The Density Profile of Dynamical Halos
Abstract
Among the most fundamental properties of a dark matter halo is its density profile. Motivated by the recent proposal by Garc\'ia et al. [R. Garc\'ia et. al., MNRAS 521, 2464 (2023)] to define a dynamical halo as the collection of orbiting particles in a gravitationally bound structure, we characterize the mean and scatter of the orbiting profile of dynamical halos as a function of their orbiting mass. We demonstrate that the orbiting profile of individual halos at fixed mass depends on a single dynamical variable -- the halo radius -- which characterizes the spatial extent of the profile. The scatter in halo radius at fixed orbiting mass is . Only a small fraction of this scatter arises due to differences in halo formation time, with late-forming halos being more compact (smaller halo radii). Accounting for this additional correlation results in an scatter in halo radius at fixed mass and halo formation time.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2507.00410,
title = {The Density Profile of Dynamical Halos},
author = {Tristen Shields and Edgar M. Salazar and Eduardo Rozo and Aakanksha Adya and Calvin Osinga and Ze'ev Vladimir},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.00410},
year = {2026}
}