A dark matter profile to model diverse feedback-induced core sizes of $\Lambda$CDM haloes
Abstract
We analyze the cold dark matter density profiles of 54 galaxy halos simulated with FIRE-2 galaxy formation physics, each resolved within of the halo virial radius. These halos contain galaxies with masses that range from ultra-faint dwarfs () to the largest spirals () and have density profiles that are both cored and cuspy. We characterize our results using a new analytic density profile that extends the standard Einasto form to allow for a pronounced constant-density core in the resolved innermost radius. With one additional core-radius parameter, , this "core-Einasto" profile is able to characterize the shape and normalization of our feedback-impacted dark matter halos. In order to enable comparisons with observations, we provide fitting functions for and other profile parameters as a function of both and . In agreement with similar studies done in the literature, we find that dark matter core formation is most efficient at the characteristic stellar-mass to halo-mass ratio , or , with cores that are roughly the size of the galaxy half-light radius, kpc. Furthermore, we find no evidence for core formation at radii in galaxies with or . For Milky Way-size galaxies, baryonic contraction often makes halos significantly more concentrated and dense at the stellar half-light radius than dark matter only runs. However, even at the Milky Way scale, FIRE-2 galaxy formation still produces small dark matter cores of kpc in size. Recent evidence for a kpc core in the Milky Way's dark matter halo is consistent with this expectation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2004.10817,
title = {A dark matter profile to model diverse feedback-induced core sizes of $\Lambda$CDM haloes},
author = {Alexandres Lazar and James S. Bullock and Michael Boylan-Kolchin and T. K. Chan and Philip F. Hopkins and Andrew S. Graus and Andrew Wetzel and Kareem El-Badry and Coral Wheeler and Maria C. Straight and Dušan Kereš and Claude-André Faucher-Giguère and Alex Fitts and Shea Garrison-Kimmel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.10817},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
27 pages; 19 figures; Accepted by MNRAS