English

A dark matter profile to model diverse feedback-induced core sizes of $\Lambda$CDM haloes

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2020-07-29 v3

Abstract

We analyze the cold dark matter density profiles of 54 galaxy halos simulated with FIRE-2 galaxy formation physics, each resolved within 0.5%0.5\% of the halo virial radius. These halos contain galaxies with masses that range from ultra-faint dwarfs (M104.5MM_\star \simeq 10^{4.5} M_{\odot}) to the largest spirals (M1011MM_\star \simeq 10^{11} 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 Einasto form to allow for a pronounced constant-density core in the resolved innermost radius. With one additional core-radius parameter, rcr_{c}, 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 rcr_{c} and other profile parameters as a function of both MM_\star and M/MhaloM_{\star}/M_{\rm halo}. 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 M/Mhalo5×103M_\star/M_{\rm halo} \simeq 5 \times 10^{-3}, or M109MM_{\star} \sim 10^9 \, M_{\odot}, with cores that are roughly the size of the galaxy half-light radius, rc15r_{c} \simeq 1-5 kpc. Furthermore, we find no evidence for core formation at radii 100 pc\gtrsim 100\ \rm pc in galaxies with M/Mhalo<5×104M_{\star}/M_{\rm halo} < 5\times 10^{-4} or M106MM_\star \lesssim 10^6 \, M_{\odot}. 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 0.52\simeq 0.5-2 kpc in size. Recent evidence for a 2{\sim} 2 kpc core in the Milky Way's dark matter halo is consistent with this expectation.

Keywords

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