterns, which are an efficient source of heating to galactic discs. We find that, in the solar neighbourhood, wavelet heating is sufficient to give the oldest disc stars a velocity dispersion of ${\sim } {30}{\, \mathrm{km\, s}^{-1}}$ within a Hubble time if energy is not lost from the disc, the velocity dispersion increasing with stellar age as σD ∝ t0.4 in agreement with observations. Furthermore, we calculate the radius-dependent velocity dispersion and corresponding scaleheight caused by the heating of this dynamical substructure in both CDM and FDM with the determination that these effects will produce a flaring that terminates the Milky Way disc at $15\!-\!20{\, \mathrm{kpc}}$. Although the source of thickened discs is not known, the heating due to perturbations caused by dark substructure cannot exceed the total disc velocity dispersion. Therefore, this work provides a lower bound on the FDM particle mass of ma > 0.6 × 10−22 eV. Furthermore, FDM wavelets with this particle mass should be considered a viable mechanism for producing the observed disc thickening with time.

scholarly journals ETHOS – an effective theory of structure formation: formation of the first haloes and their stars

2019 ◽  
Vol 485 (4) ◽  
pp. 5474-5489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R Lovell ◽  
Jesús Zavala ◽  
Mark Vogelsberger
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Effective Theory ◽  
Matter Power Spectrum ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
Stellar Masses

Abstract A cut-off in the linear matter power spectrum at dwarf galaxy scales has been shown to affect the abundance, formation mechanism and age of dwarf haloes, and their galaxies at high and low redshifts. We use hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation within the ETHOS framework in a benchmark model that has such a cut-off and that has been shown to be an alternative to the cold dark matter (CDM) model that alleviates its dwarf-scale challenges. We show how galaxies in this model form differently to CDM, on a halo-by-halo basis, at redshifts z ≥ 6. We show that when CDM haloes with masses around the ETHOS half-mode mass scale are resimulated with the ETHOS matter power spectrum, they form with 50 per cent less mass than their CDM counterparts due to their later formation times, yet they retain more of their gas reservoir due to the different behaviour of gas and dark matter during the monolithic collapse of the first haloes in models with a galactic-scale cut-off. As a result, galaxies in ETHOS haloes near the cut-off scale grow rapidly between z = 10 and 6 and by z = 6 end up having very similar stellar masses, higher gas fractions and higher star formation rates relative to their CDM counterparts. We highlight these differences by making predictions for how the number of galaxies with old stellar populations is suppressed in ETHOS for both z = 6 galaxies and for gas-poor Local Group fossil galaxies. Interestingly, we find an age gradient in ETHOS between galaxies that form in high- and low-density environments.

scholarly journals How dark are filaments in the cosmic web?

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (3) ◽  
pp. 3158-3170
Author(s):  
Tianyi Yang ◽  
Michael J Hudson ◽  
Niayesh Afshordi
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Stellar Mass ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Weak Lensing ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Mass Fractions ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Red Galaxies

ABSTRACT The cold dark matter model predicts that dark matter haloes are connected by filaments. Direct measurements of the masses and structure of these filaments are difficult, but recently several studies have detected these dark-matter-dominated filaments using weak lensing. Here we study the efficiency of galaxy formation within the filaments by measuring their total mass-to-light ratios and stellar mass fractions. Specifically, we stack pairs of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) with a typical separation on the sky of 8 h−1 Mpc. We stack background galaxy shapes around pairs to obtain mass maps through weak lensing, and we stack galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to obtain maps of light and stellar mass. To isolate the signal from the filament, we construct two matched catalogues of physical and non-physical (projected) LRG pairs, with the same distributions of redshift and separation. We then subtract the two stacked maps. Using LRG pair samples from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey at two different redshifts, we find that the evolution of the mass in filament is consistent with the predictions from perturbation theory. The filaments are not entirely dark: Their mass-to-light ratios (M/L = 351 ± 137 in solar units in the rband) and stellar mass fractions (Mstellar/M = 0.0073 ± 0.0030) are consistent with the cosmic values (and with their redshift evolutions).

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

2020 ◽  
Vol 497 (2) ◽  
pp. 2393-2417 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Tidal Tails and the Shape of the Dark Matter Halo

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraint F. Lewis ◽  
Rodrigo A. Ibata
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Observational Evidence ◽  
Dark Matter Halo ◽  
Dark Matter Halos ◽  
Fundamental Understanding ◽  
Tidal Tails ◽  
Precise Interpretation

AbstractCold dark matter cosmologies successfully accounts for the distribution of matter on large scales. On smaller scales, these cosmological models predict that galaxies like our own Milky Way should be enveloped in massive dark matter halos. Furthermore, these halos should be significantly flattened or even triaxial. Recent observational evidence, drawn from the demise of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy as it is cannibalized by our own, indicates that the potential of the Milky Way must be close to spherical. While the precise interpretation of the observational evidence is under debate, an apparently spherical halo may signify a pronounced failing of dark matter models, and may even indicate a failure in our fundamental understanding of gravity.

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